VOL. XIX. (3) 
OBITUARY 
239 
REV. WALTER BUTT 
By the sudden death, on the 14th of July, 1917, of the 
Rev. Walter Butt, the Club loses a most enthusiastic supporter 
of the objects for which it was established, eincl also one of its 
most popular Members, whose vigorous personality and 
genial nature were felt alike in lecture theatre and at field 
meetings. Elected a Member in i8g8, he became at once a 
keen attendant at all meetings, oftentimes at great personal 
inconvenience, and was always ready to impart as well as to 
receive information. He was above all a botanist and student 
of Nature. Of late years he had set his heart upon the com- 
pilation of a County Flora, to be published under the auspices 
of the Club, and took immense pains to this end, both by 
personal effort and in stimulating others to help. It is due 
to him that the Rev. H. J. Riddelsdell, his son-in-law, has 
consented to edit the Flora, and though the War has in this, as 
in so many directions, set back work, it progresses steadily. 
Mr Butt had a good herbarium (some particulars of which 
are given on page 236), and this his son, Mr Walter Butt, 
has presented to Gloucester Museum, thus carrying out the 
expressed wisli of his father. It will be placed beside the 
St. Brody collection, well known to botanists, and for which 
the late Mr Butt provided a case. 
Mr Butt was elected President on three separate oc- 
casions — in 1906, 1908, and 1912 — and the services rendered 
by him during these terms of office will always be looked 
upon by Members as of the highest order. The day when he 
invited them to visit him at Oakwood, his beautifully-situated 
home on the Wye, near Chepstow, and his genial hospitality 
and evident affection for the place, must be fresh in the minds 
of all who were present. A constant reader of books, Mr Butt 
had accumulated a very considerable library on the many 
subjects in which he was interested, and he was always ready 
to place its resources at the service of emphrers. 
R. A 
