The Butter memorial in St Swithun’s is one of those quiet corners of a Devon church that rewards a closer look. At first glance it appears to commemorate a respectable local family, but the story behind the name opens out into a surprisingly rich tapestry of medicine, empire, eccentricity and public service. Like so many families rooted in Woodbury, the Butters reached far beyond the parish boundary.
The patriarch, Jacob Butter (1760–1838), belonged to a family whose fortunes rose and fell in dramatic fashion. His uncle Bernard made a considerable fortune in Antigua before retiring to Bath, while his brother Benjamin owned several Woodbury estates but spent many years in asylums after the death of his wife. Another brother, James, married into the Langdon medical family and farmed at Greendale Barton; his own son later ran a tile and brick company that ultimately failed in the 1850s. It is a family that seems to have known prosperity and misfortune in equal measure.
Jacob’s children continued this pattern of ambition and achievement. His eldest son, Dr John Butter, became one of the most significant medical figures in the South West. Born in Woodbury in 1791, he trained at the Devon and Exeter Hospital before moving on to Barts and Guy’s in London. His early notebooks — nineteen in total, later transcribed by the Exeter gynaecologist Pat Russell — record operations on fractures, cataracts and tumours during his early career in Huddersfield and Holmfirth. He later served as surgeon to the South Devon Militia.
It was in Plymouth, however, that John Butter made his lasting mark. At a time when specialist eye surgery was still viewed with suspicion, he became one of its early champions. Inspired by the new eye hospitals emerging in London and Exeter, he conceived the idea of a dedicated eye dispensary for Plymouth. Local opposition was considerable, but with the support of Dr Edward Moore he succeeded in opening the Plymouth Eye Dispensary on Christmas Day 1821. It became the Plymouth Eye Infirmary two years later, and in 1828 — with the Duke of Clarence (later William IV) as patron — the Plymouth Royal Eye Infirmary.
Butter served as its physician for thirty-two years and its principal manager for thirty-four, guiding it through several relocations and expansions. His work placed Plymouth at the forefront of ophthalmic care at a time when the field was still in its infancy. He travelled on the Continent, met the celebrated anatomist Scarpa in Pavia, purchased anatomical wax models in Florence, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1822. His writings ranged from surgical technique to phrenological speculation on colour perception. Ironically, after a lifetime devoted to preserving sight, he himself went blind in 1853.
His younger brother Jacobus, also a doctor, succeeded him in practice but died only eight years later. Their sister Catherine married into the Ashford family, whose descendants became well-known Topsham doctors — and, in a pleasingly Devonian twist, rugby players for England and cricketers for the county.
The accompanying portrait of Dr John Butter, which captures him in the confident, scholarly pose of a nineteenth-century medical pioneer, is reproduced courtesy of ArtUK. The original image can be viewed at: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/john-butter-17911877-ophthalmic-surgeon-145720.
Standing before the Butter memorial in St Swithun’s today, it is easy to overlook the significance of the name. Yet the family left a legacy that shaped medical care in the South West for generations. Their story, preserved quietly in the stones of the church, is one more example of how the most unassuming village parish can open a window onto a much larger world.
