Family Name History
The English surname Buxton has two possible origins. It may have been derived from the town-name Buxton where in England, two towns have this name, one in Derbyshire and the other in Norfolk. Alternatively, it could have come from the Old English personal name ‘Bucstan’ or ‘Burgstan’. The name is commonly found in Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire. In the eighteenth century the modern spelling, ‘Buxton’ with an ‘x’ became widespread; this is now by far the most common spelling. A relatively high number of instances of the name were registered in Boston in the nineteenth century indicating a wave of emigration to the United States.
There are two early recorded instances of the name in England: Warner Buckston, and Andreas Bucston, both of Huntingdonshire, recorded in the Hundred Rolls of 1273. In 1669 the Marriage Licences of Canterbury recorded a marriage between Edward Weeks and Adry Buckston.
One notable Buxton was Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton (1786-1845), an English reformer, who worked to reform prisons and was an opponent of the slave trade.
BLAZON OF ARMS: Argent; a lion rampant sable, between two mullets of the same.
TRANSLATION: The lion is regarded as the symbol of Kingship and Majesty, owing to his position as King of the Beasts. The mullet, or star, represents Honour and Achievement in service to the state.
CREST: The head and shoulders of a stag, wearing a collar of the same from which is suspended an escutcheon argent charged with the head of an African sable.
TRANSLATION: The stag is symbolic of purity, fleetness and a solitary life.
MOTTO: Do it with thy might