George Sainton Kaye Butterworth

BUTTERWORTH, GEORGE SAINTON KAYE

Rank: Lieutenant
Date of Death: 05/08/1916
Age: 31
Regiment/Service: Durham Light Infantry 13th Bn.
Awards: M C
Panel Reference: Pier and Face 14 A and 15 C.
Memorial: THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Additional Information: Son of Sir Alexander Kaye Butterworth, Kt., LL.B., of 16, Frognal Gardens, Hampstead, London, and the late Julia Marguerite (nee Wigan) his wife,.

CWGC

---

First World War

At the outbreak of the First World War, Butterworth (together with several friends including Geoffrey Toye and R. O. Morris) joined the British Army as a Private in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, but he soon accepted a commission as a Subaltern (2nd Lieutenant) in the 13th Battalion Durham Light Infantry, and he was later temporarily promoted to Lieutenant.
He was known as G. S. Kaye-Butterworth in the army. As part of 23rd Division, the 13th DLI was sent into action to capture the western approaches of the village of Contalmaison on The Somme. Butterworth and his men succeeded in capturing a series of trenches near Pozières on 16–17 July 1916, the traces of which can still be found within a small wood, although Butterworth was slightly wounded in the action. For it Temporary Lt. George Butterworth, aged 31, was awarded the Military Cross, gazetted 25 August 1916, though he did not live to receive it.

The Battle of the Somme was now entering its most intense phase. On 4 August, 23rd Division was ordered to attack a communications trench known as Munster Alley that was in German hands. The soldiers dug an assault trench and named it 'Butterworth Trench' in their officer's honour. In desperate fighting during the night of 4–5 August, and despite 'friendly fire' from Australian artillery, Butterworth and his miners captured and held on to Munster Alley, albeit with heavy losses. At 0445hrs on 5 August, amid frantic German attempts to recapture the position, Butterworth was shot through the head by a sniper. The following morning the same trench was the site of Private William Henry Short's (Yorkshire Regiment) act of gallantry which was to win him a posthumous Victoria Cross. His body was hastily buried by his men in the side of the trench, but was never recovered for formal reburial following the fierce bombardments of the final two years of conflict.

When his brigade commander, Brigadier General Page Croft, wrote to Butterworth's father to inform them of his death, it transpired that he had not known that his son had been awarded the Military Cross.Similarly, the brigadier was astonished to learn that Butterworth had been one of the most promising English composers of his generation. Brigadier Croft wrote that Butterworth was; "A brilliant musician in times of peace, and an equally brilliant soldier in times of stress."

There is confusion about exactly what award(s) Butterworth received. It is said that he won the MC twice, but this is incorrect. This misunderstanding may have arisen because Butterworth's bravery was regularly in evidence during the Somme campaign. Firstly, he was mentioned in despatches early in July, and was then recommended for the MC "for conspicuous gallantry in action" on 9 July at Bailiff Wood, then again - successfully - "for commanding his company with great ability and coolness" when wounded on 16–17 July. Brigadier Page-Croft also mentioned to Butterworth's father that he had 'won' the medal again on the night he died. However, the Military Cross was not awarded posthumously at the time, and so he could never have been awarded it twice.

Butterworth's body was never recovered (although his unidentified remains may well lie at nearby Pozières Memorial, a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery), and his name appears on the Thiepval Memorial. George Butterworth's The Banks of Green Willow has become synonymous for some with the sacrifice of his generation and has been seen by some as an anthem for all 'Unknown Soldiers'. Sir Alexander Butterworth erected a plaque at St Mary's Priory Church, Deerhurst, Gloucestershire in memory of his son and of his nephew, Hugh, who died at Loos in 1915. (Rev. George Butterworth, the composer's grandfather, had been vicar of St Mary's in the previous century.
Sir Alexander also arranged the printing in 1918 of a memorial volume in his son's memory. Almost all Butterworth's manuscripts were left to Vaughan Williams, after whose death Ursula Vaughan Williams lodged the original works in the Bodleian, Oxford, and the folk song collection with the EFDSS.

Reference Wiki George Butterworth