THE BUTLER FAMILY HISTORY
Written by Richard Butler (1907 - 1996)
The BUTLER generations have
been traced back to approximately 1790 when
ROBERT BUTLER, a Mariner by
occupation, was the earliest Butler to be traced. He was married to Jane,
whose surname was unknown.
His direct descendant, ROBERT, born about
1816 at North Shields, was first married on 28th July 1841 to Elizabeth
Stratton who was born at South Shields in 1815. When he was widowed, he
later married Cathrine who was born in 1833. However from his first
marriage, WILLIAM was born at North Shields on 16th September 1842, the
eldest of 5 children, one of them Richard, the first of a few Richards was
born in 1849.
William married Margaret Cunningham who was born in
1849, on 5th February 1872 and produced 5 children, one RICHARD born at 55
Church Way, Tynemouth (North Shields) in May 1885. Richard and an elder
brother, George, crossed the river and both married at South Shields. Of
the others of the family, Thomas emigrated with his family to Australia
during the Australian Gold Rush and worked for some time at Wallaroo Mines
in South Australia. Anne married William Scott and settled in North
Shields. As also did Elizabeth who married a South Shields man, Chris
Longstaff, but they settled and live on the North Side of the river.
Richard married Elizabeth Christie, who lived in the riverside area of
Military Road, on 23rd December 1906 and settled in a house in Long Bank,
and area overlooking the river and the dockside are of Wapping Street. They
had 6 children, four boys and two girls. There were actually seven, but
when twins were born in 1911, only one of the boys survived.
The
above were parents of the writer, another RICHARD, born on 25th February
1907. Elizabeth, the Mother, was completely blind, having been hit in the
eye with a snowball when she was only 16. Although having treatment at
various hospitals, the injured eye affected the other eye and she remained
blind for the rest of her life.
The Father, Richard, worked at
Moore`s Glass Manufacturer in Holborn, South Shields as a labourer until the
commencement of the First World War in August 1914.
As far as can be
traced, he enlisted about November 1914 when he joined the Tyneside Irish
Regiment.