Edward Butler, QC (1823 – 9 June 1879), was a barrister and politician in colonial

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, 13th

Attorney General of New South Wales The Attorney General of New South Wales, in formal contexts also Attorney-General or Attorney General for New South Wales and usually known simply as the Attorney General, is a minister in the Government of New South Wales who has responsibil ...

. Butler was born in

Kilkenny Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilken ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, son of Michael Butler, farmer, and his wife Mary, née Joyce. He was educated at

St Kieran's College St Kieran's College (Coláiste Chiaráin) is a Roman Catholic secondary school, located on College Road, Kilkenny, County Kilkenny, Ireland. History St Kieran's College was founded in Kilkenny, in the diocese of Ossory in 1782, after the pas ...

intending to become a priest, according to

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy. Born in Ecclefechan, Dum ...

. During the Great Famine he became a journalist and supported

Young Ireland Young Ireland ( ga, Éire Óg, ) was a political and cultural movement in the 1840s committed to an all-Ireland struggle for independence and democratic reform. Grouped around the Dublin weekly ''The Nation'', it took issue with the compromise ...

as the editor of the '' Galway Vindicator''. Young Ireland attempted to build an Irish national movement that included Catholics and Protestants and campaigned for a common educational system for all denominations. Butler found that his ambitions to be trained as a lawyer were blocked in Ireland because of his Catholicism and he migrated to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, arriving in May 1853, where he found work writing for

Henry Parkes Sir Henry Parkes, (27 May 1815 – 27 April 1896) was a colonial Australian politician and longest non-consecutive Premier of the Colony of New South Wales, the present-day state of New South Wales in the Commonwealth of Australia. He has ...

' ''

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

''. He was admitted as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

in 1855 and was appointed as a crown prosecutor for the metropolitan and coast district in 1857. In 1858 he married Ellen Mary Connolly and they had four sons and five daughters. In politics Butler was a strong supporter of the "liberal party", associated with Parkes and John Robertson, including Robertson's land policy and Charles Cowper's support for the withdrawal of state aid to religion. From 1869 to 1877 he was the member for Argyle in the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

, and was the 13th Attorney General of New South Wales in the first Parkes ministry from May 1872 to November 1873. He made a major contribution to reducing the level of sectarianism that had been sparked by

Henry James O'Farrell Henry James O'Farrell (183321 April 1868) was the first person to attempt a political assassination in Australia. On 12 March 1868, he shot and wounded Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second son and fourth child of Queen Victoria. Biog ...

's attack on

Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh Alfred (Alfred Ernest Albert; 6 August 184430 July 1900) was the sovereign duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 1893 to 1900. He was the second son and fourth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. He was known as the Duke of Edinburgh from 1 ...

in 1868. He became a

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister o ...

on 19 November 1873. Butler's first wife died in 1871 and, in 1875, he married Marion and they had one daughter. He was appointed for life to the Legislative Council in 1877. He had become a wealthy squatter. He died in

on .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Edward 1823 births 1879 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Australian people of Irish descent Attorneys General of the Colony of New South Wales 19th-century Australian politicians Australian King's Counsel