Bukhtyar Rustomji Ratanji Hakim was born on 21st. March 1899 to a wealthy family in Mumbai (then known as Bombay). He studied medicine at the University of Bombay, graduating as a Bachelor of Medicine in 1922 and as a Bachelor of Surgery a year later. He then worked in a Bombay hospital as well as with the Indian Medical Service and married in 1925.The following year he relocated, alone, to the UK.
Under the name of Gabriel Hakim, he studied at University College Hospital in London and in 1927 moved to Edinburgh to study for a Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons. Hakim failed the entrance examination, but the General Medical Authority approved him to practice medicine on the basis of his qualifications and experience in India. Around this time Hakim changed his name, via deed- poll to Buck Ruxton.
Whilst in Edinburgh he met café manager, Isabella Kerr, and the couple developed a relationship. Buck Ruxton & Isabella Kerr moved to London in 1928, where Buck worked as a GP locum and the couple had their first child in 1929.
The following year, the family moved to Lancaster and Buck Ruxton set up practice as a GP, at his home, on 2 Dalton Square. The family grew with the birth of another daughter in 1931 and a son two years later. Buck and Isabella did not marry.
Buck Ruxton developed a very good reputation as a GP in Lancaster. He was viewed as being hardworking and compassionate and was known to waive his fees in some cases where he knew people could not afford to pay. With particular skills in obstetrics, Dr. Ruxton had a excellent reputation in Lancashire for the safe delivery of healthy babies.
But Ruxton had an unpredictable nature, prone to outbursts of temper and jealousy. Believing his wife to be having an affair with another man, he murdered her and the family’s nursemaid on 15th September 1935.
Buck Ruxton was tried at Manchester Assizes and sentenced to death.
