The Reverend The Reverend is an style (manner of address), honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and Minister of religion, ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and c ...

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

George Butler (11 June 1819 – 14 March 1890) was an English

divine Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine< ...

and

schoolmaster The word schoolmaster, or simply master, refers to a male school teacher. This usage survives in British independent schools, both secondary and preparatory, and a few Indian boarding schools (such as The Doon School) that were modelled afte ...

Background

Born in Harrow in 1819, Butler was from a family that had great educational influence in the 19th Century, more than that of Arnold of Rugby. His father the Very Rev. George Butler Snr had left Cambridge as a senior wrangler and later became headmaster of

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

and

Dean of Peterborough The Dean of Peterborough is the head of the chapter at Peterborough Cathedral. On the Dissolution of Peterborough Abbey in 1539 and the abbey-church's refoundation as a cathedral for the new bishop and diocese of Peterborough, care for the abbey ...

. His brother the Very Reverend

Henry Montagu Butler Henry Montagu Butler (2 July 1833 – 14 January 1918) was an English academic and clergyman, who served as headmaster of Harrow School (1860–85), Dean of Gloucester (1885–86) and List of Masters of Trinity College, Cambridge, Master of Tr ...

followed his father's footsteps and also became headmaster of Harrow School, later becoming

Dean of Gloucester The Dean of Gloucester is the head (''primus inter pares'': first among equals) and chair of the chapter of canons - the ruling body of Gloucester Cathedral - and senior priest of the Diocese of Gloucester. The dean and chapter are based at Glouc ...

and Master of

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

. Another brother, the Rev.

Arthur Gray Butler Arthur Gray Butler (1831–1909) was an English academic and cleric, the first headmaster of Haileybury College. Life Born at the rectory, Gayton, Northamptonshire, on 19 August 1831, he was the third son of George Butler, Dean of Peterborough, ...

, became headmaster of Haileybury on its re-opening as a

public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...

in 1862. Butler was educated at

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

, and entered

in 1838. He transferred to

Exeter College, Oxford Exeter College (in full: The Rector and Scholars of Exeter College in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth-oldest college of the un ...

in 1840, where he was Hertford Scholar in 1841, and graduated with a first-class degree in Classics,

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

1845,

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

1846.

Career

In 1842 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 ...

. He was appointed a professor at

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

in 1848, returning to Oxford as a lecturer in 1850. He was Master of Butler's Hall, a

private hall of the University of Oxford The private halls of the University of Oxford were educational institutions within the University. They were introduced by the statute ''De aulis privatis'' ("On private halls") in 1855 to provide a less expensive alternative to the colleges and ...

from 1855 to 1858. Later he was a housemaster at

Cheltenham College ("Work Conquers All") , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent School Day and Boarding School , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head , head = Nicola Huggett ...

, and he became Principal of

Liverpool College Liverpool College is a school in Mossley Hill, Liverpool, England. It was one of the thirteen founding members of the Headmasters' Conference (HMC). History Liverpool College was the first of many public schools founded in the Victorian E ...

in 1865. Liverpool College's academic performance improved, with six open scholarships to Oxford and Cambridge by 1869. On 28 January 1870 it was announced that "a Liverpool boy had for the first time won the most coveted award at Cambridge or any other University" – this was Richard Pendlebury,

Senior Wrangler The Senior Frog Wrangler is the top mathematics undergraduate at the University of Cambridge in England, a position which has been described as "the greatest intellectual achievement attainable in Britain." Specifically, it is the person who a ...

in 1870. In 1882 Butler retired from Liverpool College, when appointed a canon of

Winchester Cathedral The Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity,Historic England. "Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity (1095509)". ''National Heritage List for England''. Retrieved 8 September 2014. Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Swithun, commonly known as Winches ...

. Butler died in London on 14 March 1890, and was buried in the cemetery at Winchester.

Personal life

He was married to

Josephine Butler Josephine Elizabeth Butler (' Grey; 13 April 1828 – 30 December 1906) was an English feminist and social reformer in the Victorian era. She campaigned for women's suffrage, the right of women to better education, the end of coverture ...

, the social reformer. She outlived him, and published in 1892 ''Recollections of George Butler''. They had four children: * George Grey Butler (1852–1935), barrister and civil service examiner * Arthur Stanley Butler (1854–1923), professor of natural philosophy at the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

* Charles Augustine Vaughan Butler (1857–1929), journalist and soldier * Evangeline Mary (Eva) Butler (1859–1864), died after falling from a banister at the family home

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, George 1819 births 1890 deaths Schoolteachers from Merseyside Deans of Peterborough People from Harrow, London People educated at Harrow School Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford Fellows of Exeter College, Oxford Masters of private halls of the University of Oxford