Richard C. Butler
Sir Richard Clive Butler (12 January 1929 – 28 January 2012) was a British farmer and merchant banker, President of the National Farmers' Union of England and Wales.
Early life[edit]
One of the sons of the Conservative politician Rab Butler, by his marriage to Sydney Elizabeth Courtauld, daughter and co-heiress of Samuel Courtauld, the young Butler was educated at Eton College and Pembroke College, Cambridge, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Royal Horse Guards.[1]
The Courtaulds owned estates in north Essex, and on completing his National service Butler concerned himself with estate management.[2]
Career[edit]
Butler became a farmer in 1953[3] and inherited a 1500-acre arable estate in Essex on the death of his mother in 1954.[2] He was an active member of the National Farmers' Union of England and Wales, joining its council in 1962.[3] In 1970, he became vice-president, and in 1971 deputy president to Henry Plumb, continuing almost until the end of the 1970s.[2] He was then president from 1979 to 1986.[3]
He was knighted by H. M. the Queen at Buckingham Palace on 10 November 1981.[4]
After retiring from the NFU, for a year Butler was president of COPA, the union of European farmers, and also took on business directorships.[2] In the City of London, he became a director of County Natwest Investment Management and served as chairman from 1989 to 1996.[3]
Butler listed his recreations in Who's Who as “hunting, shooting, DIY”[3] and was chairman of the East Essex Hunt for forty years.[2]
Personal life[edit]
On 5 July 1952, Butler married Susan Anne Maud Walker, a daughter of Patrick Bruce Walker and Sybil Middleton Turner. They had a daughter, Antonia Mary (1954) and twin sons, Richard Michael and Christopher Patrick (1956).[1]
Honours[edit]
- High Sheriff of Essex, 1969[3]
- Deputy Lieutenant of Essex, 1972[3]
- Knight Bachelor, 1981[3]
Notes[edit]
- ^ a b Burke's Peerage, vol. 3 (2003), p. 4044
- ^ a b c d e "Sir Richard Butler", in The Daily Telegraph, 6 February 2012; "Butler, Sir Richard", clementjones.com, accessed 22 December 2022
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Butler, Hon. Sir Richard (Clive)", in Who Was Who 2011–2015 (2016, ISBN 9781472924322}
- ^ The London Gazette, Issue 48819, 11 December 1981, https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/48819/page/15769 p. 15769]