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Norman Butler (polo)

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Norman Butler
Norman Butler, Kilboy Estate
Born(1918-12-02)December 2, 1918
DiedOctober 8, 2011(2011-10-08) (aged 92)
EducationOriel College, Oxford
Occupation(s)Polo player, horse breeder
Spouses
Pauline Winn
​
​
(m. 1948; div. 1958)​
Penelope Dewar
​
​
(m. 1959; div. 1977)​
Gabriella Gröger
​
(m. 1981)​
Children6
FatherPaul Butler
Military career
AllegianceUnited States
BranchNavy
RankLieutenant
UnitSquadron VB-107
Battles / warsWorld War II
AwardsAir Medal, Bronze Star and Presidential Unit Citation

Norman Frank Paul Butler (December 2, 1918 – October 8, 2011) was an American polo player and thoroughbred breeder.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Early life and education

[edit]

Norman Frank Paul Butler was born to Paul Butler[7][8][9][10] and Sarah Anne Josephine (née Rooney).[11][12]

He was raised in England, France and Italy, and attended Hodder Place, Downside School and Stonyhurst College in Lancashire, England. He later studied Modern Greats at Oriel College, Oxford University.[13][14]

During WW2 he served as a Lieutenant (USNR) with Squadron VB-107, which was based in Natal, Brazil and Ascension Island.[15] He was decorated three times, with the Air Medal, Bronze Star and Presidential Unit Citation.[13]

Career, Polo and Horse Racing

[edit]

From 1948 until 1960 he worked in England for Butler Paper and Butler Aviation, and founded Butler S.A. (South America).[16] 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 and Freddie Guest, as well as playing opposite Prince Philip at Cowdray Park.[16]

Norman Butler, polo player, at Guards Polo Club, 1958

In 1960 he bought Kilboy House in County Tipperary, Ireland.[17] As a thoroughbred breeder in 1972 he won the classic Irish 1,000 Guineas and the Irish St. Leger as well as the Pretty Polly Stakes with his horse Pidget, trained by Kevin Prendergast and ridden by the jockeys T. P. Burns and Wally Swinburn. 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 and John Magnier among others.[18] He later sold Kilboy House to Tony Ryan, founder of Ryanair.[19]

Pidget, 1972

He was a member of Buck's Club and a life member of the Corviglia Club.[20]

Personal life

[edit]

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), of Leeds Castle in Kent.[21][22] They had two children together.[23][13][24][25] 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.[26][27][22] They had three children together.[13][24] 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.[13][16] They had one son together.[28][13][24]

In 1874 industrialist and member of the Jekyll Island Club James Ellsworth married Eva Frances Butler, daughter of Oliver Morris Butler, co-founder of the Butler Paper Company.[29][30] They were the parents of the Polar Explorer Lincoln Ellsworth.[31][32] James Ellsworth bought and restored the Villa Palmieri where Bocaccio was thought to have written the Decameron, and which had hosted at various times Alexandre Dumas, James Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford and Queen Victoria among others,[33] and where Norman Butler and his mother Sarah Anne Butler spent childhood summers until the death of James Ellsworth in 1925.[34][29][35]

Villa Palmieri, Fiesole

In 1950 he purchased a 5 acre estate at First Neck Lane on Lake Agawam in Southampton, New York.[36][37][38] 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 to his daughter Alice Longworth in 1906. The house was later sold to the actor Montgomery Clift.[39][40]

In 1957 he purchased Hopedene, Newport, Rhode Island from the Von Reventlow family to house the Impressionist collection and furniture he and his first wife Pauline had amassed.[37][41] They sold the Peabody and Stearns designed house after their divorce in 1958.[37]

Hopedene, Newport, Rhode Island

In 1960 he bought Kilboy House, Tipperary, from the Dunalley family as a winter home and base for his thouroughbred stables.[42][43][44]

In 1966 he purchased the Villa Malet in Cap-d'Ail, 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.[45][46]

Villa Malet, Cap d'Ail

He died on the 8th of October, 2011 at age 92.[47][48]

References

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  1. ^ "The Butlers of Oak Brook, Six | Classic Chicago Magazine". 27 March 2016.
  2. ^ "Paid Notice: Deaths BUTLER, NORMAN FRANK".
  3. ^ Rief, Rita (16 November 1984). "AUCTIONS; the Cave collection". The New York Times.
  4. ^ "The Butlers of Oak Brook, Two | Classic Chicago Magazine". 28 February 2016.
  5. ^ "Paul Butler Dead at 89; Top Aviation Executive". The New York Times. 26 June 1981.
  6. ^ "FEATURE: KEVIN PRENDERGAST: 90 years young".
  7. ^ "Paul Butler Dead at 89; Top Aviation Executive". The New York Times. 1981-06-26. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
  8. ^ "Paul Butler -- founder of Butler Aviation, the nation's..." UPI. 1981-06-25.
  9. ^ "The Butlers of Oak Brook, Two | Classic Chicago Magazine". 28 February 2016.
  10. ^ "Paul Butler obit 01 Jul 1981". The Miami Herald. July 1981. p. 90.
  11. ^ Who's Who, What's What and Where in Ireland, Zircon Publishing, 1973, p. 45
  12. ^ "The Butlers of Oak Brook, Two | Classic Chicago Magazine". classicchicagomagazine.com. 2016-02-28. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  13. ^ a b c d e f "BUTLER, NORMAN FRANK". New York Times. 2011-10-11. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  14. ^ "President Roosevelt Sets Sail For US 1940". RTE. 2020-06-01.
  15. ^ "VP-107 History". VP Navy.
  16. ^ a b c Whitfield, Kay (27 March 2016). "The Butlers of Oak Brook, Six". Classic Chicago Magazine. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  17. ^ "Huge blaze at home of airline founder's son but extensive art collection saved". Independent.ie. 5 March 2005. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  18. ^ "KEVIN PRENDERGAST Three of the best". thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  19. ^ "Huge blaze at home of airline founder's son but extensive art collection saved". Irish Independent. 2005-03-05. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  20. ^ Who's Who, What's what and where in Ireland. Geoffrey Chapman Publishers. 1973. ISBN 978-0-225-65887-3.
  21. ^ Rief, Rita (16 November 1984). "AUCTIONS; The Cave collection". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 January 2019 – via NYTimes.com.
  22. ^ a b "The Butlers of Oak Brook, Six | Classic Chicago Magazine". 27 March 2016.
  23. ^ "Sandra Butler and T. J. Heise Plan Nuptials April 8 on L.I." New York Times. 1972-02-20. p. 73.
  24. ^ a b c "Marjorie Childress Obituary (2003) - West Palm Beach, FL - The Palm Beach Post". Legacy.com. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  25. ^ "Thanksgiving Service". 27 October 2011. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  26. ^ "Marriage plans still secret". Daytona Beach Morning Journal. 1959-06-12. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  27. ^ "Miss Dewar Bride Of Norman Butler". The New York Times. 1959-06-12. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  28. ^ "Butler II, Frank Osgood". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois, USA. 2014-08-31. p. 28 – via newspapers.com.
  29. ^ a b https://www.hudsonmemory.org/people/james-w-ellsworth/
  30. ^ "The Butlers of Oak Brook | Classic Chicago Magazine". 21 February 2016.
  31. ^ "Ellsworth, Lincoln (1880-1951)".
  32. ^ "Antarctic Explorers: Lincoln Ellsworth".
  33. ^ "Queen Victoria's favorite Tuscan villa for sale for more than $55 million". 15 September 2024.
  34. ^ "Gardens in Tuscany | Villa Palmieri and Villa Schifanoiai in Fiesole | Secret treasures in Tuscany | Podere Santa Pia, holiday house in the south of Tuscany".
  35. ^ "James W. Ellsworth Papers".
  36. ^ "Buys Southampton Estate". The New York Times. 5 November 1950.
  37. ^ a b c Rief, Rita (16 November 1984). "AUCTIONS; the Cave collection". The New York Times.
  38. ^ "SOUTHAMPTON PLANS FETE; Annual Fiesta Will Raise Funds for Care and Planting of Trees". The New York Times. 16 July 1952.
  39. ^ "Montgomery Clift's Pedigreed Upper East Side Townhouse Could be Yours". The New York Observer. 9 September 2016.
  40. ^ "Montgomery Clift's House Goes on the Market -- New York Magazine - Nymag". June 2006.
  41. ^ "Newport Daily News from Newport, Rhode Island". 15 August 1957.
  42. ^ "Huge blaze at home of airline founder's son but extensive art collection saved". 5 March 2005.
  43. ^ "The Cottage Door | Modern British & Irish Art Day Auction | 2023".
  44. ^ "1959 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud I Drophead Coupe Adaptation by H.J. Mulliner | Amelia Island 2015".
  45. ^ "Le Chateau Malet, Cap d'Ail, French Riviera, France - 2015-03-30 - the Most Expensive Homes for Sale in the World". Forbes.
  46. ^ "Château Malet, France | Hurwitz James Company".
  47. ^ "The Butlers of Oak Brook, Eight | Classic Chicago Magazine". 8 April 2016.
  48. ^ "Paid Notice: Deaths BUTLER, NORMAN FRANK".
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