Sir Thomas Fowell Victor Buxton, 4th Baronet, (8 April 1865 – 31 May 1919) – who went by the name Victor Buxton – was the great-grandson of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, a British MP and social reformer; the grandson of Sir Edward North Buxton

Sir Edward Buxton, 2nd Baronet

Sir Edward North Buxton, 2nd Baronet was a British Liberal Party politician.He was the son of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton and his wife, Hannah Gurney...

, also an MP; and the son of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, a Governor of South Australia.

He graduated B.A.

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 from Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...

 in 1887. He married Anne Louisa Matilda O'Rorke on 10 October 1888 and they had 7 children: Thomas Fowell (1889), Roden Henry Victor (1890), Clarence Edward Victor (1892), Lucy Victoria, (1893), Jocelyn Murray Victor (1896), Maurice Victor, (1898), and Rupert Erroll Victor (1900). Jocelyn and Maurice died in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. Rupert drowned near Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

 at the age of 21 with his close friend Michael Llewelyn Davies, the foster son of writer J. M. Barrie

J. M. Barrie

Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM was a Scottish author and dramatist, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. The child of a family of small-town weavers, he was educated in Scotland. He moved to London, where he developed a career as a novelist and playwright...

. This happened at Sandford Lock

Sandford Lock

Sandford Lock is a lock on the River Thames in England, situated at Sandford-on-Thames which is just South of Oxford. The first pound lock was built in 1631 by the Oxford-Burcot Commission although this has since been rebuilt...

, a section of the River Thames that was even then infamous as a drowning hazard; there were warning signs and a conspicuous memorial for previous victims. Friends and family judged this to be either a swimming accident, or possibly a suicide pact.

Buxton served as Temporary Major in the 2nd Battalion, Essex Volunteer Regiment. He was a Justice of the Peace

Justice of the Peace

A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...

, and in 1905 the High Sheriff of Essex

High Sheriff of Essex

The High Sheriff of Essex was an ancient High 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...

. He died on 31 May 1919 at age 54, as a result of a freak accident with his own new motor car.