William Patrick Butler (8 November 1871 – 19 August 1953) was a New Zealand

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er and

Test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last fo ...

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

. Butler was born and died in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, where he attended Christian Brothers' High School. He made a single first-class appearance for

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

during the 1901–02 season, against Hawke's Bay. Opening the batting, he scored two runs in the only innings in which he batted, as Otago won the match by an innings. Between 1921 and 1937, Butler umpired eighteen first-class matches in New Zealand and two Test matches. He umpired the first Test match ever played by

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

in January 1930. Professionally Butler was a bookmaker.McCarron A (2010) ''New Zealand Cricketers 1863/64–2010'', p. 28. Cardiff:

The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS) was founded in England in 1973 for the purpose of researching and collating information about the history and statistics of cricket. Originally called the Association of Cricket Statis ...

References

1871 births 1953 deaths Cricketers from Dunedin New Zealand cricketers Otago cricketers New Zealand Test cricket umpires Burials at Andersons Bay Cemetery People educated at Trinity Catholic College, Dunedin {{NewZealand-cricket-bio-1870s-stub