Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton BT. MP. 1786-1845 Buxton led the Parliamentary campaign responsible for the 1833 Act freeing the 700,000 slaves then held in the West Indies and elsewhere in the British Empire. Married into the Quaker Banking family of the Gurneys, he worked with Elizabeth Fry to improve conditions in prisons and reduce the number of crimes deemed worthy of the death penalty. He spoke at the Friends Meeting House in Norwich and used St Andrews Hall to organize meetings in favour of his various causes.