GB 0809 Buxton - BUXTON, Patrick Alfred (1892-1955)

Identity area

Reference code

GB 0809 Buxton

Title

BUXTON, Patrick Alfred (1892-1955)

Date(s)

  • 1908-1957 (Creation)

Level of description

Extent and medium

5 boxes

Context area

Name of creator

Biographical history

Patrick Alfred Buxton, born London, 1892, educated at home until the age of ten and was influenced by his father's family tradition (an old Quaker custom) of spare time nature study, less so by his mother's family's insistence on classical languages - she was a Jex-Blake, sister of the Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge, and of the Principal of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.

At Trinity College, Cambridge, Walter Fletcher encouraged Buxton's studies in the Natural Sciences Tripos. During the Great War he qualified in medicine at St George's, and then spent his time in the Royal Army Medical Corps collecting insects in Mesopotamia and Persia. During the 1920s he gradually equipped himself for his future role as an eminent medical entomologist, working in Cambridge, London and abroad. From 1923-1925 he led an expedition to Samoa, New Hebrides and the Western Pacific Islands.

In 1925 Buxton succeeded Col A Alcock as Director of the Department of Entomology in the new London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and became the Professor of Entomology in London University in 1933. With V B Wigglesworth he built up the study and teaching of insect physiology and medical entomology in the School. His studies of lice (The louse, 1939,1947) involved students, friends and family members as incubators and have become legendary. According to Wigglesworth his crowning achievement was The natural history of tsetse-flies, 1954.

Buxton did invaluable work on insecticides leading to the control of typhus in the war in Italy and elsewhere. Buxton wrote papers on many other zoological subjects and has several species of birds to his credit. He was elected a member of the Medical Research Council, President of the Royal Entomological Society and of the Linnean Society. In addition, he was a member of many other learned bodies. At the time of his death in 1955, he had had the longest service of any member of the active staff of the School.

Archival history

GB 0809 Buxton 1908-1957 Collection (fonds) 5 boxes Buxton , Patrick Alfred , 1892-1955 , entomologist

Patrick Alfred Buxton, born London, 1892, educated at home until the age of ten and was influenced by his father's family tradition (an old Quaker custom) of spare time nature study, less so by his mother's family's insistence on classical languages - she was a Jex-Blake, sister of the Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge, and of the Principal of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.

At Trinity College, Cambridge, Walter Fletcher encouraged Buxton's studies in the Natural Sciences Tripos. During the Great War he qualified in medicine at St George's, and then spent his time in the Royal Army Medical Corps collecting insects in Mesopotamia and Persia. During the 1920s he gradually equipped himself for his future role as an eminent medical entomologist, working in Cambridge, London and abroad. From 1923-1925 he led an expedition to Samoa, New Hebrides and the Western Pacific Islands.

In 1925 Buxton succeeded Col A Alcock as Director of the Department of Entomology in the new London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and became the Professor of Entomology in London University in 1933. With V B Wigglesworth he built up the study and teaching of insect physiology and medical entomology in the School. His studies of lice (The louse, 1939,1947) involved students, friends and family members as incubators and have become legendary. According to Wigglesworth his crowning achievement was The natural history of tsetse-flies, 1954.

Buxton did invaluable work on insecticides leading to the control of typhus in the war in Italy and elsewhere. Buxton wrote papers on many other zoological subjects and has several species of birds to his credit. He was elected a member of the Medical Research Council, President of the Royal Entomological Society and of the Linnean Society. In addition, he was a member of many other learned bodies. At the time of his death in 1955, he had had the longest service of any member of the active staff of the School.

Papers of Patrick Alfred Buxton, 1908-1957, relate to his employment as Head of Entomology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 1927-1955, and notably include research notes, correspondence, maps, diaries and publications.

Arranged into seven series.

This collection is open for consultation. Please contact the Archivist to arrange an appointment. All researchers must complete and sign a user registration form which signifies their agreement to abide by the archive rules. All researchers are required to provide proof of identity bearing your signature (for example, a passport or debit card) when registering. Please see website for further information at www.lshtm.ac.uk/library/archives.

Photocopies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Archivist.

English

Papers relating to Patrick Alfred Buxton are also held at the Natural History Museum; 1940-1945: correspondence with GE Blackman at Oxford University: Bodleian Library, Special Collections and Western Manuscripts; 1943: correspondence with Edward Hindle at Glasgow University Archive Services; 1930-1936: letters to CJ Wainwright at the Royal Entomological Society.

Compiled by Victoria Killick, LSHTM Archivist and edited by Samantha Velumyl, AIM25 cataloguer.
Sources: Prevention and Cure The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, A 20th Century Quest for Global Public Health, Lise Wilkinson and Anne Hardy, (Kegan Paul Limited, 2001). History of the School of Tropical Medicine in London (1899-1949) Sir Philip Manson-Bahr, (London, H K Lewis & Co Ltd, 1956).

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

February 2008 Buxton , Patrick Alfred , 1892-1955 , entomologist Diaries Documents Entomology Higher science education Information sources Literary forms and genres Literature London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Maps Medical education Medical research Nonfiction Primary documents Prose Visual materials Zoology

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Papers of Patrick Alfred Buxton, 1908-1957, relate to his employment as Head of Entomology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 1927-1955, and notably include research notes, correspondence, maps, diaries and publications.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Arranged into seven series.

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

This collection is open for consultation. Please contact the Archivist to arrange an appointment. All researchers must complete and sign a user registration form which signifies their agreement to abide by the archive rules. All researchers are required to provide proof of identity bearing your signature (for example, a passport or debit card) when registering. Please see website for further information at www.lshtm.ac.uk/library/archives.

Conditions governing reproduction

Photocopies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Archivist.

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

  • Latin

Language and script notes

English

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

Papers relating to Patrick Alfred Buxton are also held at the Natural History Museum; 1940-1945: correspondence with GE Blackman at Oxford University: Bodleian Library, Special Collections and Western Manuscripts; 1943: correspondence with Edward Hindle at Glasgow University Archive Services; 1930-1936: letters to CJ Wainwright at the Royal Entomological Society.

Related descriptions

Publication note

Notes area

Note

Alternative identifier(s)

Access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Rules and/or conventions used

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

Language(s)

  • English

Script(s)

    Sources

    Accession area