1825-1902
William Allen Butler, a leading authority on admiralty law and a noted literary figure, was born in Albany, New York, in 1825. He was the son of Benjamin Franklin Butler, an eminent lawyer who served as United States Attorney General under Presidents Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren. Young Butler graduated from New York University in 1843, studied law under his father and was admitted to the bar in 1846. He began practicing law with his father before forming several partnerships. He was the head of Butler, Stillman & Hubbard at the time of his death.[1]
Butler represented major banking, trust, insurance and railroad corporations, including the Southern Pacific Railroad. He “held a conspicuous position at the admiralty bar” and argued numerous cases before the United States Supreme Court, “settling, according to the principles which he advocated in each case, important rules of the maritime law of this country.”[2]
Butler took an active role in founding and organizing the New York City Bar Association and served as its President in 1886-1887. He was President of the American Bar Association in 1886. A Republican and earnest supporter of President Lincoln, Butler was never active in politics but enjoyed a warm friendship with Democratic Governor (and later Presidential candidate) Samuel J. Tilden, who appointed him to the Commission on Reform of Municipal Government, chaired by William M. Evarts.[3]
Butler enjoyed a parallel career as a writer, publishing works of fiction, travel writings and humorous essays and poems that often satirized the materialism and moral shortcomings of the upper classes. “Nothing to Wear,” a lengthy satirical poem about “Flora McFlimsey of Madison Square,” was published in Harper’s Weekly in 1857. Butler published the poem anonymously, fearing that his work as a versifier might detract from his standing as a lawyer. The poem “obtained immediate celebrity, was reproduced in many forms in the United States and England, and translated into German and French.” “Nothing to Wear” was so popular that it “brought to the surface a number of bogus claimants, and one imposter being more persistent than the others, the real author—William Allen Butler—was impelled to publicly acknowledge his work.”[4] The New York Times republished the poem a few days after Butler’s death.[5]
Butler was a longtime member of the Council of New York University and a lecturer on admiralty law at the Law School. He was a Trustee of the New York Public Library.
William Allen Butler died at his Yonkers residence on September 9, 1902.
[1] McAdam et al., History of the Bench and Bar of New York State Vol.1, New York Hist. Co., 1897, at 71.
[2] Id.
[3] “William Allen Butler Dies Suddenly,” New York Times, Sept. 10, 1902.
[4] Id.
[5] “Nothing to Wear,” New York Times, Sept. 14, 1902.