Robert Butts (1684–1748) was an English churchman and strong partisan of the administration of

Sir Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745; known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole) was a British statesman and Whig politician who, as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Lea ...

, successively

Bishop of Norwich The Bishop of Norwich is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Norwich in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers most of the county of Norfolk and part of Suffolk. The bishop of Norwich is Graham Usher. The see is in t ...

and

Bishop of Ely The Bishop of Ely is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire (with the exception of the Soke of Peterborough), together with ...

Life

He was the son of the Revd William Butts, rector of

Hartest Hartest is a small village and civil parish in the Babergh district of the English county of Suffolk. It is located halfway between Bury St. Edmunds and Sudbury on the B1066 road in the Glem valley. Brockley is two miles north. The village ...

, near Bury St. Edmunds,

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include L ...

. He was educated at the grammar school at Bury, and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

, where he graduated as B.A. 1707, M.A. 1711, and D.D. 1728. As an undergraduate he was famous as a boxer and football player. After his ordination he served as curate of

Thurlow Thurlow is a surname and a given name, and may refer to: Surname: * Alan Thurlow (born 1946), English organist * Bryan Thurlow (1936–2002), English professional football player * Clifford Thurlow (born 1952), British biographer * Edward Thurlow, ...

, and in 1703 was chosen one of the preachers of Bury. Here he rendered political services to the Hervey family. He was a party agent, useful in elections to John, Lord Hervey, son of

John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol (27 August 1665 – 20 January 1751) was an English politician. John Hervey was born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, the son of Sir Thomas Hervey. He was educated in Bury and at Clare College, Cambridge. He ...

, Lord Privy Seal in Sir Robert Waipole's administration. In 1717 Butts was appointed by Lord Bristol to the family living of Ickworth, and in 1728 he became chaplain to George II, receiving his degree of D.D. at the same time by royal mandate. Three years later, on 6 February 1731, he was appointed

dean of Norwich The Dean of Norwich is the head of the Chapter of Norwich Cathedral in Norwich, England. The role is vacant since Jane Hedges' retirement on 1 May 2022. List of deans Early modern *1538–1539 William Castleton (last prior) *1539–1554 Jo ...

, retaining the living of Ickworth ''

in commendam In canon law, commendam (or ''in commendam'') was a form of transferring an ecclesiastical benefice ''in trust'' to the ''custody'' of a patron. The phrase ''in commendam'' was originally applied to the provisional occupation of an ecclesiastical ...

'', till his succession to the bishopric on 20 January 1733. He was consecrated by Bishop

Edmund Gibson Edmund Gibson (16696 September 1748) was a British divine who served as Bishop of Lincoln and Bishop of London, jurist, and antiquary. Early life and career He was born in Bampton, Westmorland. In 1686 he was entered a scholar at Queen's C ...

of London, at

Bow Church Bow Church is the parish church of St Mary and Holy Trinity, Stratford, Bow. It is located on a central reservation site in Bow Road (part of the A11), in Bow, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. There has been a church on the same site ...

, 25 February. A competent but unpopular bishop, he was translated to the see of Ely in 1638, but spent little time there. During the latter years of his life Butts was crippled with

gout Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of a red, tender, hot and swollen joint, caused by deposition of monosodium urate monohydrate crystals. Pain typically comes on rapidly, reaching maximal intens ...

. He died at Ely House,

Holborn Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part (St Andrew Holborn (parish), St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Wards of the City of London, Ward of Farringdon ...

, 26 January 1748, and was buried in the south aisle of the choir of

Ely Cathedral Ely Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is an Anglican cathedral in the city of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. The cathedral has its origins in AD 672 when St Etheldreda built an abbey church. The prese ...

, under a marble monument. He published little.

Family

Butts was twice married. His first wife was Miss Elizabeth Eyton, who died of consumption in 1734, at the age of forty-four, leaving two sons and five daughters. She was buried in the chapel of the bishop's palace at Norwich. He remarried to the daughter of the Revd Mr Reynolds of Bury, aged 23, by whom he had six more daughters. After his death in 1753, she then took as her second husband George Green, the receiver of the late bishop's rents, but they separated, and Mrs Green retired to Chichester, where she died 3 December 1781, at the age of sixty-nine.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Butts, Robert 1684 births 1748 deaths Bishops of Ely Bishops of Norwich People educated at King Edward VI School, Bury St Edmunds Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Deans of Norwich People from Babergh District 18th-century Church of England bishops