Papers of Sydney Charles Buxton, Viscount afterwards Earl Buxton, (b.1853, d.1934) and his family; 1814-2001, n.d. Partly typewritten copies. The Buxton Papers include material relating to Sydney Buxton’s official and private interests, and to his family from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Sydney Charles Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton: Papers of S. C. Buxton and his family: 1814-2001, n.d.

The Buxton Papers are divided into three sections. The first section, ‘Sydney Buxton Papers’, contains official and personal material relating to Sydney Buxton. It is divided into Official Files, Subject Files, Writings, Correspondence, Albums, Press Cuttings, Biographical Papers, and Miscellaneous. The Official Files include material relating to the four official posts held by Sydney Buxton (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, Postmaster-General of the United Kingdom, President of the Board of Trade, and Governor-General of the Union of South Africa). His period as a Member of Parliament and other roles, activities, and interests are covered by the other sub-sections, in particular the Subject Files, where Buxton’s original arrangement by topic has generally been retained and developed.

The second section, ‘Buxton Family Papers’, includes material relating to individual family members, in addition to general family, family-related, and unattributable material. Where possible, the papers within each of the sub-sections in this section have been organised on the model of the ‘Sydney Buxton Papers’ section, ie. official/legal papers, subject files, writings, correspondence, albums, press cuttings, biographical papers, and miscellaneous.

The final section, ‘Material Relating to the Buxton Papers’, comprises later papers and material relating to the acquisition of the Buxton Papers by the British Library. Eight ‘Edison Voicewriter’ discs received with the papers have been transferred to the Sound Archive.

Sydney Buxton was the Member of Parliament for Peterborough (1883-1885) and Poplar (1886-1914). He served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies (1892-1895), Postmaster-General of the United Kingdom (1905-1910), President of the Board of Trade (1910-1914), and Governor-General of the Union of South Africa (1914-1920). He was made a Viscount in 1914 and Earl in 1920.

British Library arrangement.

Unrestricted

For further papers of Sydney Buxton in the British Library, see especially Add. 41235-41240 passim (correspondence with Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman), Add. 43553-43555 (correspondence with Lord Ripon), Add. 44498-44789 passim (correspondence with W. E. Gladstone), Add. 49649-49681 passim (letters to Lord Avebury), and Add. 62484 (reports to Lord Milner from South Africa). The present papers were used extensively by Daniel Waley for his biography A liberal life: Sydney, Earl Buxton 1853-1934 (Hassocks: Newtimber, 1999). For Mildred Buxton, see also Margaret Cropper and William Barnes, eds., Mildred Buxton. A memoir based upon her letters [Orpington: Orpington Press, 1966]. Presented by Lady Alethea Eliot, daughter of Sydney Buxton, through Mrs John Clay, in July 2000.