Butler , George , 1815-1884 , shoemaker and poet

Born in Winchester in 1815; when Butler was four years old, the family moved to London in search of employment and in later years, he learned the family trade of boot and shoemaking; ran a shop in Ben Jonson Road, Stepney (formerly Rhodeswell Road); married, lived in Baker Street, Stepney, and had nine children, of which two boys and three girls reached adulthood; around 1850, Butler found religion and became an active member of the Open Air Mission, working together with City missionaries to offer material and spiritual support to the disadvantaged in the East End; died in March 1884 while living in Stepney Green and was buried in Tower Hamlets Cemetery as a non conformist in unconsecrated ground and in a public, unmarked grave.