3rd Bt
From Wikipedia
Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, 3rd Baronet,
GCMG (26 January 1837 – October 28, 1915) was the
Governor of South Australia from 29 October 1895 until 29 March 1899. He was the grandson of
Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, a British MP and social reformer, and the son of
Sir Edward North Buxton, also an MP.
He attended
Harrow School and
Trinity College, Cambridge. He married Lady
Victoria Noel on 12 June 1862 and they had a total of 13 children, ten surviving infancy. She was crippled by a spinal condition in 1869.
He was elected as
Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for
King's Lynn at the
1865 general election, but was defeated at the
1868 election.[2] After his defeat, he stood again for
Parliament unsuccessfully on several other occasions: in
Westminster at the
1874 general election, in
Western Essex at the
1880 general election and at the by-elections in
Northern Norfolk in 1876 and 1879.[2] He was appointed
High Sheriff of Norfolk in 1876.
When Buxton was appointed governor, the
Premier of South Australia,
Charles Kingston was angry that the South Australian government had not been involved in the decision about who should be the new Governor, so made life as hard as possible for Buxton and his family. The governor's allowance was reduced, customs duty was charged on their household items (including his wife's invalid carriage). Buxton took up the job anyway, and later was described as the most genial, sociable and common-sense governor, due to his gentle and unassuming friendliness. He visited gaols and hospitals, and showed genuine interest in Aboriginal culture during his time as governor. He eventually returned to England due to the ill health of his wife.
Their second son,
Noel Buxton acted as
aide-de-camp to his father as Governor, and later was a
human rights campaigner and British
Member of Parliament.