P. A. Buxton

Summary

Patrick Alfred Buxton CMG FRS FLS[1] (24 March 1892 – 13 December 1955) was a British medical entomologist.[2][3][4]

P. A. Buxton
Born
Patrick Alfred Buxton

(1892-03-24)24 March 1892
London, England
Died13 December 1955(1955-12-13) (aged 63)
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsEntomology

Origins edit

Patrick Buxton was born on 24 March 1892 in Hyde Park Street, Paddington, London,[5] son of the banker and politician Alfred Fowell Buxton (1854–1952) and his wife Violet Jex-Blake.

Career edit

Buxton was educated at Rugby School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated with first class honours in Natural Sciences in 1915. He was elected a fellow of the college in 1916. He continued his studies at St George's Hospital, London and qualified in medicine in 1917. Since it was during the First World War he immediately took up a commission in the Royal Army Medical Corps and served in Mesopotamia and North West Persia.

While in the middle east he collected extensively, and developed his interest in insects. In 1921 Buxton accepted the post of entomologist in the Medical Department in Palestine. From 1923 to January 1926 he was with a collecting expedition in Samoa. On returning to London he was appointed head of the Department of Entomology in the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. His work was focused on understanding insects in relation to control. He was involved in the practical control of pests such as lice, mosquitoes and flies during the Second World War. After the way in 1945–1946 he was involved in East Africa on the problem of the control of Tsetse flies.[6]

 
Linnean Medal. The awardee's name is shown on the reverse side

Awards and honours edit

Buxton was awarded the Linnean Medal, elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (1943), and Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (1947).

Marriage and family edit

Patrick Buxton married Muryell Gladys Rice (1895–1989) in March 1917 in Swansea, Glamorgan, Wales.[7]

Patrick and Muryell had two sons and four daughters:

He died on 13 December 1955 at his home Grit Howe, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire,[11] but his widow survived him by more than 30 years and died on 6 September 1989 in Oxford.[12]

References edit

  1. ^ a b Wigglesworth, V. B. (1956). "Patrick Alfred Buxton 1892-1955". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 2: 69–84. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1956.0005. JSTOR 769476. S2CID 40999958.
  2. ^ V. B. Wigglesworth (2004). "Buxton, Patrick Alfred (1892–1955), medical entomologist". In Clark, J. F. M (ed.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/32223. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. ^ Dr. P. A. Buxton (Obituaries) The Times Thursday, 15 Dec 1955; pg. 14; Issue 53404; col B
  4. ^ ‘BUXTON, Patrick Alfred’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 accessed 28 May 2013 {subscription required}
  5. ^ General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes. London, England: General Register Office. © Crown copyright. P
  6. ^ V.B. Wigglesworth, Patrick Alfred Buxton, 1892–1955: Biogr. Mem. Fellows R. Soc. 1956 2, 69–84, published 1 November 1956
  7. ^ General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes. London, England: General Register Office. © Crown copyright. Published by permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Office for National Statistics.
  8. ^ Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003. p.621.
  9. ^ Wright, (Arthur Robert) Donald in Who's Who online, accessed 31 March 2019, (subscription required)
  10. ^ "The Times , 1993, UK, English". Internet archive. The Times. 1993. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  11. ^ Principal Probate Registry. Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England. London, England © Crown copyright.
  12. ^ England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858–1966, 1973–1995

Patrick Alfred