Samuel Butler

Samuel Butler (30 January 1774 – 4 December 1839) was an English classical scholar and schoolmaster of Shrewsbury School, and Bishop of Lichfield. His biography was written by his grandson Samuel Butler, the author of the novels Erewhon and The Way of All Flesh.

Life Butler was born at Kenilworth, Warwickshire. He was educated at Rugby School, and in 1791 was admitted to St John's College, Cambridge. He obtained three of Sir William Browne's medals, for the Latin (1792) and Greek (1793, 1794) odes, the medal for the Greek ode in 1792 being won by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In 1793 Butler was elected to the Craven scholarship, amongst the competitors being John Keate, afterwards headmaster of Eton, and Coleridge. In 1796 he was fourth senior optime and senior chancellor's classical medallist. In 1797 and 1798 he obtained the members prize for Latin essay. He acquired the degrees of BA in 1796, MA in 1799, and DD in 1811. In 1797 he was elected a fellow of St John's and ordained deacon in the Church of England, and in 1798 became headmaster of Shrewsbury School, the same year as his ordination as priest, at the age of 24. He worked despite having for 37 years "a state of permanently impossible relations" with his second master (deputy), John Jeudwine, which, according to school historian J. B. Oldham, "embittered both their lives to the detriment of the school, the scandal of the town and the embarrassment of Butler's every action".

However, there were shortcomings in the welfare of pupils. Fights between boys were said to average seventy a week and were regarded by Dr Butler "with a blind eye", comfort for boarders was minimal, and complaints about food were continuous, on one occasion leading to a riot. His initials "S.B." over the gateway to the house he built himself next to the school were said to be a sign for "stale bread, sour beer, salt butter, and stinking beef sold by Samuel Butler". He tried to suppress games at Shrewsbury, considering football (pre-FA) as "only fit for butcher boys" and "more fit for farmboys and labourers than for young gentlemen". Bishop Butler is buried at the Collegiate Church of St Mary the Virgin Shrewsbury,

Butler's life has been written by his grandson Samuel Butler, author of Erewhon (The Life and Letters of Dr. Samuel Butler, 1896); see also Baker's History of St John's College, Cambridge (ed. JEB Mayor, 1869); Sandys, Hist. Class. Schol. (ed. 1908), vol. iii. p. 398.

Butler collected some Greek manuscripts (e.g. Minuscule 202).