Buxton quote of the day:
NEWS
Our Honorary President
Councillor Jon Orrell was elected as Mayor of Weymouth Town Council in May 2024.
Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Fowell Buxton
For those involved in quizes and trivial pursuits, here is a little known fact that links Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Fowell Buxton.
They were both the same height – 6 ft 4 in.
The Buxton Monument — Geological Heritage
The design of the Thomas Fowell Buxton monument reflects the neo-classical architectural style so typical of Weymouth’s Georgian and Regency seafront townscape. more...
Buxton — a forgotten hero
Click here to download the TFBS Paper describing the achievements of Thomas Fowell Buxton and the Society’s plans to celebrate his achievements.
Thank you for your interest. Come back soon!
The Thomas Fowell Buxton Society
Registered as National Charity Number 1,158,648 in England and Wales
Honorary President: The Mayor of Weymouth
Established in 2010, our Society was set up to celebrate the achievements of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, 1st Baronet (1786 - 1845) who, while MP for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis between 1818 and 1837, led the campaign to abolish slavery as an economic system.
Buxton was a Christian social reformer, who had an interest in education of the poor and prison reform. He was a great believer in self help and hard work and dedication to achieve life goals, as may be seen from the quote of the day in the sidebar (left), taken from his biography
On this page (click the links to browse the articles)
| Forthcoming Events | Outreach to Primary Schools | Outreach to the Local Community |
| The Buxton Monument | About Thomas Fowell Buxton | |
| Our Networking Partners | General Data Protection Regulations |
Learn about the Buxton Project by clicking the link below!
LINKS TO USEFUL DOCUMENTS
Click on one of these images to download a membership form, our latest flyer, a stones catalogue and more
Mouse over the icons and click for more information
FORTHCOMING EVENTS AND LATEST NEWS
EVENTS THIS YEAR
Norwich History Festival 17th to 25 th July
This will be a celebration of Culture and Heritage with talks, walks, films, theatre and family events.
Featuring influential people from the past including Thomas Fowell Buxton and Elizabeth Fry.
Annual Memorial Service at Westminster Abbey
This will be held on Saturday 2nd August (the closest date to the anniversary of the Emancipation of 800,000 slaves which took place on 1st August 1834)
There will be a picnic in Victoria Tower at the Buxton Memorial Fountain at 3 p.m., then moving to to Westminster Abbey from 4.30p.m. for Evensong at 5 p.m. Afterwards we move to the North Quire aisle to Buxtons Statue for the Memorial Service at 6.15 p.m.
Annual Memorial Service at the Buxton Monument
To be held on Bincleaves Green, Weymouth, Dorset on Sunday 7th September at 3 p.m.
Anti-Slavery Day Open meeting on Wednesday 15th October
The is an open meeting free to the public at St Aldhelm's Hall Spa Road Weymouth DT3 5EW as part of our contribution to anti-slavery day. All members of the public are welcome and members of the Society are urged to bring a friend. The proceedings will be divided into two parts.
The meeting will begin at 2 p.m. and conclude at 4p.m.
There will be two presentations separated by an interval for refreshments.
The interval for refreshments will give people the opportunity to buy books, and produce.
Linda Perry will also be selling Fair Trade Produce on a separate stall. There is so much to buy - remember to bring carrier bags!
Autumn Lunch at “The Wishing Well, Upwey” near Weymouth Dorset. (Date tobe finalised)
The Society's New Book — 'Indomitable Courage' will be published later this year
As early as 2011 our Society inspired the students of Weymouth College Masonry Department to enter a competition for the design of a monument to celebrate the achievements of Thomas Fowell Buxton. This competition was won by student Peter Loizou. There are 144 individually hand-carved stones by the students making up the monument. It is a giant jigsaw puzzle but you cannot see the join!
Funds were raised to erect the Buxton Monument via
Donations
Sponsorship of Stones
2 dinners and auctions in London
Three piano recitals at St Mary's Church
Finally in 2017 the Buxton Monument became a reality. It was erected by Albion Stone at a cost in excess of £48,000.
A Heritage Lottery Grant allowed the erection of an information board at the side of the Buxton Monument. This educates the passing public on the importance of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton. He is important not only as part of our local heritage here in Dorset but he is of importance nationally and internationally.
The Heritage Lottery Grant has enabled the Society to develop a programme for outreach to local primary schools.
The pack includes lesson plans, powerpoint presentations and proposals for activities. It enables Primary School Staff to deliver to their own students, what had previously been a Thomas Fowell Buxton Society presentation by oneof the Society's educational team.
The pack comprises a series of 4 lessons suited to years 5 and 6 entitled "Fairtrade Fortnight", "Sugar Cane", "Sugar and Slavery", "Thomas Fowell Buxton and Slavery".
The pack includes lesson plans, power point presentations and proposals for activities. It enables Primary School Staff to deliver to their own students what had previously been a Society presentation given by one of the educational team.
This new initiative, has been praised by the Fairtrade Foundation.
The initial focus is on primary schools in the Weymouth area and these are being contacted individually. However the lessons can be used to the benefit of school children throughout the world where English is spoken.
To access this education pack please follow this link TFBS outreach to schools
OUTREACH TO THE COMMUNITY — THE SOCIETY OFFERS PRESENTATIONS TO LOCAL GROUPS
For many years, when presentations were first made to groups in Weymouth and Dorchester about the life and achievements of Thomas Fowell Buxton, people often asked the question 'why didn't we know about this before?'
The Society is willing to field a team willing to give presentations to local organisations. Presentations last about 45 minutes but can be tailored to a group’s requirements.
Buxton themed talks are available currently in North Norfolk and South Dorset. To arrange a presentation and to discuss available titles email
For a presentation to a local group, a donation to the Thomas Fowell Buxton society would be much appreciated
ABOUT SIR THOMAS FOWELL BUXTON
Granville Sharp, William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson were instrumental in getting Parliament to abolish the trade in slaves in 1807. Thomas Fowell Buxton, who entered Parliament in 1818 continued their work and took over the leadership of the movement from Wilberforce in 1823. Wilberforce remained in Parliament to support him until 1825 when he retired. Buxton succeeded in having slavery abolished throughout the British Empire in 1833 by Act of Parliament.
He represented Weymouth as MP between 1818 and 1837. His younger brother Charles and also his uncle Charles are buried at All Saints, Wyke Regis. In 1829 he gave his support to the motion of Catholic emancipation in Ireland, offending many of his constituents and endangering his seat for Weymouth.
His main interests when first in Parliament were prison reform and criminal law reform. Buxton said in a debate in the House of Commons, "Kill your father or catch a rabbit in a warren- the penalty is the same!"- hanging. He sat on committees that laid the groundwork for Robert Peel's reforms of the 1820's and 1830s. These resulted in a reduction of capital crimes from approximately 230 to 9. Until an alternative punishment could be sought, Buxton supported transportation to New South Wales, Australia, but he spoke out in Parliament against the appalling conditions on the transportation "Hellships". Buxton had only wanted one crime to be punished by hanging and that was murder.
Buxton also wanted to abolish the burning of widows alive on the funeral pyres of their husbands in India. Frustratingly this couldn't be done through Parliament. When William Bentinck was appointed Governor General of India Buxton visited him and later wrote to him, urging him to ban suttee/sati. This Bentinck did soon after his arrival in India.
In addition, Buxton in the 1820s and 1830s had championed the rights of indigenous native peoples. The Khoi (Hottentots) and Xhosa (Caffre) of South Africa and the Kaurna people in South Australia all benefitted from his interventions in Parliament. In 1837 in Adelaide, South Australia, a street was named after him, Buxton Street. It was his first recognition. Buxton chaired the Aborigines Select Committee of 1836-1837. Its provisions secured the human rights of native peoples throughout the burgeoning British Empire.
He continued to show an interest on a global scale when he visited Pope Gregory XVI in Rome in 1839.
The Pope had written a papal encyclical entitled in supremo apostolatus. This was a letter under the authority of the Pope to his bishops around the world condemning the continuance of slavery. Thomas Fowell Buxton his wife commended the Pope for this initiative.
He attended the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London in 1840 when a large group of Americans attended. The American Civil War was needed to achieve in America what Thomas Fowell Buxton achieved, relatively peacefully, in the British Empire.
In 1840 he was made "Baronet of Bellfield in the County of Dorset and of Runton in the County of Norfolk", by Queen Victoria. "Bellfield" was the estate he owned in Wyke Regis, Weymouth. The house still stands, though the estate has been extensively built on over the years.
The crest on his coat of arms, shown here, is described in heraldic terms as a 'A Buck’s Head, Couped Gu, Attired Or, Gorged With a Collar of The Last, Therefrom Pendent An Escutcheon Arg, Charged with an African’s Head Sa'.
Using James Parker’s Glossary of Heraldic Terms this translates to "A Buck’s Head in Red, Gold Antlers, A Gold Collar round its Neck; hanging from the Collar a Shield in Silver (White) on which is depicted the Head of an African in Black."
The motto 'Do it with thy might' is a shortened version of the family motto, which itself is taken from the Bible (Eccleciastes 9:10).
Thomas Fowell Buxton died at Northrepps Hall, Norfolk in 1845 aged 59.
An Epitaph by his friend and relative Rev. Richard Cunningham reads: "His sympathy was awakened by men he had never seen and he gave the best years of his life to their welfare".
Today, while Sharp, Wilberforce and Clarkson are rightly lauded for their devotion to this cause, Thomas Fowell Buxton’s contribution has faded somewhat from the public memory.He had been virtually forgotten in Weymouth.
There is a statue of him in Westminster Abbey near to that of William Wilberforce and there is a plaque to his memory at the Norwich Friends meeting house in Upper Goat Lane Norwich.
And he can be seen on the back of the £5 note that was in circulation a few years ago.
as one of the group visiting Newgate Prison in association with Elizabeth Fry. (Thomas Fowell Buxton is at the top left hand corner, a tall man wearing spectacles). Elizabeth Fry was his sister in law and he supported her efforts for prison reform.
This is a stylised drawing of a painting of Elizabeth Fry reading to prisoners in Newgate Prison, 1823. The painting is held by the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.
The Thomas Fowell Buxton Society is delighted to announce links to the following organisations
“We welcome the plans to erect a monument commemorating the tireless work of Thomas Fowell Buxton
“The monument can be used to re-awaken awareness of the issues and attitudes that Buxton was challenging in his time and which still persist today
“We are glad to be part of such an honourable legacy in Weymouth” — Elisabeth Orrell (Chair)
The Society's objectives are
to stimulate public interest in the Weymouth and Portland Area
to promote higher standards of planning and architecture
to secure the preservation, protection, development and improvement of historic, public or natural interest in the area
The Society's objectives are
to inform the public of Weymouth's history, with talks and exhibitions
to care for the historical objects which form part of the heritage of Weymouth
to seek a new museum for Weymouth
A NOTE ABOUT GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations)
A lot of organisations are contacting people to sign up positively if they wish to continue to receive notifications from them - with extra expense in postage and time. They are also hoping that they will not lose membership by people forgetting to sign up.
We have been considering what to do about this. Earlier this year, it was decided that in future only those who had signed up an annual subscription or were life members or were a sponsor would be contacted. It seemed logical that if someone signed up as a member/life member of the Society or made a gift, they would like to be contacted from time to time.
Those who do not wish to be contacted, please contact the Treasurer via the Contact link above