BUCKINGHAM, GEORGE VILLIERS, DUKE OF, son of the preceding; served under Charles I. in the Civil War, was at the battle of Worcester; became minister of Charles II.; a profligate courtier and an unprincipled man (1627-1688).

BUCKINGHAM, JAMES SILK, traveller and journalist, born in Falmouth; conducted a journal in Calcutta, and gave offence to the East India Company by his outspokenness; had to return to England, where his cause was warmly taken up; by his writings and speeches paved the way for the abolition of the Company’s charter (1784-1855).

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE (185), English S. midland county, lying E. of Oxford, W. of Bedford and Hertford, is full of beautiful and varied scenery; hill, dale, wood, and water.  The Thames forms the southern boundary, the Ouse flows through the N., and the Thame through the centre.  The Chiltern Hills cross the county.  Agriculture is the prevailing industry; dairy produce, cattle and poultry feeding, and sheep rearing the sources of wealth.  The county town is BUCKINGHAM (3), on the Ouse, 60 m.  NW. of London.

BUCKLAND, FRANCIS (FRANK), naturalist, son of the succeeding, bred to medicine; devoted to the study of animal life; was inspector of salmon fisheries; wrote “Curiosities of Natural History,” “Familiar History of British Fishes,” &c.; contributed largely to the journals, such as the Field, and edited Land and Water, which he started in 1866 (1826-1880).

BUCKLAND, WILLIAM, a distinguished geologist, born at Tiverton; had a predilection from boyhood for natural science; awoke in Oxford University an interest in it by his lectures on mineralogy and geology; his pen was unceasingly occupied with geological subjects; exerted himself to reconcile the teachings of science with the accounts in Genesis; was made Dean of Westminster by Sir Robert Peel; his intellect gave way in 1850, and he remained in mental weakness till his death (1784-1856).

BUCKLE, GEORGE EARLE, editor of the Times, born near Bath; studied at Oxford, where he distinguished himself; is a Fellow of All Souls’ College; became editor in 1884, having previously belonged to the editorial staff; b. 1854.

BUCKLE, HENRY THOMAS, an advanced thinker, born in Lee, in Kent; in delicate health from his infancy, too ambitious for his powers, thought himself equal to write the “History of Civilisation in England,” in connection with that of Europe, tried it, but failed; visited the East for his health, and died at Damascus; his theory as regards the development of civilisation is, that national character depends on material environment, and that progress depends upon the emancipation of rationality, an extremely imperfect reading and rendering of the elements at work, and indeed a total omission of nearly all the more vital ones; he was distinguished as a chess-player (1822-1862).

BUCKSTONE, JOHN BALDWIN, an able comic actor and popular dramatist, born in London; for a long period the lessee of the Haymarket Theatre, London (1802-1870).