# Dictionary of National Biography, 1927 supplement/Butler, Henry Montagu

​BUTLER, HENRY MONTAGU (1833-1918), head master of Harrow school, dean of Gloucester, master of Trinity College, Cambridge, was born at Gayton, Northamptonshire, 2 July 1833. He was the ninth child and youngest (fourth) son of Dr. George Butler [q.v.], the Harrow head master of Byron’s boyhood. His grandfather was the Rev. Weeden Butler, the elder [q.v.], head of a noted school at Chelsea, and a friend of Burke, whom Montagu Butler was to idolize. Both his father and his uncle, Weeden Butler, the younger [q.v.], were Cambridge graduates. Trained under the Rey. Edward Wickham at Hammersmith, he was placed by his father in 1846 in the house of Dr. ​Charles John Vaughan [q.v.], then head master of Harrow, where his uncle, William Oxenham, was under-master. He speedily won distinction as a scholar and the regard both of Dr. Vaughan and of many of his contemporaries, among them John (afterwards fifth Earl) Spencer and (Sir) George Otto Trevelyan who introduced him to Macaulay. Despite delicate health he played in the school cricket eleven, while as head of the school he earned both popularity and respect. From Harrow he went in 1851 to Trinity College, Cambridge, of which in his first term he was elected a minor scholar. Here again he won many prizes and many friends. His tutor was William Hepworth Thompson [q.v.], and he read, among others, with Richard Shilleto [q.v.]. He became president of the Union Society, and senior classic (1855), and in that year was elected fellow of his college. His gifts and aims fitted him for a parliamentary career, and in 1856 he was appointed private secretary to William Francis Cowper (afterwards Lord Mount-Temple), vice-president of the committee of Council on education. He was also chosen secretary to the royal commission for rebuilding the National Gallery. He travelled much with his friends, was a member of the Alpine club, an enthusiast for Italy, and a student of Dante.
Shortly after a tour taken in the East (1857-1858), he was ordained to the curacy of Great St. Mary’s, Cambridge. But immediately afterwards the Harrow head-mastership fell vacant, and Butler was elected at the age of twenty-six (1859). He had great obstacles to overcome—an old-fashioned set of masters (with exceptions, notably Brooke Foss Westcott, afterwards bishop of Durham), some rooted prejudices, and the fact that he followed Vaughan, who had concealed an iron hand in a velvet glove. But gradually he prevailed, through his tact and firmness, through his public spirit and devotion to Harrow both in work and games, through his understanding of boys and men, his winning manners, generosity, and sense of humour. Vaughan had brought stimulus to Harrow: Butler added atmosphere. His reign of twenty-six years proved him a sympathetic head master. He recognized modern needs, but in their sanest perspective; and he reconciled the inspirations of the past to the aspirations of the hour. As brother-in-law of Sir Francis Galton [q.v.] he kept in touch with science and gave it a formal place in the curriculum, while he insisted that a ‘modern school’ should be really efficient. In music he welcomed and recognized (1863) John Farmer [q.v.], and thus arose a cycle of Harrow school songs, of which Edward E. Bowen [q.v.] was chief librettist. Among other masters whom he gathered round him were Reginald Bosworth Smith [q.v.] and Frederick William Farrar [q.v.], and throughout he kept touch with the greater world and with friends such as Tennyson, Matthew Arnold, Charles Kingsley, and Ruskin. His anniversaries of heroes and heroism created a spell of tradition, and he seldom lost sight of an old pupil. Anglo-Indian associations attracted him also through his first marriage (1861) with Georgina Isabella Elliot, grand-daughter of Hugh Elliot [q.v.], the diplomatist.
Butler was anything but a pedagogue, yet neither was he the cruel humanitarian who spares the rod: honest stupidity never incurred his contempt; his main defect, perhaps, was an over-sensitive refinement. His verses, grave or gay, his broadminded sermons, exerted a real influence, and he was one of the best after-dinner speakers of his day. As a writer of Latin verse his facility was extraordinary. Of Harrow he made a miniature Parnassus. All his talents were dedicated to the school, and he presided brilliantly over its tercentenary celebrations (1871). In 1885, two years after his first wife’s death, he was appointed dean of Gloucester, and ceased to direct, though never to influence, the destinies of the school; in 1901 he was elected a governor by the masters.
In 1886 Butler accepted the mastership of Trinity College, Cambridge. There his successes were repeated. His affection for the college was deep, and his personal qualities quickly won recognition. His hospitalities became a tradition. The annual reunions of old Trinity men were largely due to his initiative. Already, as a young graduate, and in the spirit of Frederick Denison Maurice [q.v.], he had co-operated in a short-lived experiment of classes for working-men. This interest he had never lost; it was now pursued in manifold activities. In other enterprises he was recognized both by the university and by the town as a natural leader, and he became a real link between religious bodies of various views and different denominations. He was vice-chancellor of the university for the years 1889-1890. On his eightieth birthday the fellows of his college presented him with an address of warm appreciation.
Butler married as his second wife in ​1888 Agnata Frances, the daughter of Sir James Ramsay, of Bamff, baronet. She was placed by the examiners above the senior classic at Cambridge in 1887. By his two marriages Butler had five sons and three daughters.
Among Butler’s chief publications are his volumes of school and university sermons (1861, 1866, 1898, 1899), Ten Great and Good Men (1909), Chatham as an Orator (Romanes lecture, 1912), Some Leisure Hours of a Long Life (1914). He died at Cambridge 14 January 1918.
There is a portrait of Butler by Sir Hubert von Herkomer at Harrow, and another by Sir William Orpen at Trinity College, Cambridge.
[E. Graham, The Harrow Life of Henry Montagu Butler, D.D., 1920; J. R. M. Butler, Henry Montagu Buller: Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, 1886-1918, 1925; The Tercentenary of Harrow School, 1871; P. M. Thornton, Harrow School, 1885; Hallam, Lord Tennyson, Tennyson and his Friends, 1911; notices in the Lives of Archbishop Benson, 1899, Bishop Westcott, 1903, Dean Farrar, 1904, and Sir R. C. Jebb, 1907; in the Memoir of H. Sidgwick, 1906; and in the Collections and Recollections of G. W. E. Russell, 1898; private information; personal knowledge.]
W. S. S.