Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

Aubrey Leland Oakes Buxton, Baron Buxton of Alsa (15 July 1918 – 1 September 2009) was a British soldier, politician, television executive, and writer.

Biography

Early life

Buxton was born on 15 July 1918 in Oxford to Ada Mary Oakes and Leland William Wilberforce Buxton, who was then a captain in the British Army intelligence serving in Cairo. His paternal grandparents were

Sir Fowell Buxton, 3rd Baronet Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, 3rd Baronet, (26 January 1837 – 28 October 1915), commonly known as Sir Fowell Buxton, was the Governor of South Australia from 29 October 1895 until 29 March 1899. He was the grandson of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, a ...

Governor of South Australia The governor of South Australia is the representative in South Australia of the monarch, currently King Charles III. The governor performs the same constitutional and ceremonial functions at the state level as does the governor-general of Aust ...

, and Lady Victoria Noel, daughter of the 1st Earl of Gainsborough. His uncles were Lord Noel Buxton,

Charles Buxton Charles Buxton (18 November 1822 – 10 August 1871) was an English brewer, philanthropist, writer and member of Parliament. Personal life and architectural legacy Buxton was born on 18 November 1822 in Cromer, Norfolk, the third son of Sir T ...

, M.P., and Harold Buxton, Bishop of Gibraltar. He was the great-great-grandson of the anti-slavery campaigner Sir Thomas Buxton. He was educated at

Ampleforth College Ampleforth College is a co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding and day school in the English Public school (United Kingdom), public school tradition. It opened in 1803 as a boys' school. It is near the villa ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

and graduated from

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

. He served in the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and was decorated with the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level until 1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) Other ranks (UK), other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth of ...

in 1943.

Career

From 1958 to 1988, he was a Director of

Anglia Television ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated b ...

. He was best known for creating the

nature documentary A nature documentary or wildlife documentary is a genre of documentary film or television documentary, series about animals, plants, or other non-human living creatures. Nature documentaries usually concentrate on video taken in the subject's nat ...

series ''Survival'', which ran for four decades.

Philanthropy

In 1961, he was one of the co-founders of the

World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the ...

.Obituary
''The Daily Telegraph''. Accessed 8 February 2023. As well as the WWF, he was involved with the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

, the

Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) is an international wildfowl and wetland conservation charity in the United Kingdom. History The trust was founded in 1946 by the ornithologist and artist Sir Peter Scott as the Severn Wildfowl Trust. ...

and the

London Zoological Society The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity and organization devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained London Zoo, and since 1931 Whipsnade Zoo. History ...

. In 1976, he and Lady Buxton donated a 10-hectare estate near

Elsenham Elsenham is a village and civil parish in north-west Essex in eastern England. Its neighbouring settlements include Bishop's Stortford, Saffron Walden and Stansted Mountfitchet. History Elsenham is recorded in the ''Domesday Book'' of 1086 as ...

to the

Essex Wildlife Trust The Essex Wildlife Trust (EWT) is one of 46 The Wildlife Trusts, wildlife trusts which cover the United Kingdom. The EWT was founded in 1959, and it describes itself as Essex's leading conservation charity, which aims to protect wildlife for the ...

, and it is named the

Aubrey Buxton Nature Reserve Aubrey Buxton Nature Reserve is a nature reserve west of Elsenham in Essex. It was donated to the Essex Wildlife Trust by Aubrey Buxton and his wife in 1976. The site was previously a park for Norman House. It is woodland on a sandy and gravel ...

. In 1964, he was Extra Equerry to

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 19219 April 2021), was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he was the consort of the British monarch from h ...

and in 1972

High Sheriff of Essex The High Sheriff of Essex was an ancient sheriff title originating in the time of the Angles, not long after the invasion of the Kingdom of England, which was in existence for around a thousand years. On 1 April 1974, under the provisions of th ...

. He became Deputy Lieutenant of Essex in 1975 and held this office until 1985.

Peerage

On 11 May 1978, he was created a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

as Baron Buxton of Alsa, ''of

Stiffkey Stiffkey () is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the north coast of the England, English county of Norfolk. It is situated on the A149 road, A149 coast road, some east of Wells-next-the-Sea, west of Blakeney, Norfolk, ...

in the

County of Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and east, Cambridgeshire to the west, a ...

''. In 1996, Buxton, was invested as a

Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order () is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch, members of the royal family, or to any viceroy or senior representative of the m ...

(KCVO).

Personal life

He was married twice: firstly to Pamela Mary "Maria" Birkin, daughter of

Sir Henry Birkin, 3rd Baronet Sir Henry Ralph Stanley Birkin, 3rd Baronet (26 July 1896 – 22 June 1933), known as Tim Birkin, was a British racing driver, one of the "Bentley Boys" of the 1920s. Background and family Birkin was born into a wealthy Nottingham family in ...

, on 14 November 1946; and secondly (having been widowed in 1983) to Kathleen Peterson, an American writer on 16 July 1988. His first marriage produced six children, one of whom,

Cindy Cindy may refer to: People *Cindy (given name), a list of people named Cindy, Cindi, Cyndi or Cyndy *Tugiyati Cindy (born 1985), Indonesian footballer *Cindy (singer), Japanese singer Music * ''Cindy'' (musical), an off-Broadway production in 1 ...

, is a noted filmmaker.

Death

He died on 1 September 2009, aged 91, from undisclosed causes.

Bibliography

*''The Birds of Arakan'' (1946) *''The King in his Country'' (1955) *''

The London Scene ''The London Scene'' is the name given to a series of six essays that Virginia Woolf wrote for ''Good Housekeeping'' magazine in 1931 and 1932. The title was not chosen by Woolf but comes from the 1975 republication of five of the essays. Origina ...

'' (1961)

References

External links

* 1918 births 2009 deaths Conservative Party (UK) life peers Deputy lieutenants of Essex Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Recipients of the Military Cross Royal Artillery officers British Army personnel of World War II British conservationists English television executives Equerries High sheriffs of Essex Military personnel from Oxford Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge People educated at Ampleforth College Presidents of the Royal Television Society

Aubrey Aubrey () is a traditionally male English language, English name. It was quite common in the Middle Ages, but had lost favour for a time before experiencing a resurgence of popularity in the 19th century. In the United States, following the 1973 ...

People from Stiffkey 20th-century English businesspeople Life peers created by Elizabeth II {{UK-army-bio-stub