James Ramsay Montagu Butler

Who was James Ramsay Montagu Butler?

Sir James Butler was a British politician and academic.

Butler was born at Trinity College, Cambridge, where his father was master of the college and his mother Agneta Frances Ramsay, who in 1887 attained the highest marks in the Classical Tripos at Cambridge. Butler attended Harrow School and then Trinity College. He was a brilliant scholar whilst at university, winning a number of prizes, including the Chancellor's Medal in Classics and the Craven Scholarship, becoming president of the Cambridge Union and gaining a double first class in Classics and History. When World War I started in 1914, he joined the Scottish Horse. This was a regiment in the Yeomanry, and it saw service in the Middle East, first at Gallipoli and then Egypt. Butler next gained a position in the Directorate of Military Operations in the War Office and ended the war serving in the general staff of the British forces in France. His service led to the award of the OBE and he was twice mentioned in dispatches.

After the end of the war Butler returned to Cambridge. In 1922 he stood as a Member of Parliament for Cambridge University.