Alfred Butt

Sir Alfred Butt, 1st Baronet (20 March 1878 – 8 December 1962) was a British theatre impresario, Conservative politician and racehorse owner and breeder. During a fourteen-year tenure as manager of London's Palace Theatre, beginning in 1904, Butt built a theatre empire, expanding firstly with the Alhambra Theatre, Glasgow in 1910, followed by the London Victoria Palace a year later, to rival that of Edward Moss and others. He became managing director of several London West End theatres beginning in 1914, including the Adelphi Theatre, the Empire Theatre, the Gaiety Theatre and the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, as well as theatres outside London. He continued as a theatre impresario until 1931.

During the First World War, also, Butt became Director of Food Rationing at the Ministry of Food. He was knighted for his services to the ministry, and for his work for war charities, in 1918. He was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Balham and Tooting in 1922. In 1929, he was created a baronet "of Westminster in the County of London" for his services to political and public life. He was forced to resign from the Commons in June 1936 over a financial scandal. After this, Butt concentrated on horse racing.

Life and career Alfred Butt was born in London, the son of solicitor Alfred Beyfus whose forebears had migrated from Hamburg to Glasgow and London, and educated at Emanuel School before entering employment in the counting-house of Harrods department store where his uncle, Edgar Cohen, through the Beyfus family was a director. He subsequently joined the Palace Theatre, a music hall in Cambridge Circus, London, largely controlled by the Beyfus family and associates. He held the seat at successive elections until he was forced to resign from the Commons in June 1936 over a scandal concerning a leak of budget details from which he was believed to have benefited financially.

With the end of his political career, Butt concentrated on his interest in the horse-racing industry. He purchased the Brook Stud near Newmarket. His two most successful horses were Steady Aim, winner of The Oaks, and Petition, winner of the Ascot New Stakes, both in 1946.

Personal life He was married twice. The first marriage in 1908 was to Georgina Mary Say, who died in 1960. His second marriage was to Wilhelmine Wahl later in 1960. He had one son, Kenneth Dudley Butt, from his first marriage.

Sir Alfred Butt died at his Newmarket home in December 1962, aged 84. He was cremated at Cambridge Crematorium.