Robert Butts (1684–1748) was an English churchman and strong partisan of the administration of

Sir Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745; known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole) was a British statesman and Whig politician who, as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leader ...

, successively

Bishop of Norwich The Bishop of Norwich is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Norwich in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers most of the county of Norfolk and part of Suffolk. The bishop of Norwich is Graham Usher. The see is in the ...

and

Bishop of Ely The Bishop of Ely is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire (with the exception of the Soke of Peterborough), together with a section of nort ...

Life

He was the son of the Revd William Butts, rector of

Hartest Hartest is a small village and civil parish in the Babergh district of the English county of Suffolk. It is located halfway between Bury St. Edmunds and Sudbury on the B1066 road in the Glem valley. Brockley is two miles north. The villag ...

, near

Bury St. Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

. He was educated at the grammar school at Bury, and

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 ...

, where he graduated as B.A. 1707, M.A. 1711, and D.D. 1728. As an undergraduate he was famous as a boxer and football player. After his ordination he served as curate of Thurlow, and in 1703 was chosen one of the preachers of Bury. Here he rendered political services to the Hervey family. He was a party agent, useful in elections to

John, Lord Hervey John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey, (13 October 16965 August 1743) was an English courtier and political writer. Heir to the Earl of Bristol, he obtained the key patronage of Walpole, and was involved in many court intrigues and literary quarrel ...

, son of

John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol (27 August 1665 – 20 January 1751) was an English politician. John Hervey was born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, the son of Sir Thomas Hervey. He was educated in Bury and at Clare College, Cambridge. He ...

Lord Privy Seal The Lord Privy Seal (or, more formally, the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal) is the fifth of the Great Officers of State (United Kingdom), Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord President of the Council and abov ...

in Sir Robert Waipole's administration. In 1717 Butts was appointed by Lord Bristol to the family living of

Ickworth Ickworth is a small civil parish, almost coextensive with the estate of the National Trust's Ickworth House, in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk, eastern England, south-west of Bury St Edmunds. The population of the parish was only minimal ...

, and in 1728 he became chaplain to

George II George II or 2 may refer to: People * George II of Antioch (seventh century AD) * George II of Armenia (late ninth century) * George II of Abkhazia (916–960) * Patriarch George II of Alexandria (1021–1051) * George II of Georgia (1072–1089) * ...

, receiving his degree of D.D. at the same time by royal mandate. Three years later, on 6 February 1731, he was appointed

dean of Norwich The Dean of Norwich is the head of the Chapter of Norwich Cathedral in Norwich, England. The role is vacant since Jane Hedges' retirement on 1 May 2022. List of deans Early modern *1538–1539 William Castleton (last prior) *1539–1554 J ...

, retaining the living of Ickworth ''

in commendam In canon law, commendam (or ''in commendam'') was a form of transferring an ecclesiastical benefice ''in trust'' to the ''custody'' of a patron. The phrase ''in commendam'' was originally applied to the provisional occupation of an ecclesiastical ...

'', till his succession to the bishopric on 20 January 1733. He was consecrated by Bishop

Edmund Gibson Edmund Gibson (16696 September 1748) was a British divine who served as Bishop of Lincoln and Bishop of London, jurist, and antiquary. Early life and career He was born in Bampton, Westmorland. In 1686 he was entered a scholar at Queen's Col ...

of London, at Bow Church, 25 February. A competent but unpopular bishop, he was translated to the see of Ely in 1638, but spent little time there. During the latter years of his life Butts was crippled with

gout Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of a red, tender, hot and swollen joint, caused by deposition of monosodium urate monohydrate crystals. Pain typically comes on rapidly, reaching maximal intensit ...

. He died at Ely House,

Holborn Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. The area has its roots ...

, 26 January 1748, and was buried in the south aisle of the choir of

Ely Cathedral Ely Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is an Anglican cathedral in the city of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. The cathedral has its origins in AD 672 when St Etheldreda built an abbey church. The presen ...

, under a marble monument. He published little.

Family

Butts was twice married. His first wife was Miss Elizabeth Eyton, who died of

consumption Consumption may refer to: *Resource consumption *Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically * Consumption (ecology), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms * Consumption (economics), the purchasing of newly produced goods for curren ...

in 1734, at the age of forty-four, leaving two sons and five daughters. She was buried in the chapel of the bishop's palace at Norwich. He remarried to the daughter of the Revd Mr Reynolds of Bury, aged 23, by whom he had six more daughters. After his death in 1753, she then took as her second husband George Green, the receiver of the late bishop's rents, but they separated, and Mrs Green retired to Chichester, where she died 3 December 1781, at the age of sixty-nine.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Butts, Robert 1684 births 1748 deaths Bishops of Ely Bishops of Norwich People educated at King Edward VI School, Bury St Edmunds Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Deans of Norwich People from Babergh District 18th-century Church of England bishops