BUTLER, SAMUEL (1774-1839), English classical scholar and schoolmaster, and bishop of Lichfield, was born at Kenilworth. He had a brilliant career at Cambridge. In 1798 he became head master of Shrewsbury school. In 1802 he was presented to the living of Kenilworth, in 1807 to a prebendal stall in Lichfield cathedral, and in 1822 to the archdeaconry of Derby; all these appointments he held with his headmastership, but in 1836 he was promoted to the bishopric of Lichfield. It is in connection with Shrewsbury school that Butler will be chiefly remembered. During his headmastership its reputation greatly increased, and in the standard of its scholarship it stood as high as any public school in England. His edition of Aeschylus, with the text and notes of Stanley, appeared 1809-16, and was severely criticized in the Edin burgh Review. He also wrote a Sketch of Modern and Ancient Geography (1813) , and brought out atlases of ancient and modern geography. His library included a fine collection of Aldine edi tions and Greek and Latin mss. ; the Aldines were sold by auction, the mss. purchased by the British Museum.
Butler's life has been written by his grandson, Samuel Butler, author of Erewhon (Life and Letters of Dr. Samuel Butler, 1896); see also Baker's History of St. John's College, Cambridge (ed. J. E. B. Mayor, 1869) ; W. E. Heitland, Dr. Butler of Shrewsbury School (1897) ; Sandys, Hist. Class. Schol. (ed. 5908), vol. iii. p. 398.