He had only decided to compete at the last moment. On the successful completion of the building in the following year, he was knighted. Between 1853 and 1854 he superintended the re-erection of his Crystal Palace at Sydenham, becoming director of the gardens there, but he did not abandon the control of the Duke of Devonshire's Derbyshire estate. His organised corps of navvies at Sydenham led him to suggest to the government the formation of the army works corps during the Crimean war, and the organisation proved of considerable utility. In 1854 Paxton was elected member of parliament for Coventry in the liberal interest, and continued to represent that borough until his death. He was also largely engaged in railway management, being an excellent man of business, and designed many important buildings, including Baron Rothschild's mansion at Ferrières. Paxton died at his residence, Rockhills, Sydenham, on 8 June 1865. In 1827 he married Sarah Bown. He became a fellow of the Horticultural Society in 1826, and was afterwards vice-president; he was elected fellow of the Linnean Society in 1833, and received the Russian order of St. Vladimir in 1844. His name was commemorated by Lindley in the genus Paxtonia among orchids; but this name is not retained by botanists.
He edited: 1. With Joseph Harrison, ‘The Horticultural Register and General Magazine,’ 1832–6, 5 vols. 8vo. 2. ‘The Magazine of Botany and Register of Flowering Plants,’ 1834–48, 15 vols. 8vo. 3. ‘Paxton's Magazine of Gardening and Botany,’ 1849, 8vo. 4. With John Lindley, ‘Paxton's Flower Garden,’ 1850–3, 3 vols. 4to, of which seven numbers, containing 112 pp., were reissued by A. Murray in 1873–4, and a second edition, recast by T. Baines, was issued in 3 vols. 4to in 1882–4. 5. With the help of Lindley, ‘A Botanical Pocket Dictionary,’ 1840, 8vo, of which a second edition appeared in 1849, and a third, by S. Hereman, in 1868. Paxton was also one of the founders of the ‘Gardeners' Chronicle’ in 1841. His chief independent work was ‘A Practical Treatise on the Cultivation of the Dahlia,’ 1838, 8vo, which was translated into French, with an introduction by Jussieu; into German, with an introduction by Alexander von Humboldt; and into Swedish.
[J. Payne Collier in Notes and Queries, 1865, quoting a manuscript biography by the Duke of Devonshire; Gardeners' Chronicle, 1865, p. 554; Journal of Horticulture, 1865, viii. 446, with engraved portrait; Gent. Mag. 1865, ii. 247–249.]
PAXTON, PETER (d. 1711), medical writer and pamphleteer, was admitted to the degree of M.D. per literas regias, at Pembroke College, Cambridge, in 1687. His name does not appear in the admission-book of Pembroke College, and he may have come from Oxford for an ad eundem degree. In 1704 he lived in Beaufort Street, London. His last work, ‘Specimen Physico-medicum,’ is posthumous, and the bookseller speaks of the author as recently dead. Paxton wrote: 1. ‘An Essay concerning the Body of Man, wherein its Changes or Diseases are consider'd and the Operations of Medicines observed,’ London, 1701. This work, which traces all diseases to the fluids in the body, was reviewed in ‘History of the Works of the Learned’ for March 1701 (iii. 177–83). 2. ‘The Grounds of Physick examined, and the Reasons of the Abuses prov'd to be different from what have been usually assign'd; in answer to a Letter from the ingenious Dr. G.,’ London, 1703, 8vo; an attack on apothecaries. 3. ‘A Discourse concerning the Nature, Advantage, and Improvement of Trade, with some Considerations why the charges of the Poor do and will increase,’ London, 1704 (a sensible and remarkable exposition of laissez faire). 4. ‘A Scheme for Union between England and Scotland, with Advantages to both Kingdoms,’ London, 1705. 5. ‘A Directory Physico-medical, composed for the Use and Benefit of all such as design to study and practise the Art of Physick, wherein proper Methods and Rules are prescrib'd for the better understanding of that Art, and Catalogues of such Authors exhibited as are necessary to be consulted by all young Students,’ London, 1707. 6. ‘Specimen Physico-medicum de corpore humano et ejus morbis: or an Essay concerning the Knowledge and Cure of most Diseases affecting Human Bodies, to which is annex'd a short Account of Salivation and the use of Mercury, with a copious Index,’ London, 1711, posthumous; an expansion by Paxton himself of No. 1, and written in Latin, ‘but I find,’ says the printer to the reader, ‘that he preferred to have it turned into English, and I have done so’ (History of the Works of the Learned, xiii. 97).
[Paxton's Tracts in the Brit. Mus.; Luard's Grad. Cantabr.; information kindly supplied by the Rev. C. E. Searle, formerly master of Pembroke.]
PAXTON, STEPHEN (1735–1787), violoncellist and composer, was born in 1735. He played principal parts at oratorio meetings, and his full and sweet tone on the violoncello, together with his judgment in accompanying, was praised by Burney. In 1780 Paxton was a professional member of
