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Butcher her he had one son, Edmund, and a daughter, Emma. Butcher is known among topographers by his account of Sidmouth, and among poets by a few hymns of great merit. His hymn ‘From north and south’ won the warm commendation of Mrs. Barbauld. He published: 1. ‘Sermons, to which are subjoined suitable Hymns,’ 1798, 8vo (the hymns are original, and intended as ‘poetical epitomes’ of the twenty-one sermons; the second edition, 1806, 8vo, has title ‘Sermons for the use of Families,’ contains twenty-two sermons and no hymns). 2. ‘Moral Tales,’ 1801, 12mo. 3. ‘The Substance of the Holy Scriptures methodised,’ 1801, 4to, 2nd ed. 1813, 4to (intended as a sort of family Bible; Butcher assisted Worthington and others in its preparation, and contributed a hymn to each lesson). 4. ‘An Excursion from Sidmouth to Chester in the Summer of 1803,’ 2 vols. 1806, 12mo. 5. ‘A Picture of Sidmouth;’ the fourth edition, Exeter [1830], 12mo, has title ‘A new Guide, descriptive of the Beauties of Sidmouth.’ 6. ‘Sermons for the use of Families,’ vol. ii. 1806, 8vo. 7. ‘Unitarian Claims described and vindicated,’ 1809, 12mo (sermon on 2 Cor. x. 7, at Bridgwater, Wednesday, 5 July, before the Western Unitarian Society, of biographical interest as giving the process by which he reached his latest views). 8. ‘Sermons for the use of Families,’ vol. iii. 1819, 8vo (twenty-eight sermons printed at the Chiswick Press; the preface, 1 May, reproduces the autobiographical details of No. 7). 9. ‘Prayers for the use of Families and Individuals,’ 1822, 8vo (one for each sermon in his three volumes, and some for special occasions); and single sermons. Posthumous were 10. ‘Discourses on our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount,’ Bath and London, 1825, 12mo (twenty-one sermons edited by his widow; the preface says he had selected the materials for another volume). 11. ‘A Poetical Version of the Chronological History of the Kings of England,’ 1827, 12mo. Besides these, Butcher contributed to the ‘Protestant Dissenters’ Magazine,’ 1794-9 (see especially vol. i. pp 120, 204, 246, 330, 373, 417, 460, for poetical pieces), and edited the later volumes.

[Evans, in Monthly Repos. 1822 p. 309 seq. (revised in Christian Moderator, 1827, p. 347 seq.); Monthly Repos. 1821, p. 345; 1822, pp. 285, 332, 471; 1832, p. 70; Belsham’s Mem. of Lindsey, 1812, p. 292; Murch’s Hist. of Presb. and Gen. Bapt. Churches in W. of Eng. 1835, p. 349 seq.; Lawrence’s Descendants of Philip Henry, 1844, p. 21 seq.; Miller’s Our Hymns, 1866, p. 266 seq.; Spears’s Record of Unit. Worthies (1877), p. 211; private information.]  BUTCHER, RICHARD (1583–1665?), antiquary, was a native of Stamford, and became town clerk of that borough. He compiled ‘The Survey and Antiquitie of the Towne of Stamforde, in the county of Lincolne,’ Lond. 1646, 4to, reprinted Lond. 1717, 8vo, and also with additions by Francis Peck, at the end of his ‘Academia tertia Anglicana; or the Antiquarian Annals of Stanford,’ Lond. 1727, fol. A manuscript by him, in two volumes, entitled ‘Antiquity revived,’ is preserved in the library of St. John’s College, Cambridge. It is a translation from Camden. Butcher’s portrait has been engraved by Clamp.

[Gough’s British Topography, ii. 29. 523; Granger’s Biog. Hist. of England (1824), iii. 152; Nichols’s Lit. Anecd. viii. 573; Lowndes’s Bibl. Man. (Bohn), 352.]  BUTCHER, SAMUEL, D.D. (1811–1876), bishop of Meath, eldest son of Vice-admiral Samuel Butcher, was born in 1811 at his father’s residence, Danesfort, near Killarney, co. Kerry. His mother was Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Townsend Herbert, of Cahirnane, in the same county. He was educated at home until his sixteenth or seventeenth year, when his father removed to Cork, and he was sent to the school of Drs. Hamblin and Porter. In 1829 he entered Trinity College, Dublin, where he won high honours in classics and mathematics, and obtained a foundation scholarship for classics in 1832. He graduated in 1834, obtained a fellowship in 1837, and was soon after appointed tutor and lecturer. The improvement in classical taste and scholarship which was observable about this time in the university of Dublin has been with justice attributed in no small degree to Butcher’s lectures. In 1849 the degree of D.D. was conferred on him. In 1850 he was appointed to the professorship of ecclesiastical history, and two years later to the important office of regius professor of divinity, on which occasion he vacated his fellowship. In 1854 he accepted the college living of Ballymoney, co. Cork, which he continued to hold along with his professorship until, on the recommendation of Lord Derby, he was appointed in August 1866 to the vacant see of Meath, the premier bishopric of Ireland. Butcher ably supported the Irish church against external assailants and his wise and moderate counsels contributed not a little to avert the dangers of disruption which threatened it after its disestablishment. He laboured unsparingly to reorganise the affairs of the church throughout Ireland, and especially in his own diocese. He took an active part in promoting the movement for securing