Norman Frank Paul Butler (December 2, 1918 – October 8, 2011) was an American polo player and thoroughbred breeder.

Early life and education

Norman Frank Paul Butler was born to Paul Butler and Sarah Anne Josephine (née Rooney). He was raised in England, France and Italy, and attended

Hodder Place Stonyhurst St Mary's Hall (commonly known as S.M.H.) is the preparatory school to Stonyhurst College. It is an independent co-educational Catholic school, for ages 3–11, founded by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). It is adjacent to Stonyhurst C ...

Downside School Downside School (formally The College of St Gregory the Great, Downside but simply referred to as Downside) is an 11–18 mixed, Roman Catholic, independent, day and boarding school in Stratton-on-the-Fosse, Somerset, England. It was establish ...

and

Stonyhurst College Stonyhurst College or Stonyhurst is a co-educational Catholic Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing education for boarding school, boarding and day school, day pupils, adhering to the Society of Jesus, Jesuit tradition. It is ...

in Lancashire, England. He later studied Modern Greats at

Oriel College, Oxford University Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, ...

. During WW2 he served as a Lieutenant (USNR) with Squadron VB-107, which was based in Natal, Brazil and Ascension Island. He was decorated three times, with the

Air Medal The Air Medal (AM) is a military decoration of the United States Armed Forces. It was created in 1942 and is awarded for single acts of heroism or meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight. Criteria The Air Medal was establi ...

Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

and Presidential Unit Citation.

Career, Polo and Horse Racing

From 1948 until 1960 he worked in England for Butler Paper and Butler Aviation, and founded Butler S.A. (South America). It was also during this time that he played polo in England, Argentina and the United States, notably on teams including Maharaj Prem Singh, Cecil Smith, Rao Raja Hanut Singh,

Winston Frederick Churchill Guest Winston Frederick Churchill Guest (May 20, 1906 – October 25, 1982) was an Anglo-American polo champion and a member of the Guest family of Britain. Early life Winston Frederick Churchill Guest was born on May 20, 1906, to Frederick Guest (187 ...

and Freddie Guest, as well as playing opposite

Prince Philip Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 19219 April 2021), was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he was the consort of the British monarch from h ...

Cowdray Park Cowdray Park refers to * Cowdray Park, Gauteng, a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa *Cowdray Park, West Sussex The park lies near Easebourne, West Sussex, in the South Downs National Park. The estate belongs to Viscount Cowdray, whose famil ...

. In 1960 he bought Kilboy House in County Tipperary, Ireland. As a thoroughbred breeder in 1972 he won the classic

Irish 1,000 Guineas The Irish 1,000 Guineas is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 metres), and it is sched ...

and the Irish St. Leger as well as the Pretty Polly Stakes with his horse

Pidget Pidget (1969 – after 1984) was a British-bred, Irish-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. In 1972 she completed a unique double when she won both the Irish 1000 Guineas and the Irish St Leger. After showing some promise when winn ...

, trained by Kevin Prendergast and ridden by the jockeys

T. P. Burns Thomas Pascal "TP" Burns (14 April 1924 – 14 May 2018) was an Irish flat racing and jump jockey, who rode mainly for trainer Vincent O'Brien. In 1957, Burns won a British Classic at St Leger atop Ballymoss, a first for an Irish-bred horse. He ...

and

Wally Swinburn Walter Robert Swinburn, (born 1937), is a retired jockey who competed in Flat racing. He was Irish flat racing Champion Jockey in 1976 and 1977, and was the first jockey to ride 100 winners in a season in Ireland. He was based at various times in ...

. Other notable horses included Pabui (winner of the 1974 Criterium di Roma at Capanelle) and Kilboy. His horses raced in Ireland, England, Italy and France. He also worked with

Vincent O'Brien Michael Vincent O'Brien (9 April 1917 – 1 June 2009) was an Irish race horse trainer from Churchtown, County Cork, Ireland. In 2003 he was voted the greatest influence in horse racing history in a worldwide poll hosted by the ''Racing Pos ...

and

John Magnier John Magnier (born 10 February 1948) is an Irish business magnate. He is a leading thoroughbred stud owner and has extensive business interests outside the horse-breeding industry. Magnier was a senator in the upper house of the Oireachtas, ...

among others. He later sold Kilboy House to

Tony Ryan Thomas Anthony Ryan (2 February 1936 – 3 October 2007) was an Irish billionaire businessman and philanthropist who co-founded Ryanair in 1984 along with cofounders Christopher Ryan and Liam Lonergan (owner of Irish travel agent Club Travel), ...

, founder of

Ryanair Ryanair is an Irish Low-cost carrier#Ultra low-cost carrier, ultra low-cost airline group headquartered in Swords, County Dublin, Ireland. The parent company, Ryanair Holdings plc, includes subsidiaries Ryanair , Malta Air, Buzz (Ryanair), Buzz ...

. He was a member of

Buck's Club Buck's Club is a gentlemen's club in London, located at 18 Clifford Street, established in June 1919. P. G. Wodehouse mentions it in some stories and modelled his Drones Club mostly after Buck's. It is probably best known for the Buck's Fizz ...

and a life member of the Corviglia Club.

Personal life

In 1948 he married Pauline Winn, daughter of Lady Baillie and the Hon. Charles John Frederick Winn (son of

Rowland Winn, 2nd Baron St Oswald Rowland Winn, 2nd Baron St Oswald (1 August 1857 – 13 April 1919) was a Conservative Party politician in England. At the 1885 general election, he was elected as Member of Parliament for Pontefract in Yorkshire. He held the seat until his fa ...

), of

Leeds Castle Leeds Castle is a castle in Kent, England, southeast of Maidstone. It is built on islands in a lake formed by the River Len to the east of the village of Leeds and is a historic Grade I listed estate. A castle has existed on the site s ...

in Kent. They had two children together. They divorced in 1958. In 1959 he married his second wife, the Hon. Penelope Dewar, daughter of Lord Forteviot, owner of Dewar Whiskies in Scotland. They had three children together. They divorced in 1977. In 1981 he married his third wife Baroness Gabriella Gröger von Sontag, fashion editor of German ''Vogue'', daughter of a German banker and Director of the

Dresdner Bank Dresdner Bank AG () was a German bank, founded in 1872 in Dresden, then headquartered in Berlin from 1884 to 1945 and in Frankfurt from 1963 onwards after a postwar hiatus. Long Germany's second-largest bank behind Deutsche Bank, it was eventually ...

. They had one son together. In 1874 industrialist and member of the

Jekyll Island Club The Jekyll Island Club was a private club on Jekyll Island, on Georgia's Atlantic coast. It was founded in 1886 when members of an incorporated hunting and recreational club purchased the island for $125,000 (about $3.1 million in 2017) from Jo ...

James Ellsworth married Eva Frances Butler, daughter of Oliver Morris Butler, co-founder of the Butler Paper Company.https://www.hudsonmemory.org/people/james-w-ellsworth/ They were the parents of the Polar Explorer

Lincoln Ellsworth Lincoln Ellsworth (May 12, 1880 – May 26, 1951) was an American polar explorer, engineer, surveyor, and author. He led the first Arctic and Antarctic air crossings. Early life Linn Ellsworth was born in Chicago, Illinois on May 12, 1880. His ...

. James Ellsworth bought and restored the Villa Palmieri where Bocaccio was thought to have written the

Decameron ''The Decameron'' (; or ''Decamerone'' ), subtitled ''Prince Galehaut'' (Old ) and sometimes nicknamed ''l'Umana commedia'' ("the Human comedy", as it was Boccaccio that dubbed Dante Alighieri's ''Comedy'' "''Divine''"), is a collection of ...

, and which had hosted at various times

Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas (born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas , was a French novelist and playwright. His works have been translated into many languages and he is one of the mos ...

James Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford and 9th Earl of Balcarres, KT, FRS, FRAS (28 July 184731 January 1913) was a Scottish astronomer, politician, ornithologist, bibliophile and philatelist. A member of the Royal Society, Crawford w ...

and

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

among others, and where Norman Butler and his mother Sarah Anne Butler spent childhood summers until the death of James Ellsworth in 1925. In 1950 he purchased a 5 acre estate at First Neck Lane on Lake Agawam in

Southampton, New York Southampton, officially the Town of Southampton, is a town in southeastern Suffolk County, New York, partly on the South Fork of Long Island. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the town had a population of 69,036. Southampton is included in the stre ...

. Later in the 1950's he purchased a townhouse at 217 East 61st Street from Prince Serge Obolensky, which had been a wedding gift from

President Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

to his daughter Alice Longworth in 1906. The house was later sold to the actor

Montgomery Clift Edward Montgomery Clift (October 17, 1920 – July 23, 1966) was an American actor. A four-time Academy Award nominee, he was known for his portrayal of "moody, sensitive young men", according to ''The New York Times''. He is best remembered f ...

. In 1957 he purchase
Hopedene

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...

from the Von Reventlow family to house the Impressionist collection and furniture he and his first wife Pauline had amassed. They sold the

Peabody and Stearns Peabody & Stearns was a premier architectural firm in the Eastern United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, the firm consisted of Robert Swain Peabody (1845–1917) and John Goddard Stearns ...

designed house after their divorce in 1958. In 1960 he bought Kilboy House, Tipperary, from the Dunalley family as a winter home and base for his thouroughbred stables. In 1966 he purchased th
Villa Malet
in

Cap-d'Ail Cap-d'Ail (; ; or ''Capo d'Aglio'') is a seaside Communes of France, commune in the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region in Southeastern France. Geography Cap-d'Ail bor ...

, which had been designed and built in 1892 by Sir Edward Malet, a British diplomat. The Villa Malet was a Beaux-Arts mansion set on 14 acres of gardens, and designed by the architect

Hans-Georg Tersling Hans-Georg Tersling (7 December 1857 – 13 November 1920) was a Danish architect who lived and worked for most of his life on the French Riviera where he became one of the most significant and productive architects of the Belle Époque. His ...

. He died on the 8th of October, 2011 at age 92.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Norman 1918 births 2011 deaths American polo players American racehorse owners and breeders American people of Irish descent People educated at Stonyhurst College People educated at Downside School Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford