SAMUEL

See also:

• BUTLER
• BUTLER (or BOTELER), SAMUEL (1612–168o)
• BUTLER (through the O. Fr. bouteillier, from the Late Lat. buticularius, buticula, a bottle)
• BUTLER, ALBAN (1710-1773)
• BUTLER, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1818-1893)
• BUTLER, CHARLES (1750–1832)
• BUTLER, GEORGE (1774-1853)
• BUTLER, JOSEPH (1692-1752)
• BUTLER, NICHOLAS MURRAY (1862– )
• SAMUEL BUTLER (1774-1839)
• BUTLER, SAMUEL (1835-1902)
• BUTLER, SIR WILLIAM FRANCIS (1838– )
• BUTLER, WILLIAM ARCHER (1814-1848)

BUTLER (1774-1839)  , English classical scholar and schoolmaster, and bishop of Lichfield, was born at Kenilworth on the 3oth of January 1774 . He was educated at Rugby, and in 1792 went to St John's College, Cambridge . Butler's classical career was a brilliant one . He obtained three of Sir William Browne's medals, for the Latin (1792) and Greek (1793, 1794) odes, the medal for the Greek ode in 1792 being won by Samuel Taylor Coleridge . In 1793 Butler was elected to the Craven scholarship, amongst the competitors being John Keate, after-wards headmaster of Eton, and Coleridge . In 1796 he was fourth senior optime and senior chancellor's classical medallist . In 1797 and 1798 he obtained the 'members' prize for Latin essay . He took the degree of B.A. in 1796, M.A . 1799, and D.D . 1811 . In 1797 he was elected a fellow of St John's, and in 1798 became headmaster of Shrewsbury school . In 1802 he was presented to the living cf Kenilworth, in 1807 to a prebendal stall in Lichfield cathedral, and in 1822 to the archdeaconry of Derby; all these appointments he held with his headmastership, but in t 836 he was promoted to the bishopric of Lichfield (and Coventry,which was separated from his diocese in the same year) .

He died on the 4th of

December 1839 . It is in connexion with Shrewsbury school that Butler will be chiefly remembered . During his headmastership its reputation greatly increased, and in the standard of its scholarship it stood as high as any other public school in England . His edition of Aeschylus, with the text and notes of Stanley, appeared 18o9-1816, and was some-what severely criticized in the Edinburgh Review, but Butler was prevented by his elevation to the episcopate from. revising it . He also wrote a Sketch of Modern and Ancient Geography (1813, frequently reprinted) for use in schools, and brought out atlases of ancient and modern geography . His large library included a fine collection of Aldine editions and Greek and Latin MSS.; the Aldines were sold by auction, the MSS. purchased by the British Museum . Butler's life has been written by his grandson, Samuel Butler, author of Erewhon (Life and Letters of Dr Samuel Butler, 1896); see also Baker's History of St John's College, Cambridge (ed . J . E . B . Mayor, 1869) ; Sandys, Hist . Class .

Schol . (ed . 1908), vol. iii. p . 398 .