Francis Henry Butler, 1849 - 1935

by Brian Stevenson
last updated January, 2025

F.H. Butler operated a mineralogical shop in London from 1885 until 1927. His business was reported to be one of the largest of the time, and handled a great number of important specimens. In addition to large and small pieces of minerals, fossils, etc., Butler prepared microscope slides of thin-sectioned minerals (Figure 1). He also sold slides of other materials, including biological items.

Figure 1. Microscope slides by Francis H. Butler. He primarily mounted thin-sections of minerals, but was known to also prepare slides of other items such as foraminifera and insects. Butler first opened a shop at 180 Brompton Road in 1885. He moved to 148 Brompton Road in 1887, and remained there until 1890. The slides with labels that lack an address presumably date from after his 1890 move to 158 Brompton Road. From the author’s collection, or adapted for nonprofit, educational purposes from an internet sale site.

Figure 2. Labels from minerals that were sold by Francis H. Butler. Left, with his 1885-1887 address of 180 Brompton Road. Right, probably after 1890, following his final move to 158 Brompton Road. Adapted for nonprofit, educational purposes from e-rocks.com/item/bsm87099/gilbertite and e-rocks.com/item/admn52273/pyrite-calcite

Figure 3. Butler opened his mineral shop in the spring of 1885. His inventory largely consisted of the collection of Richard Talling (1820-1883). Butler had grown up in the Brompton Road neighborhood, his father working for the Natural History Museum. From “Nature”.

Figure 4. Butler moved from 180 to 143 Brompton Road during the summer of 1887. From “Nature”.

Figure 5. An 1889 advertisement for prepared slides of thin-sectioned rocks and various microscopy supplies. From “Nature”.

Figure 6. Butler moved his shop a second, final time in late March, 1890, to 158 Brompton Road. From “Nature”.

Figure 7. Advertisements from 1892. Ortonia natalensis and Icerya purchasi are scale insects. From “Nature”.

Figure 8. Francis Butler sold his mineralogical business to J.R. Gregory in 1927. From “Rocks and Minerals”.

Figure 9. Francis Henry Butler, probably ca. 1880-1890.

Francis Henry Butler was born on March 2, 1849, in Chelsea. He was the sixth of nine children of Thomas and Jane Isabella Butler. Father Thomas worked for the British Museum – by 1861 he was the Assistant Secretary of the Museum, and the family had moved to Brompton Square, Kensington, near to the Museum. Evidently a well-paying job, the Butler family enjoyed the comforts of live-in servants.

The course of Francis Butler’s life suggests that he was not under any great pressure to seek a career and then stick to it. He initially studied geology at the Royal School of Mines, from 1866 until 1869. His degree of “Associate of the Royal School of Mines” ("A.R.S.M.") was noted on many of his advertisements.

Francis lectured on science for two years, then enrolled in Worcester College, Oxford University in 1871. He earned a Master of Arts degree in 1874, which was also noted in his advertisements as “M.A. Oxon.”.

He next enrolled in medical school at St. Mary’s, London. He passed his examination to be a Licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries (L.S.A.) in 1882. Butler practiced medicine for quite some time after establishing his mineralogical shop, being listed in the 1891 census as a “registered medical practitioner”.

Geology seems to have been Butler’s true love. During his pursuits of that interest, he became friends with Richard Talling, a rock hound and mineral dealer of Lostwithiel, Cornwall (Figures 10-11). When Talling died on December 19, 1883, Butler was named as the sole executor of his will. Butler’s inheritance of Talling’s rock collection became the basis of Butler’s mineralogical business. He opened a shop at 180 Brompton Road, London, in June, 1885, described as “five minutes’ walk from the Natural History Museum” (Figure 3). He moved to a larger space at 148 Brompton in 1887 (Figure 4). Another, final move occurred in March, 1890, going to 158 Brompton Road (Figure 6).

In addition to minerals and fossils, Butler sold supplies such as rock hammers, blow pipes (for analysing mineral compositions), cabinets, shells, teeth, prehistoric artifacts such as axes, and apparatus for microscopes (Figures 3-7).

Francis married Elizabeth Barnard in July, 1883. Francis’ younger brother, The Reverend Montague Rafael Butler, conducted the ceremony. The pair did not have any children. During the 1890s, the couple moved from the Brompton Road shop to “The Hermitage” in Sutton, Surrey.

He joined the Mineralogical Society on June 25, 1885.

Butler’s interest in mineralogy included substantial investigations of specimens that he acquired, and he published a number of scientific papers about his discoveries.

Butler also wrote and edited articles for The Encyclopaedia Britannica. The 1910 edition credited him for entries as diverse as “frankincense” and “galls”.

Elizabeth died in early 1927. That summer, Francis sold his business to another London mineralogical business, J.R. Gregory.

Francis Butler died at his home in Sutton on August 19, 1935.

Figure 10. Richard Talling was a well-known dealer of minerals, from Cornwall. This advertisement appeared in an 1865 issue of “Geological Magazine”.

Figure 11. Richard Talling died in December, 1883, naming Francis Henry Butler as sole executor of his will. Talling’s collection of minerals formed the basis of Butler’s shop.

Figure 12. Cover of an 1889 letter from Florence Nightingale to Francis H. Butler. Adapted for nonprofit, educational purposes.

Resources

The Athenaeum (1884) Notice of the death of Richard Talling, January 25, page 25

Bracegirdle, Brian (1998) Microscopical Mounts and Mounters, Quekett Microscopical Club, pages 19 and 118, Plate 7-L and 7-M

Butler, Francis H. (1907) On the occurrence of silver ore in the Perran mine, Perran Uthnoe, Cornwall, The Mineralogical Magazine, pages 385-388

Butler, Francis H. (1911) The natural history of kaolinite, The Mineralogical Magazine, pages 63-70

Butler, Francis H. (1911) The brecciation of mineral-veins, The Mineralogical Magazine, pages 124-136

Electrical News (1875) “Frederick Field, of Upper Marsh, Lambeth, Surrey, and Richard Talling, of Lostwithiel, Cornwall, have given notice in respect of the invention of Improvements in the preparation of insulating compounds for coating electric telegraph wires and other purposes”, page 24

The Encyclopaedia Britannica (1910) Editors

England census and other records, accessed through ancestry.com

Geological Magazine (1865) Advertisement from Richard Talling, August issue, advertiser section

The Lancet (1882) “The following gentlemen also on the same day passed the Primary Professionla Examination: Francis Henry Butler, St. Mary’s Hospital”, page 335

The Lindsay Greenbank Collection Classic Minerals of Northern England (accessed January, 2025) Francis Henry Butler, www.irocks.com/e-book-greenbank

Marriage record of Francis Henry Butler and Elizabeth Barnard (1883) Paris records of Saint John The Evangelist, Paddington, accessed through ancestry.com

The Medical Directory (1884) “Norfolk Crescent, Hyde-park … F.H. Butler, 11 …”, page 51

Mineralogical Magazine (1901) Ordinary Members, “June 25, 1885, Butler, Francis Henry, Esq., M.A. A.R.S.M., 158 Brompton Road, London, S.W.,

Nature (1885) Advertisement from F.H. Butler, June 4, page xxxv

Nature (1887) Advertisements from F.H. Butler, numerous issues

Nature (1889) Advertisements from F.H. Butler, numerous issues

Nature (1890) Advertisements from F.H. Butler, numerous issues

Nature (1892) Advertisements from F.H. Butler, numerous issues

Oxford University Gazette (1871) Matriculations, pages 303-304

Probate of the will of Richard Talling (1884) “The Will of Richard Talling late of Lostwithiel in the County of Cornwall Mineralogist who died 19 December 1883 at Lostwithiel was proved at the Principal Registry by Francis Henry Butler of 25 Paddington-green in the County of Middlesex Esquire M.D. the sole executor. Personal Estate £324 12s”, accessed through ancestry.com

Probate of the will of Francis Butler (1935) “Butler Francis Henry of The Hermitage 11 Alfred-road Sutton Surrey died 19 August 1935 Probate London 3 October to Hugh Reynolds solicitor, Effects £1800 10s 9d”, accessed through ancestry.com

Prospectus of the Royal College of Science, London, with which is incorporated The Royal School of Mines (1904) “1866-69, Butler, Francis H., Geology”, page 1010

Rocks and Minerals (1927) Notice of acquisition of F.H. Burton’s stock by J.R. Gregory, page 77