Person DS/UK/1771 Butler; William (1911-1982); Jesuit Priest Butler William 1911-1982 Jesuit Priest Male

William (known affectionately as Billy) was born on 25 June 1911 at Norbury, a southern suburb of London. Both of his parents died when he was quite young. He first attended Emmanuel School in Wandsworth, then won a scholarship to Westminster City School, where he proved to be an outstanding scholar. William and his sister (Vivien) informally adopted by a McCarthy family, with whom William remained close to for the rest of his life. William joined the novitiate at Roehampton in 1929. His ability was soon recognised at Manresa House and he was not made to do a juniorate. In 1933 he went to the newly founded house at Endsleigh Street a completed a four year course for a London M.A. and M.Sc. in pure mathematics. In 1937 he went to teach at Beaumont College. In 1939, he returned to war-time Heythrop for his theology, and was ordained in 1942. He then taught at Sunderland (1943-46) and Mount St Mary’s College (1946-47) before doing his tertianship at St Beuno’s. In August 1948 he was sent to St George’s Chapel, Salisbury, Rhodesia (as it was then). He taught maths and physics at the College for eleven years. In 1959 he was appointed Professor of Mathematics at the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and in 1969 was elected Dean of the Faculty of Science for that year. He was appointed Senior Lecturer in 1970, remaining at the university in that status till 1973. Outside of the classroom, Butler was a keen scouter. At Heythrop he had been an enthusiastic member of the Rovers and had passed both parts of the Gilwell Scout Wood Badge course. This qualified him to run recognised training courses and soon after his arrival at St George’s he got in touch with the scouting authorities to find out how he could fit in. In February in 1974 Bill retired from the university and moved to the Catholic Church, Belville, Cape Province, where he worked till 1980 as the assistant priest, often taking responsibility for the position of Parish Priest. He was also working as mathematics lecturer at the Western Cape University. Following this, Fr Butler returned to the UK and was assigned a part-time job at St Ignatius College in Enfield, London, teaching selected groups advanced mathematics. He suffered a stroke in April and died on 27 May 1982. International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) 2nd edition - ICA 2004 ISBN 2-9521932-2-3 National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 Yes user 26/01/2023 user 26/01/2023 72d2edef-1122-456a-b9d2-04dc624f5765