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Articles

Memoir of a Jolly Junket in Search of Bishop Butler

Joseph Butler was an 18th century clergyman who left an indelible mark on moral philosophy but isn’t as widely remembered today as he deserves. David White scoured England and Ireland for traces of the man they called The Bishop.

My purpose in the summer of 2000 was to visit as many sites associated with Bishop Butler as possible and catch the spirit that made him a celebrated author. By journey’s end, I had all I hoped for and more. For one thing, ‘celebrated author’ is perhaps misleading.

An obituary published at the time of his death in 1752 makes no reference to Butler having published anything. It concentrates on titles he held during his career in the church (Rector of Stanhope, Bishop of Bristol, Dean of St Paul’s, Bishop of Durham, Lord Lieutenant of the County Palatine, Clerk of the Closet to Queen Caroline and, after her death, to King George II).

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