Major Aubrey Leland Oakes Buxton, Baron Buxton of Alsa (15 July 1918 – 1 September 2009) was a British soldier, politician, television executive, and writer.

Biography

Early life

Buxton was born on 15 July 1918 in Oxford to Ada Mary Oakes and Leland William Wilberforce Buxton, who was then a captain in the British Army intelligence serving in Cairo. His paternal grandparents were Sir Fowell Buxton, 3rd Baronet, Governor of South Australia, and Lady Victoria Noel, daughter of the 1st Earl of Gainsborough. His uncles were Lord Noel Buxton, Charles Buxton, M.P., and Harold Buxton, Bishop of Gibraltar. He was the great-great-grandson of the anti-slavery campaigner Sir Thomas Buxton. He was educated at Ampleforth College in Yorkshire and graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge. He served in the Royal Artillery in the Second World War and was decorated with the Military Cross in 1943.

Career

From 1958 to 1988, he was a Director of Anglia Television. He was best known for creating the nature documentary series Survival, which ran for four decades.

Philanthropy

In 1961, he was one of the co-founders of the World Wildlife Fund. As well as the WWF, he was involved with the Natural History Museum, the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and the London Zoological Society. In 1976, he and Lady Buxton donated a 10-hectare estate near Elsenham to the Essex Wildlife Trust, and it is named the Aubrey Buxton Nature Reserve. In 1964, he was Extra Equerry to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and in 1972 High Sheriff of Essex. He became Deputy Lieutenant of Essex in 1975 and held this office until 1985.

Peerage

On 11 May 1978, he was created a life peer as Baron Buxton of Alsa, of Stiffkey in the County of Norfolk. In 1996, Buxton, was invested as a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO).

Personal life

He was married twice: firstly to Pamela Mary "Maria" Birkin, daughter of Sir Henry Birkin, 3rd Baronet, on 14 November 1946; and secondly (having been widowed in 1983) to Mrs. Kathleen Peterson, an American writer on 16 July 1988. His first marriage produced six children, one of whom, Cindy, is a noted filmmaker.

Death

He died on 1 September 2009, aged 91, from undisclosed causes.