Montagu C. Butler

Montagu Christie Butler, (b. 25 January 1884 in London, d. 5 May 1970) was a British academic, librarian, lexicographer, musician, and Esperantist. A winner of several prizes at the Royal Academy of Music in London, he was a harpist and a versatile music teacher skilled in playing various musical instruments, as well as a teacher of voice and of musical composition.

He was a Quaker and a vegetarian who first became an Esperantist in 1905. From that time Butler taught Esperanto to students, eventually achieving near-native fluency and becoming the first truly bilingual Esperantist.

From 1922 Butler was a member of the "Language Committee" (Lingva Komitato), the group tasked with preserving the fundamental principles of the Esperanto language and guiding its evolution. From 1916 to 1934 he served as secretary of the Esperanto Association of Britain (Brita Esperanto-Asocio, BEA), and was from 1961 its honorary president. He was later elected a member of the international Academy of Esperanto, where he served from 1948 till his death in 1970.

Butler served as editor of La Brita Esperantisto ("The British Esperantist") in 1931 and 1932; during his editorship the journal became known as one of the most famous Esperanto periodicals of the era. After this period he became one of 57 principal collaborators on the 1933 Esperanto Encyclopædia.

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