William buckland was the eldest son of the Rev. Charles Buckland, Rector of Templeton and Trusham in the county of Devon. He was born at Axminster, on the 12th of March, 1784. His mother, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Oke, was the daughter of Mr. John Oke, a landed proprietor, living at Combpyne, near Axminster, whose family had since the Stuart period occupied extensive property in that neighbourhood.

The birthplace of William Buckland was singularly adapted to develope his peculiar genius. Near his home, in the picturesque valley of the Axe, are large quarries of lias, abounding in fossil organic remains; in this same valley are also found abundant traces of a buried forest; here, too, lay embedded among the roots of the trees the bones of fossil elephants. His father (who for the last twenty-two years of his life was blind from an accident) early made his son the companion of his walks and tastes. Together they ransacked the lias quarries, collecting ammonites and other shells, which thus became familiar to the lad from his infancy. From his, childhood his innate faculties for observation were encouraged. Writing of this early period of his life to the late Sir H. de la Bêche, Dr. Buckland himself says: “The love of observing natural objects which is common to most children was early exhibited by my aptitude in finding birds' nests and collecting their eggs.