The Reverend The Reverend (abbreviated as The Revd, The Rev'd or The Rev) is an honorific style (form of address), style given to certain (primarily Western Christian, Western) Christian clergy and Christian minister, ministers. There are sometimes differen ...

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

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

divine Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a singl ...

and

schoolmaster A schoolmaster, or simply master, is a male school teacher. The usage first occurred in England in the Late Middle Ages and early modern period. At that time, most schools were one-room or two-room schools and had only one or two such teacher ...

who was Principal of

Liverpool College Liverpool College is a coeducational day and boarding school in Mossley Hill, Liverpool, England. It was one of the thirteen founding members of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, Headmasters' Conference. History Liverpool Coll ...

and later 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 ...

Background

Born in

Harrow Harrow may refer to: Places * Harrow, Victoria, Australia * Harrow, Ontario, Canada * The Harrow, County Wexford, a village in Ireland * London Borough of Harrow, England * Harrow, London, a town in London * Harrow (UK Parliament constituency) * ...

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 Senior had left Cambridge as a senior wrangler and later became headmaster of

Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (school founder), John Lyon, a local landowner an ...

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 abb ...

. His brother the Very Reverend Henry Montagu Butler 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 Glouce ...

and Master of

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, 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 ...

. 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 Peterboroug ...

, became headmaster of Haileybury on its re-opening as a public school in 1862. Butler was educated at

, 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 constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, and the fourth-oldest college of the university. The college was founde ...

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

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

1845, M.A. 1846.

Career

In 1842 Butler became a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

. He was appointed a professor at

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

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 Cheltenham College is a public school ( fee-charging boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18) in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The school opened in 1841 as a Church of England foundation and is known for its outstanding linguis ...

, and he became Principal of

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 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 achiev ...

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

. 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 (; 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 in B ...

, 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 The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

* 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

George George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Gior ...