Sir Edwin John Butler, C.M.G., C.I.E., F.R.S.

Abstract

EDWIN JOHN BUTLER was born on August 13, 1874, in County Clare, Ireland, and was educated at Queen's College (now the University College), Cork. He was senior scholar in 1896. In 1898 he took the M.B. (Hons.) at the Royal University, Ireland, but never practised. During 1899 and 1900 he held a travelling scholarship and worked at Paris, Freiburg, Antibes, and Kew. In 1901 he arrived at Calcutta as the first cryptogamic botanist to the Government of India ; in 1902 was transferred to Dehra Dun, and in 1905 as Imperial mycologist to Pusa, the site of the new Agricultural Research Institute. In 1919 he became the joint director, and in 1920 agriculture adviser to the Government of India. The same year he returned to England as director of the Imperial Bureau of Mycology ; and in 1921, his services to India were recognized with the C.I.E.