During World War I (1914-1915), he went on a political mission with his brother, Charles Roden Buxton, with the object of securing the neutrality of Bulgaria; in the course of this an attempt was made on their lives by a Turkish assassin (October 1914) in which he was wounded and his brother was shot through the lung. After their return, they published a book describing the region and its recent history, The War and the Balkans (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1915). It begins with these words:
No one now denies the supreme importance of the Balkans as a factor in the European War. It may be that there were deep-seated hostilities between the Great Powers which would have, in any case, produced a European War, and that if the Balkans had not offered the occasion, the occasion would have been found elsewhere. The fact remains that the Balkans did provide the occasion. A great part of the Serbo-Croat race found itself under the Austrian Empire, and with its increasing consciousness of nationality became more and more dissatisfied with its lot. The independent kingdom of Serbia for its part has taken active steps to spread abroad the idea of uniting its brothers under its own flag. It was Austria's ambition to crush this dangerous little State, the one rallying point of a vigorous and determined race.
Buxton stood unsuccessfully for Ipswich in 1900. He was Liberal MP for Whitby, 1905-1906; for Norfolk North from 1910-1918 and then as a Labour member from 1922-1930.
His publications include Europe and the Turks; With the Bulgarian Staff; Travels and Reflections, 1929; and he was part-author of The Heart of the Empire, Travel and Politics in Armenia, The War and the Balkans, Balkan Problems and European Peace, and Oppressed Peoples and the League of Nations.
On his retirement from the House of Commons in 1930, he was raised to the Peerage as Baron Noel-Buxton, of Aylsham. He changed his surname at this point to 'Noel-Buxton', so enabling that to be his title. He was succeeded by Rufus Alexander Buxton.
