Constituency : Whitby 1905-06, North Norfolk 1910-18, 1922-30 ( Labour )
Noel took Whitby after the Tory was elevated to the peerage.
Noel was the second son of the former King's Lynn MP, Thomas Buxton. He was educated at Harrow and Cambridge and went to work in the family brewery. Noel served his father as aide-de-camp when Buxton Sr was Governor of South Australia. He contested Ipswich in 1900. He was a supporter of progressive New Liberalism.
Noel was narrowly defeated in 1906. He returned for North Norfolk in 1910.
Noel supported Britain's involvement in the First World War. In 1915, Noel and his brother Charles went to Bulgaria on a doomed mission to try and secure Bulgarian neutrality. Both were shot and wounded by a Turkish agent. Noel had a long-standing interest in the Balkans. He voted for conscription but fell out with the government when they decided not to participate in the Stockholm Conference in 1917. He came to be identified as a pacifist.
Noel was defeated in 1918 by Henry King who stood as an Independent Unionist endorsed by the government. He had been Noel's Tory opponent in the 1910 elections and rejoined them not long afterwards . Noel joined the Labour party almost immediately after the election believing that the Liberals had abandoned their values .
Noel regained the seat in 1922 as a Labour man against a new Conservative opponent. He held it reasonably comfortably despite the Liberals fielding candidates in 1924 and 1929.
As Labour had few rural constituencies MacDonald made Noel Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries in 1924 and again in 1929.
Noel resigned on medical advice in 1930 and was elevated to the peerage as Baron Noel-Buxton. His wife took over the seat. He became President of the Save the Children Fund until his death.
Noel was a supporter of appeasement and urged Halifax to agree to German demands in Czechoslovakia . He supported a negotiated peace with Germany during the war.
He died in 1948 aged 79.
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