Arthur John Butler (21 June 1844 – 26 February 1910), was an English scholar, editor, and mountaineer, professor of
Italian language
Italian (''italiano'' or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. Together with Sardinian, Italian is the least divergent language from Latin. Spoken by about ...
and
literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
at
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
.
Apart from his work on
Dante
Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian people, Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', origin ...
and other Italian poets, Butler translated books from
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
and French, including the memoirs of
Bismarck,
Thiébault, and
Marbot, and work by
Sainte-Beuve. He also contributed to the
Cambridge Modern History
''The Cambridge Modern History'' is a comprehensive modern history of the world, beginning with the 15th century Age of Discovery, published by the Cambridge University Press in England and also in the United States.
The first series, planned by ...
and the
Dictionary of National Biography and in the 1890s was editor of the ''
Alpine Journal
The ''Alpine Journal'' (''AJ'') is an annual publication by the Alpine Club of London. It is the oldest mountaineering journal in the world.
History
The magazine was first published on 2 March 1863 by the publishing house of Longman in London ...
''.
Early life
Butler was born at
Putney
Putney () is a district of southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.
History
Putney is an ancient paris ...
, the son of the Rev.
William John Butler
William John Butler (1818–1894) was an English churchman, Dean of Lincoln from 1885 until his death. He was previously Vicar of the Church of St Peter and St Paul, Wantage from 1847 to 1881, where he founded the Community of St Mary the Virgi ...
(1818–1894), later
Dean of Lincoln
The Dean of Lincoln is the head of the Chapter of Lincoln Cathedral in the city of Lincoln, England in the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln. Christine Wilson was installed as Dean on 22 October 2016. , by his marriage to Emma Barnett (1813–1894), a daughter of George Henry Barnett, a banker, of
Glympton Park,
Woodstock
Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aq ...
. Butler was the eldest of at least five children. His sisters were Grace Harriet (born 1847), Edith Emma (1851–1936), and Mary Avice (1855–1938), while his brother was William George (1849–1938). Their grandfather John La Forey Butler (1786–1848), was a banker in the firm of H. & I. Johnstone, and their uncle
Henry Barnett was also a banker, as well as being a
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
member of parliament.
[ at kittybrewster.com, accessed 26 June 2013] Both Butler parents were supporters of the
High Church
The term ''high church'' refers to beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, liturgy, and theology that emphasize formality and resistance to modernisation. Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term originate ...
Tractarian movement
The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of O ...
. In 1848, William John Butler founded the
Community of St Mary the Virgin.
[ A. T. Quiller-Couch, revised by Nilanjana Banerji, ' Butler, Arthur John (1844–1910)', in '']Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
'' (OUP, 2007)[ Obituary: Mr. Arthur John Butler from ''The Times'', 28 February 1910, at Wikisource]
Brought up at
Wantage
Wantage () is a historic market town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, England. Although within the boundaries of the historic county of Berkshire, it has been administered as part of the Vale of White Horse district of Oxfordshire since 1974. T ...
, where his father was Vicar, in 1853 Butler won a scholarship to
St Andrew's College, Bradfield, but in 1857 he migrated to
Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England.
Eton may also refer to:
Places
*Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England
* Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States
* Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...
, after which he gained a scholarship at
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...
. In 1867 he graduated eighth in the
Classical Tripos
The Classical Tripos is the taught course in classics at the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge. It is equivalent to Literae Humaniores at Oxford. It is traditionally a three-year degree, but for those who have not previously studied ...
and was also a
junior optime
At the University of Cambridge in England, a "Wrangler" is a student who gains first-class honours in the final year of the university's degree in mathematics. The highest-scoring student is the Senior Wrangler, the second highest is the Seco ...
in the
mathematical tripos
The Mathematical Tripos is the mathematics course that is taught in the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. It is the oldest Tripos examined at the University.
Origin
In its classical nineteenth-century form, the tripos was ...
.
[
]
Life and work
In 1869 Butler became a Fellow
A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context.
In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements.
Within the context of higher education ...
of Trinity, but in 1870 he was appointed a Board of Education examiner. He worked in the Education office in Whitehall
Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea. It is the main thoroughfare running south from Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Sq ...
until 1887, then joined the publishers Rivington and Co. as a partner, later moving to Cassell & Company as chief editor. In 1894 he became an assistant commissioner for secondary education and from 1898 until his death was professor of Italian language
Italian (''italiano'' or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. Together with Sardinian, Italian is the least divergent language from Latin. Spoken by about ...
and literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
at University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
. From 1899 on he also did much editorial work at the Public Record Office
The Public Record Office (abbreviated as PRO, pronounced as three letters and referred to as ''the'' PRO), Chancery Lane in the City of London, was the guardian of the national archives of the United Kingdom from 1838 until 2003, when it was ...
.[
]
Butler contributed much to the study of Dante
Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian people, Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', origin ...
's ''Divine Comedy
The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature ...
''. A prose translation of ''Purgatory'', with notes, was published in 1880, followed by ''Paradise'' (1885) and ''Hell'' (1892), then a translation of Scartazzini's ''Companion to Dante'' (1893), and ''Dante: his Times and his Work'' (1895).[
Moving on to other writers, Butler translated and edited the ''Memoirs'' of Baron de Marbot (1892),][ some correspondence of Cavour (1894), ''Select Essays'' of Sainte-Beuve (1895), the ''Memoirs'' of Baron Thiébault (1896), ]Friedrich Ratzel
Friedrich Ratzel (August 30, 1844 – August 9, 1904) was a German geographer and ethnographer, notable for first using the term ''Lebensraum'' ("living space") in the sense that the National Socialists later would.
Life
Ratzel's father was th ...
's ''The History of Mankind'' (1896), and ''Bismarck: the Man and the Statesman'' (1898), from Bismarck's ''Gedanken und Erinnerungen''.[ He worked at the Public Record Office from 1899 until his death, editing calendars of foreign papers from the year 1577. Four such volumes appeared between 1901 and 1909.][ He also wrote two chapters for the third volume of '']The Cambridge Modern History
''The Cambridge Modern History'' is a comprehensive modern history of the world, beginning with the 15th century Age of Discovery, published by the Cambridge University Press in England and also in the United States.
The first series, planned by ...
'' (1904), 'The Wars of Religion in France' and 'The End of the Italian Renaissance'.
Butler's final work, completed just before his death, was ''The Forerunners of Dante'' (1910), a selection from early Italian poets.[
In December 1901, Butler received the degree ]D.Litt.
Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Doctor ...
from Brasenose College, Oxford.
Family life
On 6 April 1875 Butler married Mary Caroline, a daughter of William Gilson Humphry
William Gilson Humphry (1815–1886) was an English clergyman and academic.
Life
Humphry was born at Sudbury, Suffolk, on 30 January 1815, son of William Wood Humphry, barrister-at-law, and brother of George Murray Humphry. Humphry was educated a ...
, Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields
St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. It is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. There has been a church on the site since at least the mediev ...
. They had one son and six daughters.[ The children of the marriage included Frances Mary (1876–1926), who became a headmistress, William Martin (1882–1919), who died in France while serving as a Major in the Royal Engineers, Margaret Dorothy (1884–1973), Rhoda (1887–1979), and Mary Caroline (born 1891).][
The family lived at Wood End, ]Weybridge
Weybridge () is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. The settlement is recorded as ''Waigebrugge'' and ''Weibrugge'' in the 7th century and the name derives from a crossing point of the ...
, where Butler died in February 1910. He was buried at Wantage, his childhood home.[
]
Alpinist
From his schooldays Butler was a keen climber. He first attempted routes in the Ötztal Alps
The Ötztal Alps ( it, Alpi Venoste, german: Ötztaler Alpen) are a mountain range in the Central Eastern Alps, in the State of Tyrol in western Austria and the Province of South Tyrol in northern Italy.
Geography
The Ötztal Alps are arrayed ...
in 1874, and in 1886 he joined the Alpine Club
The first alpine club, the Alpine Club, based in the United Kingdom, was founded in London in 1857 as a gentlemen's club. It was once described as:
:"a club of English gentlemen devoted to mountaineering, first of all in the Alps, members of whi ...
. From 1890 to 1893 he edited the club's ''Alpine Journal
The ''Alpine Journal'' (''AJ'') is an annual publication by the Alpine Club of London. It is the oldest mountaineering journal in the world.
History
The magazine was first published on 2 March 1863 by the publishing house of Longman in London ...
''. He was also one of the "Sunday Tramps" group created by Leslie Stephen
Sir Leslie Stephen (28 November 1832 – 22 February 1904) was an English author, critic, historian, biographer, and mountaineer, and the father of Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell.
Life
Sir Leslie Stephen came from a distinguished intellect ...
in 1882.[
Butler's concept of mountaineering was less competitive than that of some others. In several of his articles he looked down upon what his biographer called "the fuss made about peak-climbing".][Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch, ''Memoir of Arthur John Butler'' (1917), p. 118]
See also
* Works by Arthur John Butler at Wikisource
Wikisource is an online digital library of free-content textual sources on a wiki, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole and the name for each instance of that project (each instance usually re ...
*
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Arthur John
1844 births
1910 deaths
Academics of University College London
Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
19th-century English historians
People educated at Eton College
People educated at Bradfield College
20th-century English historians
Translators of Dante Alighieri