William Francis Butler

Sir William Butler
Lt. Gen. Sir William Butler
Born	31 October 1838 Golden, County Tipperary, Ireland
Died	7 June 1910 (aged 71) Bansha, County Tipperary
Buried at	Killaldriffe
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Rank	Lieutenant General
Unit	69th Foot
Commands held	South Africa
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath

Lieutenant General Sir William Francis Butler GCB, PC (31 October 1838 – 7 June 1910) was an Irish 19th-century British Army officer, writer, and adventurer.

He was born at Ballyslatteen, Golden, County Tipperary, Ireland, the son of Richard and Ellen Butler. The great famine of 1847 and scenes of suffering and eviction were amongst his earliest recollections. He was educated chiefly by the Jesuits at Tullabeg College.

He entered the army as an ensign of the 69th Foot at Fermoy Barracks in 1858, becoming captain in 1872 and major in 1874. He took part with distinction in the Red River expedition (1870–71) and the Ashanti operations of 1873–74 under Wolseley and received the Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1874.

He married on 11 June 1877 Elizabeth Thompson, an accomplished painter of battle scenes, notably The Roll Call (1874), Quatre Bras (1875), Rorke's Drift (1881), The Camel Corps (1891), and The Dawn of Waterloo (1895). They had six children.

He again served with General Wolseley in the Zulu War (as brevet lieutenant colonel), the campaign of Tel-el-Kebir (after which he was made an aide-de-camp to the Queen) and the Sudan in 1884–86, being employed as colonel on the staff 1885 and brigadier-general 1885–86. In the latter year he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath. He served as brigadier-general on the staff in Egypt until 1892 when he was promoted to major-general and stationed at Aldershot, subsequent to which he was given command of the South-Eastern District in March 1896.