Buxton, Sir Thomas Fowell [key], 1786–1845, British social reformer. As a member of Parliament (1818–37) he began his reform activities immediately with the publication of An Inquiry Whether Crime and Misery Are Produced or Prevented by Our Present System of Prison Discipline; this work led to the establishment of the Society for the Reformation of Prison Discipline. An abolitionist, Buxton succeeded William Wilberforce as leader of the antislavery group. His efforts resulted in the passage of an act (1833) abolishing slavery in the British colonies. He wrote The African Slave Trade (1839) and The Remedy (1840, 2d ed. 1967).
See his memoirs (ed. by his son Charles Buxton, 1872).
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