SCOTT BUTLER
The Butler family had arrived in Portsmouth from Jersey in the first few years of the 20th century. The head of the family, Uriah Butler, a mariner had died a few years earlier, leaving his widow Julia and two children, Lilian and Scott, to find their feet in a new town. It's not known what brought them to Portsmouth but they certainly didn't arrive in a penniless state as their house in Chelsea Road was rather large (7 rooms).
Scott Butler was listed as Uriah Butler in the 1901 Census but changed his name to Scott in time for the 1911 Census when he was recorded as a 'House Furnisher'. He would have been 22 years old at the outbreak of the Great War but we don't know when he enlisted, nor the circumstances of his death, other than that he was killed in action.
FURTHER INFORMATION
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission lists Private Butler, S. (DM2/134749), serving in the Army Service Corps, died 21/04/1917, aged 25. Buried at St. Nicholas British Cemetery (Grave Ref: I.G.7.). Son of Uriah and Julia Butler, of 55, Chelsea Rd., Southsea, Hants.
Scott Butler is also remembered on the Cenotaph, Guildhall Square and on a personal memorial that was rescued from the Congregational Church on Victoria Road South and moved to the WW1 Remembrance Centre at Fort Widley.
Tim Backhouse
January 2014