Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 08.djvu/110

 over with impunity; that compensation ought to be awarded to those who had suffered unjustly; and that all further punishment on account of the disturbances ought to be remitted. The government accepted the first resolution, and the others were withdrawn on the understanding that inquiries should be made with the object, if possible, of carrying out the resolutions. Buxton, however, felt it incumbent upon him subsequently to call for an effectual censure and repudiation of the conduct of Mr. Eyre and his subordinates.

Buxton was an advocate of church reform, of disestablishment, and of security of tenure in Ireland. In general politics an independent liberal, he strongly advocated the system of cumulative voting; took a deep interest in the volunteer movement, but condemned all wars except those of defence.

Buxton inherited his father's intense affection for animals and his passion for outdoor sports. To these he added a love for architecture. He was the architect of his own beautiful seat of Fox Warren, in Surrey, and he gained a prize of 100l. in the competitive designs for the government offices in 1856, being placed sixth in the list of competitors. He was an admirer of Gothic architecture for modern buildings, and he designed the fountain near Westminster Abbey, built by himself in 1863, as a memorial of his father's anti-slavery labours. In 1866 Buxton published ‘The Ideas of the Day on Policy,’ and a pamphlet in 1869 on self-government for London.

On 9 April 1867 Buxton was thrown from his horse in the hunting-field, and suffered concussion of the brain. During his illness he studied the subject of anæsthetics, and offered a prize of 2,000l. for the discovery of an anæsthetic agent which should satisfy certain conditions.

Buxton's health began to fail rapidly towards the close of 1870. He died while he was staying at Lochearnhead, on 10 Aug. 1871. In 1850 Buxton married the eldest daughter of Sir Henry Holland, bart., M.D., by whom he had a family.

 BUXTON, JEDIDIAH (1707–1772), an untaught arithmetical genius, was born at Elmton, Derbyshire, on 20 March 1707. His grandfather was vicar of Elmton, and his father schoolmaster of the same parish. Notwithstanding his father's profession, Jedidiah never learned to write, and continued throughout his life to be employed as a farm-labourer. His inability to acquire the rudiments of education seems to have been caused by his absorbing passion for mental calculations, which occupied his mind to the exclusion of all other objects of attention, and in which he attained a degree of skill that made him the wonder of the neighbourhood. He was first brought into more general notice by a letter in the ‘Gentleman's Magazine’ for February 1751, signed G. Saxe (probably a pseudonym), which was shortly followed by two further communications from a Mr. Holliday, of Haughton Park, Nottinghamshire, who seems to have been the writer of the first letter. Among the many examples of Buxton's arithmetical feats which are given in these letters may be mentioned his calculation of the product of a farthing doubled 139 times. The result, expressed in pounds, extends to thirty-nine figures, and is correct so far as it can be readily verified by the use of logarithms. Buxton afterwards multiplied this enormous number by itself. It appears that he had invented an original nomenclature for large numbers, a ‘tribe’ being the cube of a million, and a ‘cramp’ (if Mr. Holliday's statement can be trusted) a thousand ‘tribes of tribes.’ In the spring of 1754 he walked to London, where he was entertained by ‘Sylvanus Urban’ at St. John's Gate. He was introduced to the Royal Society, before whom he gave some illustrations of his calculating powers. He was also taken to see Garrick in ‘Richard III,’ but paid no attention to the performance except to count the words spoken by the actors. In the ‘Gentleman's Magazine’ for June 1754 is a memoir of Buxton, accompanied by a portrait. His age is there given as forty-nine, which does not agree with the date of his birth as above stated on the authority of Lysons's ‘Magna Britannia.’ After spending some weeks in London he returned contentedly to his native village, where he was buried on 5 March 1772.

 BUXTON, RICHARD (1786–1865), botanist, was born at Sedgley Hall Farm, Prestwich, on 15 Jan. 1786. His father, John Buxton, was a farmer, and both parents were from Derbyshire. Richard was the second son of a family of seven, but his father, 