Mayor 1888
William Butler was born in 1856, the son of William and Mary Butler at Lemon Grove on the Paterson River. Aged 17 years, he became an apprentice blacksmith with the firm Capper and Sons, Maitland. He married Sara, the third daughter of Henry Harris in 1879 and arrived in Armidale to start a business in 1880. In 1884 he entered council as an alderman and was chairman of the improvement committee on several occasions. He was greatly involved in the purchase of the gasworks by council as well as the improvements to streets involving their leveling and the provision of concrete guttering. He was a protectionist, a member of the Church of England and the New South Wales Constitution of Freemasons.
At the time of the unveiling of the Mayoral Honour Roll at Armidale in October 1927, he was a resident of Maitland. He died a resident of Lorn at Maitland West on 4 August 1933. Following a service at St. Mary's church, he was buried at the Church of England cemetery at Campbell's Hill. He left a daughter and two sons.