Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/268

 Me and be My Love,’ 1891. 13. ‘Woman and the Man,’ 1893. 14. ‘Lady Kilpatrick’ and 15. ‘The Charlatan,’ 1895. 16. ‘Diana's Hunting.’ 17. ‘Marriage by Capture’; and 18. ‘Effie Hetherington,’ 1896. 19. ‘The Rev. Annabel Lee,’ 1898. 20. ‘Andromeda,’ 1900.

 BUCKTON, GEORGE BOWDLER (1818–1905), entomologist, born at Hornsey on 24 May 1818, was eldest son of George Buckton, a proctor of the prerogative court of Canterbury, of Doctors Commons and Oakfield, Hornsey, by his wife Eliza, daughter of Richard Merricks, D.L., of Runcton, Cheshire. An accident at the age of five crippled him for life, and deprived him of a public school and university career.

Buckton early became interested in natural history, and astronomy, and after the death of his father removed to London and became a student at the Royal College of Chemistry in 1848 under A. W. Hofmann. There he remained seven years, being for part of the time research assistant to Hofmann. His first researches dealt with platinum compounds ; the most important of a series dating from 1852 to 1865 described his discovery and isolation of mercuric methyl. On his marriage in 1865 and settlement at Weycombe, Haslemere, he abandoned the study of chemistry and took up again the thread of an early interest in entomology.

His first important research in natural history was a study of parthenogenesis in aphides, which led to his 'Monograph of British Aphides' (Ray Society, 4 vols. 1876-1883). This was followed by a 'Monograph of British Cicadas or Tettigiidse.' (2 vols. 1890-1), the 'Natural History of Eristalis Tenax or the Drone Fly' (1895), and a 'Monograph of the Membracidaa of the World' (1901-3). Meanwhile he pursued astronomical study in a private observatory until 1882, when he fell in trying to reach the long focus of a Newtonian telescope, fracturing his leg in two places, and lying for some hours undiscovered. He was elected F.R.S. in 1857, and contributed fourteen papers to scientific periodicals, two of them in conjunction with Prof. Hofmann, and one with Dr. Odling. He died from the effects of a chill on 25 Sept. 1905. In 1865 he married Mary Ann, daughter of George Odling of Croydon and sister of Prof. William Odling of Oxford. His wife survived him with a son and five daughters. His bust, by R. Hope-Pinker, was exhibited in the Royal Academy of 1904.

 BULLER, REDVERS HENRY (1839–1908), general, born at Downes, Crediton, co. Devon, on 7 Dec. 1839, was second son of James Wentworth Buller of Downes by Charlotte Juliana Jane, third daughter of Lord Henry Thomas Howard - Molyneux - Howard, a younger brother of Bernard Edward, twelfth Duke of Norfolk [q. v.]. His father, who graduated B.A. from Oriel College, Oxford, in 1819 and B.C.L. in 1824, and D.C.L. in 1829 from All Souls' College, was M.P. for Exeter and for North Devon, and died on 13 March 1865. His mother died on 15 Dec. 1855. The Builers had been settled in the west country for three centuries. Redvers Buller succeeded to the family manor of Downes on the death of his elder brother, James Howard Buller, on 13 Oct. 1874.

Buller was educated mainly at Eton, where he was fag to the present provost, Dr. Warre, who found him very solid and sturdy, with a will of his own. He was fond of outdoor pursuits, a bold rider, and very observant, but did not make his mark in games or scholarship. He was commissioned as ensign in the 60th (the king's royal rifle corps) on 23 May 1858, and after six months at the depot joined the second battalion at Benares. At the end of February 1860 it embarked for China, and in August it landed at Pehtang with the rest of the force under Sir James Hope Grant [q. v.], and took part in the occupation of Peking. Buller received the medal and clasp, but saw little fighting. He was promoted lieutenant on 9 Dec. 1862, and joined the fourth battalion at Quebec. It was commanded by Colonel Robert Hawley, to whom, Buller afterwards 