Celebrating Hampshire's Historians

Butterfield, Roland Potter (Rev)

12.08.1875 - 08.12.1966

Born at Burgh Next Aylsham in Norfolk, Butterfield was initially employed as a gardener. In 1896, however, he was accepted for the CMS Preparatory Institution and the Church Missionary College in 1897. Three years later, he passed his 2nd Class Preliminary Theological Examination and was accepted as a missionary.

He was ordained deacon by the Bishop of London in 1900 and priest by the Bishop of Colombo in 1901, since he was now working under the auspices of the Ceylon Mission, which he served for 30 years. During this period he studied at University College, Durham and was awarded a BA in 1909 and a BD in 1925. He had married his first wife Clara (nee Herbert) during the 1890s.

Following their return from Ceylon, Roland served as Vicar of Crondall from 1932 to 1951 and in 1952 he was given permission to officiate in the Diocese of Guildford. His first wife died in 1939 and two years later he married Eirene (nee Baylis). In his retirement Roland continued to live in the area helping in the Farnham and Aldershot deaneries and acting as a part-time chaplain at a hospital for old people. Fittingly, he and his second wife are buried in All Saints Crondall churchyard.

Sources

• Castellum: The Magazine of the Durham Castlemen’s Society, No 20, 1967, p.10

• https://calmview.bham.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=Catalog&id=XCMSACC/920 (Scroll down the page to find his record.)

Portrait

Contribution to county’s history

Although Roland’s output was relatively modest he did make a valuable contribution to the study of Crondall’s history. His book is an attempt to provide a comprehensive history of the parish from earliest times, with an initial chapters on Celtic and Roman Invaders and Saxon Crondall, to the twentith century and the passing of the Manor. From more recent times he includes references to, for example, the establishment of the Parish Council in 1894 (p.117) and Nonconformist places of worship in the parish (p.125), which serve as foundations on which later historians can build. In his University of Durham obituary recognition is given to the fact that (a) he was ‘a well known local historian’ and (b) a book he had edited about Parson White had been published the day before his death. This had ‘added to local knowledge of the first sixty years of the 19th Century.’

Relevant published works

• Monastery and Manor, The History of  Crondall (E.W. Langham: Farnham, 1948)

• Ordained in Power, The Life and Times of  Parson White of Crondall from his Journal (E.W. Langham: Farnham, 1966)

Critical Comments

Other Comments

In the Preface to his 1948 publication, Butterfield acknowledged the debt he owed to earlier historians of Crondall, specifically Stooks, Baigent as well as others, whom he described as ‘pioneers’ (p.ix). The Crondall Society has an extensive archive, which contains a number of documents relating to Butterfield.

Contributor

Roger Ottewill (9 February 2024; revised - 13 February 2024)

Key Words

Crondall, History of Crondall, Parson White of Crondall

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