The Right Honourable The Earl Buxton GCMG PC
Governor-General of South Africa
In office 8 September 1914 – 17 November 1920
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	Louis Botha Jan Smuts
Preceded by	The Viscount Gladstone
Succeeded by	Prince Arthur of Connaught
President of the Board of Trade
In office 14 February 1910 – 11 February 1914
Prime Minister	H. H. Asquith
Preceded by	Winston Churchill
Succeeded by	John Burns
Postmaster General
In office 10 December 1905 – 14 February 1910
Prime Minister	Henry Campbell-Bannerman H. H. Asquith
Preceded by	The Lord Stanley
Succeeded by	Herbert Samuel
Personal details
Born	(1853-10-25)25 October 1853 London, England
Died	15 October 1934(1934-10-15) (aged 80) Newtimber,West Sussex, England
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	Constance Mary Lubbock ​ ​ (m. 1882; died 1892)​ Mildred Anne Smith ​ (m. 1896)​
Children	6
Parent	Charles Buxton (father)
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge
Profession	Member of Parliament

Sydney Charles Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton,GCMG, PC (25 October 1853 – 15 October 1934) was a radical BritishLiberal politician of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.^[1][2] He also served as the secondGovernor-General of South Africa from 1914 to 1920.

Buxton was the son ofCharles Buxton^[3] and grandson of social reformerSir Thomas Fowell Buxton, 1st Baronet. His mother was Emily Mary, daughter of the physician and travellerSir Henry Holland, 1st Baronet. He was born in London and educated atClifton College andTrinity College, Cambridge,^[4] and was a member of theLondon School Board from 1876 to 1882.

In 1880, Buxton became prominent in political circles by the publication of hisHandbook to the Political Questions of the Day, a work which eventually went through 11 editions. That same year, he ran forParliament forBoston, but lost. However, he became an MP in 1883 by winning a by-election inPeterborough. He was defeated in the1885 general election, but returned to Parliament the very next year, representingPoplar. He would represent this constituency in Parliament until 1914.^[1]

From 1892 to 1895, Buxton served asUnder-Secretary of State for the Colonies. In 1905, he earned his firstCabinet post, that ofPostmaster-General. In this capacity he introduced such services as penny postage to the United States, the Canadian magazine post, and cheap postage for theblind. In 1910, Buxton was namedpresident of the Board of Trade; in this position he oversaw the passage or amendment of many trade and commerce laws. Upon the sinking of theRMSTitanic in 1912, he askedLord Loreburn, theLord Chancellor, to appoint a commission of inquiry into the disaster. This commission eventually came to be headed byLord Mersey.^[1]

In February 1914, Buxton was appointedGovernor-General of South Africa, and on 11 May of that year he was raised to thepeerage asViscount Buxton, ofNewtimber in theCounty of Sussex.^[5] A revolt by some of the South African populace on the outbreak of theFirst World War temporarily threatened his safety, but the country'sPrime Minister,GeneralLouis Botha, immediately attached theUnion of South Africa to Britain. Thereafter, Lord Buxton and General Botha formed an effective partnership, planning and executing South African actions in the war, including the invasion of the neighbouring German colony ofSouth West Africa. Lord Buxton travelled widely throughoutSouth Africa, and endeared himself to the people. Upon his retirement in 1920, the people demonstrated their affection for him. He continued his interest in South African affairs after returning to England, serving as president of theAfrican Society from 1920 to 1933.^{[citation needed]}

He was createdEarl Buxton on 8 November 1920,^[6] and continued to be a member of theLiberal Party, often supporting his close friend and colleagueSir Edward Grey. In his later years, he had to undergoamputation of his leg due to a knee injury sustained earlier in his life.

He died atNewtimber on 15 October 1934.^[1]

Lord Buxton was twice married, firstly in 1882 to Constance Mary Lubbock (died 1892), second daughter ofJohn Lubbock, and secondly in 1896 toMildred Anne Smith, elder daughter ofHugh Colin Smith,governor of the Bank of England, ofMount Clare, Roehampton, a sister of the bankerVivian Smith and ofAdmiralSir Aubrey Smith,RN.^[1]

By his first wife, he had two sons and one daughter, of whom the sons both died in his lifetime. By his second wife, he had one son and two daughters, of whom the son and the elder daughter died in his lifetime.^[1]

By his first wife, Constance Mary Lubbock (died 3 November 1892):^[7]

• Charles Sydney Buxton (26 May 1884 – 31 August 1911); died unmarried. He proposed marriage toOctavia Wilberforce (1888–1963), a descendant of the reformer, but she refused him.
• Kenneth Sydney Buxton (4 September 1886 – 27 August 1894); died in childhood, aged seven.
• Lady Phyllis Sydney Buxton (17 April 1888 – 27 January 1942), later Phyllis PonsonbyOBE; married 23 September 1918 the Rev.Maurice George Jesser Ponsonby (1880–1943), a grandson ofCharles Ponsonby, 2nd Baron de Mauley. The couple had one son and three daughters who survived to adulthood, their eldest daughter having died young.^[8][9]

By his second wife,Mildred Anne, Countess BuxtonDBE JP (1866–1955):^[7]

• Lady Doreen Maria Josepha Sydney Buxton (29 November 1897 – 28 July 1923), a fraternal twin; married 24 January 1918Charles Alfred Euston Fitzroy, a scion of theDukes of Grafton. She died aged 25, shortly after the birth of her third child. After her death, her husband remarried. His second wife, Lucy Eleanor Barnes (died 1943), was a first cousin of his first wife through her Buxton mother, in 1924. Twice widowed, he married, thirdly, in 1944. He succeeded to the dukedom in August 1936 when a young cousin,The 9th Duke of Grafton, was killed in a motoring race.
• The Hon Denis Bertram Sydney Buxton (29 November 1897 – 9 October 1917), a fraternal twin; killed in action, aged 19,Passchendaele, as a Second Lieutenant in theColdstream Guards. At the time of his death, he was his father's only surviving son and heir to his viscountcy. The location of his grave is unknown and he is commemorated on Panel Nine of theTyne Cot Cemetery, a memorial bearing the names of some 35,000 men of the British and New Zealand forces who have no known grave, nearly all of whom died between August 1917 and November 1918.
• Lady Alethea Constance Dorothy Sydney Buxton (2 August 1910 – 25 July 2004); married VenerablePeter Charles Eliot,TD,MBE (30 October 1910 – 1995), son of Edward Granville Eliot (himself grandson ofThe 3rd Earl of St Germans) and Clare Louise Phelips, on 12 July 1934. They had no issue, and Lady Alethea died aged 93 in 2004.

Since all his sons died unmarried in his lifetime, his titles became extinct at his death. Earl Buxton was survived by his second wife Mildred (died 1955) and his youngest daughter Lady Althea Eliot (died 2004), and by eight grandchildren including the futureDuke of Grafton (1919–2011).

• Handbook to Political Questions of the Day (1880).
• Mr. Gladstone's Irish Bills (1886).
• Finance and Politics: An Historical Study, 1783–1885. Volume I and Volume II (1888).
• Mr. Gladstone as Chancellor of the Exchequer (1901).
• Fishing and Shooting (1902).
• The Arguments on either side of the Fiscal Question (1903).
• General Botha (1924).

• Hesilrige, Arthur G. M. (1921).Debrett's Peerage and Titles of courtesy. London: London: Dean & son, limited. p. 158.
• Hansard 1803–2005:contributions in Parliament by Sydney Buxton
• Titanic's Supreme Survivor – Sydney Buxton

• 1853 births
• 1934 deaths
• Earls in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
• Governors-general of South Africa
• Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
• Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
• Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
• People educated at Clifton College
• UK MPs 1880–1885
• UK MPs 1886–1892
• UK MPs 1892–1895
• UK MPs 1895–1900
• UK MPs 1900–1906
• UK MPs 1906–1910
• UK MPs 1910
• UK MPs 1910–1918
• UK MPs who were granted peerages
• Postmasters general of the United Kingdom
• Politics of Peterborough
• Buxton family
• Members of the London School Board
• British amputees
• Freemasons of the United Grand Lodge of England
• Presidents of the Board of Trade
• People from Newtimber
• Viscounts created by George V
• Peers created by George V
• British politicians with disabilities
• British royalty and nobility with disabilities

• Pages containing London Gazette template with parameter supp set to y
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use British English from October 2013
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English
• Use dmy dates from May 2021
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from April 2016