James Bayley Butler

Clongowes 1896-1898 I James Bayley Butler

James Bayley Butler (1884-1964), biologist and academic, was the son of a civil servant in India and attended Clongowes in 18968. Graduating with science and medical degrees from the Royal University of Ireland, he was an original staff member of UCD, first as lecturer in botany and from 1924 as professor of zoology, a post he held until his retirement in 1956. Joining the RAMC in World War I, he was awarded an MBE for his outstanding service. He had an international reputation as an applied scientist, particularly in the fields of animal parasites, the control of wood-boring beetles and of the fungus responsible for dry rot in timber. He sold his patent for the waterproofing of maps to the US army during World War II. Another achievement was Glen Lion, the home he built overlooking the sea at Baily, Howth, County Dublin. He designed it as a replica Roman villa with fragments from Irish classical buildings, and many natural features and ingenious artefacts of his own making. At UCD he pioneered and promoted field studies and initiated the first marine field station at Dún Laoghaire, which later transferred to Dalkey. He had a legendary reputation as a teacher. He was a member of the Royal Irish Academy and a vice-president of both the Royal Zoological Society and the RDS.