Richard C. Butler

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.[1]

The Courtaulds owned estates in north Essex, and on completing his National service Butler concerned himself with estate management.[2]

Butler became a farmer in 1953[3] and inherited a 1500-acre arable estate in Essex on the death of his mother in 1954.[2] He was an active member of the National Farmers' Union of England and Wales, joining its Council in 1962.[3] In 1970, he became vice-president, and in 1971 deputy president to Henry Plumb, continuing almost until the end of the 1970s.[2] He was then President from 1979 to 1986.[3]

He was knighted by H. M. the Queen at Buckingham Palace on 10 November 1981.[4]

After retiring from the NFU, for a year Butler was president of COPA, the union of European farmers, and also took on business directorships.[2] In the City of London, he became a director of County Natwest Investment Management and served as Chairman from 1989 to 1996.[3]

Butler listed his recreations in Who's Who as “hunting, shooting, DIY”[3] and was chairman of the East Essex Hunt for forty years.[2]

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).[1]

• High Sheriff of Essex, 1969[3]
• Deputy Lieutenant of Essex, 1972[3]
• Knight Bachelor, 1981[3]