Born at Deeping St James, a village near Peterborough, Buddle was educated at Woodbridge School and St Catharine's College, Cambridge,[1] where he gained a BA in 1681, and a MA four years later.
[1] Buddle was ordained as a deacon in 1685 and priest of the Church of England in December 1702,[2] obtaining a living at North Fambridge, near Maldon, Essex, in 1703.
[3] His life between graduation and ordination remains obscure, although it is known he lived in or around Hadleigh, Suffolk, that he established a reputation as an authority on bryophytes, and that he married Elizabeth Eveare in 1695, with whom he had several children.
[4] Buddle died at Gray's Inn in 1715 and was buried at the church of St Andrew, Holborn.
[3] It is popularly believed that Buddle was posthumously commemorated by Linnaeus, who named the genus Buddleja in his honour,[5] but this is not certain.