Wootton St. Lawrence Church, Basingstoke, Hampshire. 
The Reverend Charles Butler, M.A. 
( 1561 - 1647 ). 
Father of English Bee-Keeping. 
Grammarian and Musician. 
In the left-hand light Butler is shown in his clerical robes, 
holding his lovely chalice in one hand, and in the other hand his great 
bee-book, “The Feminine Monarchic,” written at Wootton in 1609. 
Behind him is a reproduction of the delightful drawing in this book 
(the honeycomb) with the outer inscription, SOLERTIA ET Labore. 
On the left are the arms of Magdalen, Oxford, where he studied 
from 1579. Below again is Butler preaching from his pulpit at Wootton, 
and his final words from St. Paul’s Epistle to Titus in his fifth and last 
book. “ The Principles of Music,” written in 1636. At the apex of this 
light are the arms of the Diocese of Winchester, where Butler worked for 
52 years. 
In the right-hand light at the top is a figure of St. Cecilia, Patron 
Saint of Music, and in the medallions below are the Norman Church of 
Nateley Scures, Hampshire and the thirteenth century Holy Ghost 
School, Basingstoke, with the dates of Butler’s work as Rector and Head- 
master, 1595-1600. Running through the two lights, below again, is 
the Church of St. Lawrence, Wootton, as it was in Butler’s time as 
Vicar, 17th November, 1600 — 29th March, 1647. Below again are the 
old beehives. At the side here is the badge of Queen Elizabeth I, 1558 — 
1603 (the Tudor rose), with the motto, Rosa Sine Spina Other little 
items in this light are the four bells of Wootton, 1625, with their 
inscriptions, and the fifteenth century font in which Butler baptised 
his daughter, Elizabeth, whom he called his “ honey-girl,” because the 
hives which he gave her in 1612 produced a dowry of £400 at her 
wedding in Wootton Church to the Reverend Richard White, great 
grand uncle of the naturalist, Gilbert White, of Selborne, Hampshire. 
In the quatrefoil tracery above these two lights are the cypher 
of our present Queen Elizabeth II, and the national emblems of England 
(rose), Wales (leek), Scotland (thistle) and Ireland (shamrock). The 
window is a memorial also of the Coronation Year, 1953. 
This window was designed by Gerald E. R. Smith (A. K. Nicholson 
Stained Glass Studios, 35 Circus Road, St. John’s Wood, London, 
N.W.8). It is in the north aisle of the Hampshire Village Church of 
Wootton St. Lawrence, three miles west of Basingstoke. The Very 
Reverend E. G. Selwyn, d.d., Dean of Winchester Cathedral, whose 
predecessor, Dr. George Abbot, appointed Butler to this living on 
17th November, 1600, is to dedicate the window on 14th November, 
1954. A brochure on Charles Butler can be obtained from the 
Reverend F. R. Money, m.a., R.D., Wootton St. Lawrence Vicarage, 
Basingstoke. 
Photograph by H. A. Aylzvard and Son , Basingstoke. 
