William Butler ( British Army officer ) Lieutenant - General Sir William Francis Butler GCB PC ( 31 October 1838 – 7 June 1910 ) was an Irish 19th - century British Army officer , writer , and adventurer . Military career . He was born at Ballyslatteen , Golden , County Tipperary , Ireland , the son of Richard and Ellen Butler . The great famine of 1847 and scenes of suffering and eviction were amongst his earliest recollections . He was educated chiefly by the Jesuits at Tullabeg College . He entered the army as an ensign of the 69th Foot at Fermoy Barracks in 1858 , becoming captain in 1872 and major in 1874 . He took part with distinction in the Red River expedition ( 1870 – 71 ) and the Ashanti operations of 1873 – 74 under Wolseley and received the CB in 1874 . He married on 11 June 1877 Elizabeth Thompson , an accomplished painter of battle scenes , notably " The Roll Call " ( 1874 ) , " Quatre Bras " ( 1875 ) , " Rorke ' s Drift " ( 1881 ) , " The Camel Corps " ( 1891 ) , and " The Dawn of Waterloo " ( 1895 ) . They had six children . He again served with General Wolseley in the Zulu War ( as brevet lieutenant colonel ) , the campaign of Tel - el - Kebir ( after which he was made an " aide - de - camp " to the Queen ) and the Sudan in 1884 – 86 , being employed as colonel on the staff 1885 and brigadier - general 1885 – 86 . In the latter year he was made a KCB . He served as brigadier - general on the staff in Egypt until 1892 when he was promoted to major - general and stationed at Aldershot , subsequent to which he was given command of the southeastern district . In 1898 he succeeded General William Howley Goodenough as commander - in - chief in South Africa , with the local rank of lieutenant - general . For a short period ( December 1898 – February 1899 ) , during the absence of Sir Alfred Milner in England , he acted as high commissioner , and as such , and subsequently in his military capacity , he expressed views on the subject of the probabilities of war which were not approved by the home government ; he was consequently ordered home to command the western district , and held this post until 1905 . He also held the Aldershot command for a brief period in 1900 – 01 . Sir William Butler was promoted to lieutenant - general in 1900 and continued to serve , finally leaving the King ' s service in 1905 . In October 1905 , having reached the age limit of sixty - seven , he was placed on the retired list . The few years of life which remained to him he spent at Bansha Castle in Ireland , devoted chiefly to the cause of education . He was a frequent lecturer both in Dublin and the provinces on historical , social , and economic questions — he had been an admirer of Charles Stewart Parnell . He was a member of the senate of the National University of Ireland , and a commissioner of the Board of National Education . In June 1906 , he was appointed Knight of the Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath , and in 1909 he was made a member of the Irish Privy Council . He died at Bansha Castle and was buried at the cemetery of Killaldriffe , a few miles distant and not far from his ancestral home . He had long been known as a descriptive writer , since his publication of " The Great Lone Land " ( 1872 ) and other works and he was the biographer ( 1899 ) of Sir George Colley . He had started work on his autobiography a few years before his death , but died before it was completed . His youngest daughter , Eileen , Viscountess Gormanston , completed the work and had it published in 1911 . Eileen found among his papers a poem he had written , which began : " Give me but six - foot - three ( one inch to spare ) " < br > " Of Irish earth , and dig it anywhere ; " < br > " And for my poor soul say an Irish prayer " < br > " Above the spot " .