Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Butler, William Francis
BUTLER, Major William Francis, C.B., was born in the county of Tipperary, Ireland, in 1838, and educated at Dublin. He was appointed Ensign of the 69th Regiment, Sept. 17, 1858; Lieutenant, Nov., 1863; Captain, 1872; Major, 1874; and Deputy-Adjutant-Quarter-Master-General, Head Quarter-Staff, 1876. Major Butler served on the Red River Expedition; was sent on a special mission to the Saskatchewan Territories in 1870–71; and served on the Ashanti Expedition in 1873, in command of the West Akim native forces. He was several times mentioned in despatches of Sir Garnet Wolseley, and in the House of Lords by the Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief. He was appointed a Companion of the Bath in 1874. In Feb., 1879, he was despatched to Natal to assume the responsible post of Staff Officer at the port of disembarcation. Major Butler is the author of "The Great Lone Land," 1872; "The Wild North Land," 1873; "Akimfoo," 1875; and "Far out: Rovings retold," 1880. He married, June 11, 1877, at the church of the Servite Fathers, Fulham Road, London, Miss Elizabeth Thompson, the painter.