Family and Education

b. c.1533, 1st s. of John Buxton by his w. Margaret Warner of Winfarthing. educ. Trinity Hall, Camb. 1547 (impubes); I. Temple 1553, called 1572. m. Joan, da. and coh. of Robert Heron or Herne of Tibenham, 3s. 5da. suc. fa. 1572.2

Offices Held

Bencher, I. Temple 1574; j.p. Norf. from c.1590; servant of 4th Duke of Norfolk; surveyor general for Norf. and Suff. lands of Philip, 13th Earl of Arundel.3

Biography

Buxton’s positions in the service of the Duke of Norfolk and, later, of the Earl of Arundel, explain his return to Parliament on three occasions for Sussex boroughs. He was licensed to be absent from Parliament for the Duke of Norfolk’s affairs, both in 1559 and 1563. Buxton was suspected of complicity in the Ridolfi plot, and spent two years in prison. Later, in October 1586, he was mentioned as among those regularly visiting the Earl of Arundel in the Tower ‘for his law courses’, thus keeping him informed of events in the outside world. He was described by the Earl in his will as ‘my loving friend’, and was left a piece of silver plate.4

He held considerable property both in Norfolk and Suffolk. His lands in Tibenham, which almost certainly came to him by his marriage, included the four manors of Chanons, Hackford, Seckford and Westhall. He also held the manor of Aslacton and Aslacton priory, and in 1585 became tenant at Rushworth, where he restored the collegiate church suppressed in 1541. He obtained a licence from the Crown in 1599 to purchase this property from the Howards, and thenceforth Buxton and his family maintained the church and its services at their own expense. His Suffolk lands included certain appurtenances of Rushworth and the manor of North Glemham.5

He died 15 Nov. 1607, leaving as heir his grandson Robert, aged nearly 19, who had married only ten days earlier. In his will, dated 9 Nov. of that year, Buxton asked for burial in the aisle of Tibenham church and left money for the poor of several Norfolk parishes. His wife and eldest son John having died, he appointed as executors Robert Cocke and Robert Howard, who were made trustees of the Rushworth property for ten years, after which it was to pass to his grandson Robert and his heirs. By an indenture in the previous month he had also settled on them Chanons in Tibenham. In January 1607 he had settled the manor of North Glemham in Suffolk on one of his younger sons, Robert. The will was challenged by Elizabeth Buxton, perhaps the eldest son’s widow, but was proved by sentence 21 June 1610.6

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: J.E.M.

Notes

• 1. Add. 38823, ff. 17-21.
• 2. F. Blomefield, Norf. v. 283; Vis. Norf. (Harl. Soc. xxxii), 62.
• 3. APC, xxx. 31, 307; HMC Var. ii. 243.
• 4. Fuidge thesis; Cath. Rec. Soc. xxi. 153, 376-7, 381; Lansd. 106, ff. 152, 193; CJ, i. 58, 69.
• 5. Wards 7/41/203, 36/68, 66/194; Norf. Arch. x. 300-1.
• 6. PCC 58 Wingfield.