Richard C. Butler

Sir Richard Clive Butler (12 January 1929 – 28 January 2012) was a British farmer and merchant banker, President of the National Farmers' Union of England and Wales.

Early life One of the sons of the Conservative politician Rab Butler, by his marriage to Sydney Elizabeth Courtauld, daughter and co-heiress of Samuel Courtauld, the young Butler was educated at Eton College and Pembroke College, Cambridge, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Royal Horse Guards.

The Courtaulds owned estates in north Essex, and on completing his National service, Butler concerned himself with estate management.

Career Butler became a farmer in 1953 and the knighthood was conferred by H. M. the Queen at Buckingham Palace on 10 November 1981.

After retiring from the NFU for a year, Butler was president of COPA, the union of European farmers, and also took on business directorships.

Butler listed his recreations in Who's Who as “hunting, shooting, DIY” and was chairman of the East Essex Hunt for forty years.

Personal life On 5 July 1952, Butler married Susan Anne Maud Walker, a daughter of Patrick Bruce Walker and Sybil Middleton Turner. They had a daughter, Antonia Mary (1954), and twin sons, Richard Michael and Christopher Patrick (1956).

Honours High Sheriff of Essex, 1969 Deputy Lieutenant of Essex, 1972 Knight Bachelor, 1981