Mary Butler

BUTLER, Mary (‘May’). b 1841, Langar, near Bingham, Nottinghamshire; d. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, 6 January 1916. She was the daughter of Thomas Butler (1806-1886), rector of Langar from 1884 and Canon of Lincoln, and grand-daughter of Samuel Butler, headmaster of Shrewsbury School and Bishop of Lichfield, 1836-39. She lived at Langar until her father retired to Shrewsbury. She seems to have been a quiet and decorous member of the family, unlike her rebellious brother Samuel (1835-1902), author of Erewhon [‘Nowhere’] (1872) and the semi-autobiographical The Way of all Flesh (1903), published after the author’s death. Mary (called ‘May’ in the ODNB entry on her brother) and her sister...