Richard Buxton (botanist)

According to his obituary in the Journal of Botany, British and Foreign, Buxton was one of "nature's gentlemen" and "his true and correct pronunciation of scientific terms have caused many who heard him to believe he was an accomplished classical scholar".

[6] True, the pursuit of Botany has not yielded me much money — but what, in my opinion is far better, it has preserved my health, if not my life, and afforded me a fair share of happiness From 1821 to 1826 the pressures of work took him away from his botanical rambles, but in spring 1826 he made more frequent excursions.

[7] Horsefield introduced him to other local botanists such as James Percival, Thomas Heywood and John Shaw with whom, during the summer of 1826, he made a number of excursions to Mere Clough in Prestwich, Clifton Moss and Baguley Moor.

[8] For several years, for a variety of reasons, Buxton's study of botany fell by the wayside, but in 1833 he attended a botanical meeting in Prestwich, where he met his old acquaintances.

They became firm friends and, in search of plants, explored Chorlton, Withington, Didsbury and many other regions of Lancashire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Yorkshire and Wales.

[8] In 1839 Buxton was invited to join the natural history class at the Manchester Mechanics' Institute where he helped compile the Flora Mancuniensis (1840) along with Leo Hartley Grindon, George Crozier and James Crowther under the editorship of John Bland Wood.

He became an acknowledged expert on mosses, and William Hooker, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew was so impressed with his skills that he hoped to employ him as a herbarium assistant.

[10] In 1849, aged 62, he published a book: A Botanical Guide to the Flowering Plants, Ferns, Mosses and Algæ, Found Indigenous Within Sixteen Miles of Manchester, written with the help of other local botanists and geologist Edward William Binney.

[11] As Buxton's trade fell into decline he tried to survive by working as a botanical collector and delivering newspapers, but eventually had to rely on a fund set up by Binney for 'the relief and encouragement of scientific men in humble life'.