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The following obituary for Alexander Buller appeared in the Times newspaper.
| Obituary in the Times newspaper | |
| Date | Obituary |
| 5 October 1903 | Admiral Ser Alexander Buller. Admiral Sir Alexander Buller, of Erle-hall, Plympton, Devon, and Belmore-house, West Cowes, Isle of Wight, died suddenly on Saturday whilst hunting with the Devon and Somerset staghounds in the neighbourhood of Exford. He left home on Monday last for a visit to Exmoor, where he had not hunted for several years. On Thursday he was out with the hounds, and enjoyed good sport. On Saturday the hounds were running at a great pace, and whilst crossing some peaty, swampy ground near Brendon Sir Alexander was taken ill and died in a few minutes in the presence of one or two members of the hunt. It is believed that heart failure was the cause of death. Admiral Buller's son and nephew were in the hunting field at the time. Lady Buller and her daughter were away from home at the time of his death, and the news was communicated to them by telegraph.Sir Alexander Buller was the second son of the Rev. Richard Buller, rector of Lanreath, Liskeard, Cornwall, by his marriage with Elizabeth, daughter of Mr. John Hornby, of Hook,Titchfield, Hampshire. His grandfather, Mr. James Buller, a cadet of the Bullers of Morval, Cornwall, was a Lord of the Admiralty in 1811, and subsequently clerk to the Privy Council till his death in 1830. Sir Alexander was born on June 30, 1834, and entered the Navy at the age of 14. He served as mate of the Royal Albert in the Black Sea during the Crimean War, was present at all the operations before Sevastopol, and as lieutenant of the Princess Royal took part in the attacks on Kertch and Yenikalé and in the capture of Kinburn. His lieutenant’s commission was dated April 10, 1855; and he was promoted to the rank of commander on June 10, 1863, and to that of captain on December 10, 1860, when in his 36th year. In the latter rank he commanded the Naval Brigade during the operations against the Malays in the Straits of Malacca in 1875-76, a service for which he received the Companionship of the Bath. He was a naval aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria from July, 1884, till his promotion to flag rank in January, 1887; admiral-superintendent of Malta Dockyard from January 10, 1889, to February, 1892, in March of which year he was promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral. He was Commander-in-Chief on the China Station from 1895 to 1897; was promoted to Admiral’s rank in December of the latter year, and retired in 1899. Sir Alexander, who received the Knight Commandership of the Bath in May, 1896, and the Grand Cross of the same order in June, 1902, held the Royal Humane Society’s medal, awarded for assisting to rescue two seamen who fell overboard from the main rigging of the Edgar at Queenstown, where he was then serving as a lieutenant. Sir Alexander married, in 1870, Emily Mary, daughter of Mr. Henry Tritton, of Beddington, by whom he had, among other issue, Lieutenant Henry Tritton Buller, R.N., of his Majesty’s yacht Victoria and Albert. He succeeded his uncle, the late Mr. Charles Reginald Buller, in the Erle-hall estate in 1879. Sir Alexander was well known throughout Devon and much esteemed for his benevolence, and will be greatly missed by the poor in the district in which he lived. |
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