Charles Roden Buxton was an English philanthropist and radical British Liberal Party politician who later joined the Labour Party.
Background
He was born in London, the third son of Sir Thomas Buxton, 3rd Baronet. He grew up on the family estate in Essex and was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge, taking a first in Classics and becoming president of the Cambridge Union. After leaving university he travelled to South Australia, where his father was Governor, as well as other locations in France, the Far East, India and America.
Education
Harrow School; Trinity College.
Career
He took up law and was called to the bar in 1902. He gave lectures at Morley College and was principal there from 1902 to 1910. The Buxtons lived a frugal lifestyle - on their walking tours in the south of England, they were sometimes mistaken for tramps - and moved to Kennington, a working class area of London.
They had two children and later moved to the more affluent area of Golders Green.
He stood as a Liberal candidate in Hertford in 1906 and Ashburton in 1908. He was shot through the lung, but survived.
In 1917 he left the Liberal Party and joined the Independent Labour Party. As secretary to the Labour Party"s delegation to the Soviet Union in 1920, he was very impressed by what he saw, and wrote a book about it, In A Russian Village (1922).
Buxton was always much more effective behind the scenes, acting as policy advisor on foreign and colonial issues to the Labour Party.
He showed particular interest in the rights of indigenous people of Africa, and travelled widely in the continent. Another of his interests was Esperanto, becoming president of the British Esperantists. They were eager campaigners for peace, and were critical of what they perceived as the unfairness to Germany of the treaty of Versailles.
The outbreak of war was a great disappointment to them both.
Charles retired from politics in 1939 and lived in his daughter"s house in Peaslake, Surrey, where he died and was buried in 1942. Although he had two children, he left most of his estate to charity.
Politics
His elder brother Noel Buxton was a prominent figure in British politics, as was his cousin Sidney Buxton. He wrote articles on various subjects and edited the Albany Review from 1906 to 1908.
Membership
29th United Kingdom Parliament. 32nd United Kingdom Parliament. 35th United Kingdom Parliament]
Eventually he was elected as a member of Parliament in Ashburton in 1910 but lost his seat in the second election of that year.
With Dorothy, he became a member of the Society of Friends.