The New International Encyclopædia/Butt, Isaac

BUTT, Isaac (1813-79). An Irish politician. He graduated at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1835; was professor of political economy there from 1830 to 1841, and became a member of the Irish bar. He was one of the counsel for Smith O'Brien and others tried in 1848 for treason, and also for the Fenians tried in 1865. In 1852 he was chosen to Parliament from Youghal as a Liberal Conservative; and in 1871 was returned from Limerick, and was for many years leader of the Home Rule Party. He was one of the projectors of the Dublin University Magazine, of which he was editor from 1834 to 1838. Among his published works are a History of Italy (1860) and The Problem of Irish Education (1875).