John Henry Butters CMG MBE (1885 - 1969)

Born 23 Dec 1885 in Alverstoke, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom

Husband of Lilian Gordon (Keele) Butters — married 10 Feb 1912 in Waverley, New South Wales, Australia

Died 29 Jul 1969 at age 83 in Turramurra, New South Wales, Australia

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Biography

John Butters CMG MBE is Notable.

Sir John Butters CMG MBE was an English-born Australian electrical engineer, noted for his role in the Tasmanian Hydro-electric Department throughout the First World War and until 1924, and as the head of the Federal Capital Commission, which developed Canberra between 1925 and 1930.

Formative years

John Butters CMG MBE was born in Hampshire, England.

John Henry Butters was born on 23rd December 1885 in Alverstoke, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom. He was the firstborn child (of six) of Cornwall-born master mariner Richard John Butters and local lass Fanny Dunkinson, who had married early in that year. ^[1] The family later moved into Southampton, where John was educated at Richard Taunton's Trade School in 1898-1901, before entering Hartley University College, Southampton. He had a brother, Wilfred, who became a South African politician, and a sister, Lena.

He graduated in 1904 with a University of London intermediate Bachelor of Science (Engineering) degree and a first-class Certificate for Electrical Engineering from Hartley College. John joined John I Thornycroft & Co. Ltd, shipbuilders and engineers of Southampton, as an apprentice and improver. In 1905 he moved to the technical department of Siemens Brothers Dynamo Works Ltd at Stafford and gained experience designing dynamos and motors. In 1908 he became assistant engineer at the head office in London where he was responsible for designing and costing power-station projects.

John Butters CMG MBE migrated from England to Victoria.

The following year, 1909, the firm transferred John, as chief engineer, to their Australasian branch based in Melbourne, Victoria. He subsequently advised the Waihi Gold Mining Co. on the design and layout of its hydro-electric station at Horahora on the Waikato River in New Zealand and the Municipal Tramways Trust, Adelaide, which was electrifying its system. In 1910, he was consulted by Complex Ores Co. Ltd of Melbourne and its subsidiary, the Hydro-Electric Power and Metallurgical Co. Ltd, about their proposals to produce electricity in Tasmania to facilitate the processing of zinc ore.

Tasmania

When Hydro-Electric Power and Metallurgical Co. Ltd started active operations in August 1911, John resigned from Siemens Brothers and became its engineer-in-chief and manager on 1st September. He was responsible for the design, layout and construction of a masonry dam at the Great Lake, intake works on the Shannon River, a power-station and transmission line, and an electricity distribution and sub-station complex for Hobart.

John married Lilian Keele, daughter of a Sydney-based hydro engineer, on 10th February 1912 in Waverley, New South Wales. ^[2]

In 1914, the company ran into financial difficulties; the hydro-electric undertaking was acquired by the State and became the responsibility of a newly established Hydro-Electric Department, of which John was appointed chief engineer and general manager. He was then aged 28 years! The scheme was completed in 1923. Although he set and demanded high standards, John was warmly regarded both by the project's large work-force whom he treated justly and sympathetically, and by the Tasmanian government, which delegated considerable responsibility and authority to him.

In recognition of his service and achievements during the years of that dreadful Great War, with manpower shortages, financial constraints and limited access to recources and manufacturing, in 1920 John was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). ^[3] On 1st June 1923, he was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) for his service as Chief Engineer of the Tasmania Hydro-Electric Department. ^[4]

John Butters CMG MBE is a Military Veteran.
Served in the Commonwealth Military Force 1909-1952
Australian Army Engineers - Royal Australian Engineers

Upon arrival in Australia in 1909 John had been commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Australian Army Engineers. He was promoted Lieutenant in March 1911 and Captain in March 1914. Repeatedly during 1914-1919 World War he sought unsuccessfully for permission to go on active service, but had to be satisfied with the post of staff officer Engineers at Headquarters 6th Military District, Hobart, which he held in 1915-21. He was promoted to Major on 1st January 1919.

During this time John became an ex officio member of the executive committee of the Commonwealth Advisory Council of Science and Industry. The Commonwealth government in 1917 appointed him a member of a royal commission that reported on the handling, storage and transport of wheat. He was elected president of the newly formed Tasmanian Institution of Engineers and was elected chairman of the Tasmanian division of the Institution of Engineers, Australia. Butters was also a member of the board, set up by the Tasmanian minister for education in September 1919, to investigate the possible co-ordination of engineering courses at Hobart Technical College and at the University of Tasmania, which recommended that a degree in engineering should be established at the university. He held many other community responsibilities as well.

Federal (now Australian) Capital Territory

John successfully applied for the position of full-time chairman of the Federal Capital Commission, a body created under the Seat of Government (Administration) Act, 1924, to expedite the development of Canberra. He was appointed for five years from November 1924. The commission was a statutory corporation in which were vested the whole of the land and other public assets in the Federal Capital Territory: for the first time a single authority had responsibility for the administration, design and construction of Canberra as well as the development of municipal activities and the control of private enterprise. Although some construction work had been undertaken, the task was formidable. The government then decided in November 1925 that the entire central office of the public service, rather than a small secretariat, should be moved to the capital. His achievement was recognised when, during the visit of the Duke of York for the opening, he was created Knight Bachelor. ^[5]

Interested in advancing the status of engineers, John became councillor in 1920 and president in 1927-28 of the Institution of Engineers, Australia. Due to his efforts, in February 1928 it became the first national body to hold its annual conference in Canberra.

New South Wales

Not yet 45, in October 1929 John moved to Wahroonga, in Sydney's leafy northern suburbs, set up as a consulting engineer and continued in private practice until about 1954. Much of his time was spent in other ways, however: in 1932 he was vice-president of the board of commissioners of the Government Savings Bank of New South Wales; in 1935-36 he was chairman of the Macquarie Street Replanning Committee and in 1937-38 of the Circular Quay Planning Committee. He also became a director of a diverse range of companies, becoming chairman of Associated Newspapers Ltd, Radio 2UE Sydney Ltd, The North Shore Gas Co. Ltd, Hadfields Steel Works Ltd and Hetton Bellbird Collieries Ltd.

John had continued to serve in the post-war Citizens Military Force, being appointed honorary consulting military engineer at Army Headquarters, Melbourne, with the rank of honorary Lieutenant Colonel in 1927. He served on a part-time basis during the Second World War and was transferred to the Reserve of Officers with the same honorary rank on 1st October 1952, aged 66 years.

He was a member of several other professional organisations, including the American Society of Civil Engineers. Another of his continuing interests was the development of motoring. In 1931, when General Motors absorbed (H J) Holden's Motor Body Builders Ltd, Adelaide, John joined the first Australian board of General Motors-Holden's Ltd and continued as a director until his death. A member of the Royal Automobile Club of Australia from 1928, he was president in 1937-49 and then vice-patron until 1969.

Final consultation

Aged 83 years, he passed away on 29th July 1969 in Turramurra, in Sydney's northern suburbs. ^[6] He was survived by Lilian, their son and three daughters, and their families.

Butters Drive in the Canberra suburb of Phillip is named in his honour. The Butters Bridge in the Molonglo Valley, Canberra, opened in September 2016, is also named after him. It is the longest pedestrian bridge in the Southern Hemisphere.

Sources

1. ↑ UK FreeBMD Birth Index Mar qtr 1886, vol 2b, page 581
2. ↑ New South Wales Marriage Index #3765/1912
3. ↑ Australian Honours: MBE; accessed 4 Apr 2024
4. ↑ Australian Honours: CMG; accessed 4 Apr 2024
5. ↑ Australian Honours: Knight Bachelor; accessed 4 Apr 2024
6. ↑ New South Wales Death Index #26688/1969; registered at St Leonards

See also

• Linge, G J R. 'Butters, Sir John Henry (1885–1969)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1979; accessed online 4 Apr 2024.
• Waterhouse, Jill. 'Searching for Sir John Henry Butters 1885-1969: engineer, administrator, and company director'. ANU thesis, 2012; accessed 4 Apr 2024.
• Wikipedia: John Butters; accessed 4 Apr 2-24.