Lois Butler (3 November 1897 – 17 August 1970) was an

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

skier,

aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators because they a ...

and one of the early members of the

Air Transport Auxiliary The Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) was a British civilian organisation set up at the start of the Second World War with headquarters at White Waltham Airfield in Berkshire. The ATA ferried new, repaired and damaged military aircraft between fac ...

(ATA).

Early life

Lois Reid was born on 3 November 1897 in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, to Minnie (née Cormack) (''d''. 1949) and Sir William Duff Reid (1866–1924). She was their only daughter and had four brothers. Her father owned railways in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and was president of the Reid Newfoundland Co. Ltd. Lois Reid was educated at Abbots Langley School in Britain and returned to Canada in 1913 to attend

Havergal College Havergal College is a private day and boarding school for girls from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 12 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The school was established in 1894 and named for Frances Ridley Havergal, a composer, author and humanitarian. The ...

in Toronto. She met her first husband, Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh William Knox-Niven, when he was working as aide-de-camp to the governor of

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

. They married in 1918 and had one daughter, Lois Knox-Niven. Hugh Knox-Niven died in 1923. She and her second husband,

Alan Samuel Butler Alan Butler (22 November 1898 – 24 May 1987), born as Alan Samuel Butler, was a British aviator and, as claimed in his obituary in ''The Times'', the first private aeroplane owner-driver. Since 1923 Butler was chairman of De Havilland Aircraft ...

, chairman of the

De Havilland Aircraft Company The de Havilland Aircraft Company Limited (pronounced , ) was a British aviation manufacturer established in late 1920 by Geoffrey de Havilland at Stag Lane Aerodrome Edgware on the outskirts of North London. Operations were later moved to H ...

, married in 1925 and had two children, a daughter, Carol and a son, David.

Skiing

Butler was a skier and she represented

at the

1936 Winter Olympics The 1936 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936, were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 16 February 1936 in the market town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Nazi Ger ...

Garmisch-Partenkirchen Garmisch-Partenkirchen (; ) is an Northern Limestone Alps, Alpine mountain resort, ski town in Bavaria, southern Germany. It is the seat of government of the Garmisch-Partenkirchen (district), district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen (abbreviated ...

, captaining the women's team and competing in the women's combined event.

Flying and the ATA

Together the Butlers set a world record for two-seater light planes, of 119.77 m.p.h. in 1928. Butler was one of the earliest women pilots appointed to the

(ATA) in 1940 by the Commandant Pauline Gower. By the end of the war, she had more than 1000 flying hours and had flown 36 types of aircraft, and was one of the most experienced service pilots. After the war the family moved to

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

, (now Harare) in what was then called

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a self-governing British Crown colony in Southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally known as South ...

(now

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

). They bought tobacco farms near

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; ) is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council claimed it to be about ...

, but the couple later returned to Studham Hall, in Bedfordshire, leaving their son,

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

, to run the business. Lois Butler died of a heart attack, in

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens city centre along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...

, Greece, on 17 August 1970. She was buried in St Mary's Church,

Studham Studham is a village and civil parish in the county of Bedfordshire. It has a population of 1,182. The parish bounds to the south of the Buckinghamshire border, and to the east is the Hertfordshire border. The village lies in the wooded south ...

, in

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Lois 1897 births 1970 deaths Air Transport Auxiliary pilots Alpine skiers at the 1936 Winter Olympics Olympic alpine skiers for Canada Canadian women aviators Canadian female alpine skiers Skiers from Montreal 20th-century Canadian sportswomen