Some of his manuscripts were placed, with those of his youngest son, Edwin [q. v.], in the Oldham Lyceum. Many of his books have become scarce, and in addition to the list given above he is said to have published ‘Mancunium,’ a poem. In a letter addressed in 1802 to a Manchester bookseller he complains of lack of encouragement. ‘How would I exert myself could I find one single friend of genius amongst all the host of Paternoster Row factors!’ He mentions that he has a work entitled ‘A Guide to Universal Manufacture, or the web disclosed,’ which he may submit; ‘but, if like the generality of your tribe, you are not willing to encourage a poor author, I'll commit the work to the flames and for ever renounce the business.’
[Biographical Sketch by John Higson; Ashton Reporter, 9 Oct. 1869; Skeat's Bibliography of English Dialects, 1875; Axon's Folk-Song and Folk-Speech of Lancashire, 1870; Fishwick's Lancashire Library, 1875; Local Notes and Queries from the Manchester Guardian, 1874–5.]
BUTTERWORTH, JOHN (1727–1803), baptist minister, was the son of Henry Butterworth, a pious blacksmith of Goodshaw, a village in Rossendale, Lancashire. He was one of five sons, of whom three, besides John, became ministers of baptist congregations. One of them named Lawrence, a minister at Evesham, wrote two pamphlets against unitarian views. John was born 13 Dec. 1727, and went to the school of David Crosley, a Calvinistic minister who had known John Bunyan. About the year 1753 he was appointed pastor of Cow Lane Chapel, Coventry. With this congregation he remained upwards of fifty years, and died 24 April 1803, aged 75.
He published, in 1767, ‘A New Concordance and Dictionary to the Holy Scriptures,’ which was reprinted in 1785, 1792, and 1809. The last edition was edited by Dr. Adam Clarke. He also wrote ‘A Serious Address to the Rev. Dr. Priestley,’ 1790.
His son, Joseph, and his grandson, Henry, are separately noticed.
[Parry's Hist. of Cloughfold Baptist Church, p. 226; Newbigging's Forest of Rossendale, p. 176; Hargreaves's Life of Hirst, pp. 325, 365; Life of Adam Clarke, 1833, ii. 17, iii. 147; Poole's Coventry, p. 238.]
BUTTERWORTH, JOSEPH (1770–1826), law bookseller, was son of the Rev. John Butterworth [q. v.], baptist minister of Coventry. He was born at Coventry in 1770. At an early age he went to London, where he learned the business of a law bookseller, and founded a large and lucrative establishment in Fleet Street, in which his nephew, Henry [q. v.], afterwards assisted him. His house became a resort of the leading philanthropists of the day. There Lords Liverpool and Teignmouth, William Wilberforce and the elder Macaulay discussed their benevolent schemes, and there the first meetings of the British and Foreign Bible Society were held. Butterworth liberally supported many philanthropic and christian institutions. He was M.P. for Coventry 1812–8, and for Dover 1820–6, and gave an independent support to the government of the day. In August 1819 he was appointed general treasurer of the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society, which office he retained until his death. For many years he was a loyal member of the Wesleyan community, but maintained a generous spirit towards all. He was author of ‘A General Catalogue of Law Books,’ with their dates and prices; a work of great value to members of the legal profession. He died at his house in Bedford Square, London, 30 June 1826, aged 56.
[Sermon by Rev. Richard Watson, 1826, in vol. ii. of Watson's Works; Minutes of the Methodist Conference.]
BUTTEVANT, Viscount. [See Barry, David Fitzjames.]
BUTTON, RALPH (d. 1680), canon of Christ Church under the Commonwealth, was the son of Robert Button of Bishopstown, Wiltshire, and was educated at Exeter College, Oxford. He proceeded B.A. in 1630; in 1633 the rector of Exeter, Dr. Prideaux, recommended him to Sir Nathaniel Brent, the warden of Merton, for a fellowship in his college. The fellowship was conferred on him, and he became famous in the university as a successful tutor. Among his pupils were Zachary Bogan and Anthony à Wood. On the outbreak of the civil war in 1642, Button, who sympathised with the parliamentarians, removed to London, and on 15 Nov. 1643 was elected professor of geometry at Gresham College, in the place of John Greaves. In 1647 he was nominated a delegate to aid the parliamentary visitors at Oxford in their work of reform, and apparently resumed his tutorship at Merton. On 18 Feb. 1647-8 Button was appointed by the visitors junior proctor; on 11 April he pronounced a Latin oration before Philip, earl of Pembroke, the new chancellor of the university, and on 13 June he resigned his Gresham professorship. On 4 Aug. he was made canon of Christ Church and public orator of the university, in the room of Dr. Henry Hammond, who had been removed from those offices by the parliamentary commission. At the same time Button declined to supplicate
