See also
| Husband: | Robert Reginald Frederick BUTLER (1866-1933) | |
| Wife: | Rose RICH (1871-1945) | |
| Children: | Gladys Marjorie BUTLER (1897-1979) | |
| Reginald Thomas BUTLER (1901- ) | ||
| Marriage | 12 Jun 1895 | Bristol, Gloucestershire, England1 |
| St John the Evangelist, Clifton | ||
| Name: | Robert Reginald Frederick BUTLER | |
| Sex: | Male | |
| Name Prefix: | Sir | |
| Name Suffix: | 1st Baronet | |
| Father: | - | |
| Mother: | - | |
| Birth | 19 Jun 1866 | Edford, Somerset, England |
| Residence | 12 Jun 1895 (age 28) | Poulshot, Devizes, Wiltshire, England1 |
| Occupation | 12 Jun 1895 (age 28) | Managing Director of Public Company - Dairy.; Poulshot, Devizes, Wiltshire, England1 |
| Title | 1922 (age 55-56) | Sir Robert Butler, 1st Baronet of Old Park |
| He was director of a number of catering and confectionery companies, notably chairman of United Dairies He was created a Baronet in the 1922 New Year Honours for his wartime services. | ||
| Death | 19 Nov 1933 (age 67) | Marylebone, London, England |
| 20 Devonshire Place Bart. of Wonham Manor, Betchworth, Surrey. |
||
| Probate | 1 Jan 1934 | London, England |
| Wonham Manor, Betchworth, Surrey Probate granted to Sir Reginald Thomas Butler, Baronet (son) and Gladys Marjorie Wayland-Smith,(wife of Richard Wayland-Smith, daughter). Effects £115,555 12s 6d. |
||
| Name: | Rose RICH | |
| Sex: | Female | |
| Father: | Thomas Godwin RICH (1840-1882) | |
| Mother: | Emma TEAGLE (1845-1930) | |
| Birth | 21 Apr 1871 | Rodbourne, Wiltshire, England |
| Death | 1945 (age 73-74) | Tonbridge, Kent, England |
| Name: | Gladys Marjorie BUTLER | |
| Sex: | Female | |
| Spouse: | Richard Wayland SMITH (1890-1967) | |
| Birth | 5 Jul 1897 | Rowde, Devizes, Wiltshire, England |
| Residence | 1934 (age 36-37) | Exeter, Devon, England |
| 41 Southernhay West | ||
| Death | 13 Mar 1979 (age 81) | Exeter, Devon, England |
| 17 Douglas Avenue, Exmouth Probate Bristol, 16 May 1979. Effects £325139 |
||
| Name: | Reginald Thomas BUTLER | |
| Sex: | Male | |
| Birth | 1901 | Rowde, Devizes, Wiltshire, England |
| Residence | 1934 (age 32-33) | Hildenborough, Tonridge and Malling, Kent, England |
Robert Reginald Frederick Butler was born at Shepton Mallet, Somerset on 19 June 1866, the
son of Frederick James Butler, a farmer, and Susan nee Swanson. He was educated at Bedford School and entered the milk trade as manager of the North Wiltshire Dairy Co’s depot at Eastcourt Street, Devizes. Business grew rapidly with the accelerated demand of London’s
milk trade, and in 1896 Butler helped to organize Wilts United Dairies, of which he became a
principal shareholder. His partner, Charles Maggs, died in 1899, but Reginald Butler helped
make the new company one of the most successful in the trade. In 1901 he bought a wholesale milk business at the Paddington terminus of the Great Western Railway and made Joseph Maggs (qv) son of Charles, its manager. By 1911 they were able to buy the established firm of Freeth & Pocock Ltd, and in 1915 Reginald Butler engineered a major re-structuring of the trade in the form of a new company, United Dairies.
United Dairies was an amalgamation of the most powerful wholesale firms in London,
including the Dairy Supply Co Ltd, Great Western & Metropolitan Dairies Ltd, Wilts United
Dairies Ltd, and F W Gilbert Ltd. It was thought best under the then prevailing war conditions
to reduce the inefficiency of overlapping rounds and undesirable competition. In 1917 some of
the leading retail companies also joined, such as Welford & Sons, the Aylesbury Dairy Co, the
London, Gloucester & North Hants Dairies, Curtis Bros & Dumbrill, R Higgs & Son,
Welford’s Surrey Dairies, West London Dairy Co, Ben Davies & Son, Eastern Counties Dairy
Farmers, Emerton & Sons, and many more. In the same year Butler became chairman of this
unprecedentedly large dairy combine, a post he held until succeeded by Joseph Maggs in 1922.
By the end of the war United Dairies controlled about two-thirds of London’s wholesale milk
supply, and had been able to cut by 30 per cent the number of its rounds, creating in the process what amounted to a virtual monopoly in some areas. Within a year the group was subject to an excess profit duty.
Sir Reginald (he was granted a baronetcy in 1922) was also active outside the boardroom. As a result of his efforts the National Milk Publicity Council was founded in 1920, and he was at
various times president of the National Federation of Dairymen’s Associations, and the
Metropolitan Dairymen’s Benevolent Institution. He was also a leading promoter of the Young
Farmers’ Club movement.
After his retirement from the chairmanship of United Dairies in 1922, Butler kept interests in a
wide sphere of business concerns in the catering and confectionery trades. He became, for
instance, a director of the Aerated Bread Co (ABC), and with some friends acquired the rights
in several countries of the Hayes gear.
The successful career of Reginald Butler was a result not only of the fortunate circumstances of being in a trade that was expanding rapidly. He was an energetic, astute and forceful businessman to whom ‘mediocrity, inefficiency, and any suggestion of failure were abhorrent’
{Milk Industry 14 (1933). His talent for organisation was a key asset, although his direct
manner was known to cause occasional embarrassment to colleagues.
Butler married in 1895 Rose nee Rich, daughter of Thomas Godwin Rich, a farmer; they had
one son who, as Lieutenant Reginald Thomas Butler RN, succeeded to the baronetcy, and one
daughter, Mrs Wayland- Smith. Sir Reginald Butler died on 19 November 1933 leaving
£115,555 gross.
| 1 | Text From Source: 1895, Marriage solemnized at St John the Evangelist, Clifton in the Parish of Bristol in the County of Gloucestershire Marriage No: Bristol Archives; Church of England Parish Registers; Reference: P/St Jc/R/2/C 1884-1906 When Married: 12 Jun 1895 Name and Surname: Robert Reginald Frederick Butler and Rose Rich Age: 28 and 24 Condition: Bachelor and Spinster Rank or Profession: Managing Director of Company and - Residence at the time of Marriage: Poulshot, Devizes and 84 Pembroke Road, Clifton, Bristol Fathers' Name and Surname: Frederick James Butler and Thomas Godwin Rich Rank or Profession of Fathers: both farmers Married in the church according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Established Church, By Licence by me, Arthur A. Anstey, vicar. This Marriage was solemnized between us, Robert Reginald Frederick Butler and Rose Rich in the Presence of us, Arthur William Rich, Fanny Louise Rich |