Alfred Trego Butler MVO, MC, FSA,

FASG Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists (FASG) is an independent society of fellows reflecting the master class of genealogists within the United States of America. There are only fifty (50) lifetime FASG members within the American Society o ...

(8 October 1880 – 22 December 1946) was a

genealogist Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinsh ...

and

officer of arms An officer of arms is a person appointed by a sovereign or Sovereign state, state with authority to perform one or more of the following functions: * to control and initiate coat of arms, armorial matters; * to arrange and participate in ceremo ...

at the

College of Arms The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional Officer of Arms, officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Early and personal life

Alfred Butler was born in 1880 as the second son of Robert Frederick Butler of Lynford Gardens,

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

. In 1905, he married Grace Blunt, daughter of Mr. J. Hughes Blunt of Huntingdon, and had two daughters.Obituary in ''The Times'', 24 December 1946 Butler died on 22 December 1946 at

St John's Wood St John's Wood is a district in the City of Westminster, London, lying 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Traditionally the northern part of the ancient parish and Metropolitan Borough of Marylebone, it extends east to west from ...

, and was survived by his wife and daughters.

Military career

In the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Butler served with the 8th Battalion,

The Worcestershire Regiment The Worcestershire Regiment was a line infantry regiment in the British Army, formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot and the 36th (Herefordshire) Regiment of Foot. The regime ...

, eventually rising to the rank of

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. While a temporary

Second Lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

, he was awarded the Military Cross. The citation reads:

Heraldic and genealogical career

At the age of 17, Butler became a clerk to

Henry Burke Sir Henry Farnham Burke, (1859–1930) was a long-serving Anglo-Irish officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. Biography A son of Sir Bernard Burke (who was Ulster King of Arms from 1853 until his death in 1892), Henry Burke was app ...

, then

Somerset Herald Somerset Herald of Arms in Ordinary is an officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. In the year 1448 Somerset Herald is known to have served the Duke of Somerset, but by the time of the coronation of King Henry VII in 1485 his successor a ...

. In 1919, on Burke's promotion to

Garter Principal King of Arms The Garter Principal King of Arms (also Garter King of Arms or simply Garter) is the senior King of Arms, and the senior Officer of Arms of the College of Arms, the heraldic authority with jurisdiction over England, Wales and Northern Ireland. ...

, Butler became his secretary, and continued in this post until Burke's death in 1930. Burke specialised in genealogy, and Butler learned a lot from him, eventually being regarded as the foremost genealogist of his generation.''The College of Arms, Queen Victoria Street : being the sixteenth and final monograph of the London Survey Committee'', Walter H. Godfrey, assisted by Sir

Anthony Wagner Sir Anthony Richard Wagner (6 September 1908 – 5 May 1995) was a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. He served as Garter Principal King of Arms before retiring to the post of Clarenceux King of Arms. He was one of ...

, with a complete list of the officers of arms, prepared by H. Stanford London, (London, 1963) During this time Butler also edited

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher founded in 1826, when the Irish genealogist John Burke began releasing books devoted to the ancestry and heraldry of the peerage, baronetage, knightage and landed gentry of Great Br ...

, from 1922 – 1926. Butler became an officer of arms in his own right, being appointed Portcullis Pursuivant of Arms in Ordinary in 1926, and promoted to

Windsor Herald of Arms in Ordinary Windsor Herald of Arms in Ordinary is an officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. It has been suggested that the office was instituted specifically for the Order of the Garter in 1348, or that it predates the Order and was in use as ea ...

in 1931. He was also made the Genealogist of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

in 1930, and Honorary Genealogist of the

Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, o ...

in 1938. He resigned from both of these offices shortly before his death. He was elected a Fellow of the

American Society of Genealogists The American Society of Genealogists is the scholarly honorary society of the genealogical field. Founded by John Insley Coddington, Arthur Adams, and Meredith B. Colket, Jr., in December 1940, its membership is limited to 50 living fellows. ASG pu ...

in 1944.

Other honours and appointments

Alfred Butler was also a member of the council of the

Harleian The Harleian Library, Harley Collection, Harleian Collection and other variants ( la, Bibliotheca Harleiana) is one of the main "closed" collections (namely, historic collections to which new material is no longer added) of the British Library in ...

and British Record Societies, and of the Croft Lyons committee of the Society of Antiquaries, of which he became a fellow in 1927. In 1930, Butler was made an Officer of the

Order of St. John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headqu ...

in 1930 and promoted to Commander in 1934.

Coat of arms

As might be expected of an officer of arms, Butler bore a coat of arms. This was

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The vis ...

ed *(Arms) ''Argent on a chief indented sable 3 covered cups or'' *(Crest) ''On a torse argent and sable a vine fructed proper supported by two eagles argent'' *(Motto) ''Je sers''

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Alfred 1880 births 1946 deaths Commanders of the Order of St John English genealogists Members of the Royal Victorian Order English officers of arms Fellows of the American Society of Genealogists