Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Butler, Edward Gerard
BUTLER, Sir EDWARD GERARD (1770–1825), one of the heroes of the affair at Villiers-en-Couche, entered the army by purchasing a cornetcy in the 15th light dragoons in 1792. He was at once sent to Flanders on the outbreak of the war in 1793, and on 24 April 1794 was one of the officers of the two companies of his regiment which overthrew a French army and saved the life of the emperor. Landrecy was closely invested by the Austrian and English armies, when a corps of 10,000 Frenchmen moved from Cæsar's camp to raise the siege. Their march was so rapid that they were close to the allied lines, and on the point of taking the emperor himself prisoner as he was riding along the road almost unattended, when General Otto perceived the danger, and ordered the only cavalry he had at hand, namely, 160 of the 15th light dragoons and 112 Austrian hussars, to charge the French, in order rather to save the emperor than to defeat the enemy. They charged, and the French were seized with an unaccountable panic and fled, leaving three guns behind them. For this gallant charge the emperor conferred upon every one of the eight English officers who were present the order of Maria Theresa, and the king of England, at the emperor's request, knighted them all. Butler had been promoted lieutenant in the 11th light dragoons in May 1794, and he was in 1796 gazetted major without purchase in the newly raised 87th regiment. With it he served in the West Indies in 1797 at Trinidad and Porto Rico, and remained in garrison there till 1802. In 1804 he was promoted lieutenant-colonel, and in 1806 the 87th was ordered to form part of the expedition under Sir Samuel Auchmuty to Monte Video. In the attack on Monte Video Butler especially distinguished himself, and also in Whitelocke's attempt on Buenos Ayres, where the 87th had 17 officers and 400 men killed and wounded. From 1807 to 1810, while the 2nd battalion, under Colonel Hugh Gough, was distinguishing itself in the Peninsula, the 1st battalion of the 87th, under Butler, garrisoned the Cape of Good Hope. In 1810 he was second in command of a force ordered from the Cape to assist Major-general Abercromby in the reduction of the Mauritius, but the island was already taken when the contingent arrived. Nevertheless, though he saw no more service, Butler was promoted colonel in 1811 and major-general in 1814, and made a C.B. in the latter year. He died in Normandy in June 1825.
[Royal Military Calendar, ed. 1820, for the affair of Villiers-en-Couche, and contemporary journals; Records of 87th Regiment.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.46
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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| 48 | 17 f.e. | Butler, Sir Edward G. for the latter year read 1815 |