James Ramsay Montagu Butler

Sir James Butler (20 July 1889 – 1 March 1975) was a British politician and academic.

Butler was born at Trinity College, Cambridge, where his father was master of the college and his mother Agneta Frances Ramsay, who in 1887 attained the highest marks in the Classical Tripos at Cambridge. Butler attended Harrow School and then Trinity College. He was a brilliant scholar whilst at university, winning a number of prizes, including the Chancellor's Medal in Classics and the Craven Scholarship, becoming president of the Cambridge Union and gaining a double first class in Classics and History. When World War I started in 1914, he joined the Scottish Horse. This was a regiment in the Yeomanry, and it saw service in the Middle East, first at Gallipoli and then Egypt. Butler next gained a position in the Directorate of Military Operations in the War Office and ended the war serving in the general staff of the British forces in France. His service led to the award of the OBE and he was twice mentioned in dispatches.

After the end of the war Butler returned to Cambridge. In 1922 he stood as a Member of Parliament for Cambridge University. His greatest achievement during his short tenure in the House of Commons was the passage of the Oxford and Cambridge Universities Act 1922 which put into law the proposals of the Royal Commission established in 1919 to review the organisation and constitutions of the universities and the statutes of their colleges. He was defeated in the 1923 general election by his cousin Sir George Geoffrey Gilbert Butler. Promotion to tutor came in 1928, a lectureship in history in 1929 and then as senior tutor in 1931. He was appointed regius professor of modern history in 1947, holding the chair until 1954.

However, in the meantime another world war had intervened in his academic career. In World War II, Butler returned to military service in the Army Intelligence Corps, recruiting many former students including Bernard Willson to work on code breaking at Bletchley Park. From 1942 he worked in the field of civil affairs and military government, with particular focus on France. After the conclusion of hostilities, he was appointed editor United Kingdom Military Series of the History of the Second World War by the Prime Minister Clement Attlee. He wrote two of the volumes concerning grand strategy published within that series. In 1958 he was given a knighthood for his work on the books.

Butler resigned his chair in 1954 and was then appointed emeritus professor. The following year he was elected vice-master of Trinity College, a post he held until 1960.