John Buxton (full name Edward John Mawby Buxton) was born in Bramhall, Cheshire, in 1912. He attended school in Malvern and studied English at New College, Oxford. Soon after World War II broke out, he joined the army but was captured in 1940 and spent the rest of the war in prisoner of war (POW) camps in Germany. Among his fellow prisoners were several other keen birdwatchers including John Barrett, Peter Conder and George Waterson. They devoted as much time as possible to the systematic observation of birds living in or flying over the camp. John Buxton was the leader of this activity and encouraged others to participate. Much of the work done in the POW camps was later published, including Buxton's monograph The Redstart (1950).

After the war Buxton was recruited as a junior lecturer in English at New College, Oxford. In 1949, he was appointed to a fellowship and he continued to teach at New College until 1979. He helped found the Bird Observations Committee in 1946 and later the Wiltshire Trust for Nature Conservation. He died in 1989.