Richard Layton Butler
Encyclopedia
Sir Richard Layton Butler KCMG
(31 March 1885 – 21 January 1966) was the 31st Premier of South Australia, serving two disjunct terms in office: from 1927 to 1930, and again from 1933 to 1938.
Born on a farm near Gawler, South Australia
, the son of former South Australian Premier Sir Richard Butler
and his wife Helena (née Layton), Butler studied at Adelaide Agricultural School before becoming a grazier at Kapunda and marrying Maude Draper on 4 January 1908.
Inheriting his father's interest in politics, Butler joined the conservative Liberal Union
while young and was elected to the South Australian House of Assembly
for the rural electorate of Wooroora at the 1915 election
, serving in the House alongside his father. Butler would lose his seat at the 1918 election
(due to his support for conscription) but regained Wooroora at the 1921 election
and retained the seat comfortably for the next seventeen years.
Butler made infrequent speeches in parliament and was in the habit of accidentally offending people through his choice of words. He was, however, known for his convivial style outside parliament and his equally pugnacious style inside the house. In 1925 he became Liberal Federation party whip and then party leader (and therefore Opposition leader) following the retirement of former premier Henry Barwell
from politics. At the 1927 election
, Butler successfully led the Liberal Federation to victory, winning 23 seats in the 46 seat Assembly, with the coalition Country Party
winning five seats, the Australian Labor Party
16, the Independent Protestant Labor Party one and an independent winning a seat. In becoming Premier (as well as Treasurer and Minister of Railways), Butler and his father became the first (and so far only) father-son combination to serve as Premier of South Australia.
In government, Butler passed the Drought Relief and Debt Adjustment Acts to assist drought stricken farmers but his reaction to other industries hit by the Great Depression
was less sympathetic; believing that the way out of the Depression was for South Australians to work harder, Butler dealt heavily with a waterside workers strike in 1929 and cut funding to many government departments.
By the 1930 election
, South Australia faced severe drought as well as the Depression, leaving Butler to warn of hard times ahead and further belt-tightening required. Labor leader Lionel Hill
, on the other hand, promised a golden future. Not surprisingly, the Liberal Federation was reduced to 13 seats and the Country Party two as Labor swept to power and Butler returned to the opposition benches as Leader. The loss turned out to be a blessing in disguise to Butler, as the Labor Party was forced to deal with the Depression while Butler could work on his pet project: namely, the amalgamation of the Liberal Federation and the Country Party. This amalgamation resulted in the Liberal and Country League
in 1932.
Butler led the LCL to victory at the 1933 election
following the self-destruction of the Labor Party over its handling of the Depression. The LCL won 29 seats; Butler became Treasurer and Immigration Minister as well as Premier.
In Canberra
, Butler achieved fame for his tough bargaining skills, which resulted in extra grants for South Australia; through this funding, and a reduction in government spending, South Australia was the first state since the start of the Depression to balance its budget. He was also known in Canberra as a fierce opponent of federal control, strongly opposing the proposed Commonwealth wheat pool and the rationalisation of butter production.
Butler's term in office also saw the founding of the South Australian Housing Trust, designed to build cheap homes for those affected by the Depression and the successful enticing of Broken Hill Proprietary Company (BHP)
to build a blast furnace in Whyalla, and General Motors Holden to maintain their Adelaide
base, as well as major changes to the structure of Parliament, including an increase in parliamentary terms from three years to five years, the reduction of the number of members in the Lower House from 46 to 39, and the introduction of single-member electorates. The result was later known as the Playmander
.
Not all was rosy for Butler, though. The conditions laid down by the Country Party, prior to its merging with the Liberal Federation, left former Country Party politicians with more influence in the LCL than their numbers in parliament would indicate, including a guaranteed ministerial post for Albert Percy Blesing
. Butler struggled to control rural members of the LCL - some of these members publicly disagreed with Butler over key issues. This internal opposition was magnified by Butler's refusal to introduce compulsory religious education into state schools or to ban drinking and gambling, which led church and temperance
groups to launch a moral crusade against Butler, and which prompted conservative LCL members to consider dumping Butler as leader. Butler held on to his position and led the LCL to the 1938 election
. At that poll, the LCL lost several seats, but (thanks to support from independent parliamentarians) retained office.
Mounting internal LCL displeasure led Butler to consider switching to federal politics. An opportunity arose for such a move in 1938, following the death in an aeroplane crash of the LCL MP Charles Hawker
. Butler gained pre-selection for the 1938 Wakefield by-election
and resigned his position as Premier and his seat in parliament on 5 November 1938, to be replaced as Premier by Thomas Playford IV
. At the time of his resignation, Butler was the longest-serving Premier in South Australian history.
In a surprise result, Butler lost the by-election, and although he continued to seek federal pre-selection for the LCL, internal party opponents thwarted him. Instead, after being knighted in 1939, Butler was first appointed by Playford to the critical wartime positions of Director of Emergency Road Transport and Chair of the Liquid Fuel Control Board and later as a Director of the Electricity Trust of South Australia.
Butler died in Adelaide
of cerebro-vascular disease in 1966. He received a state funeral.
Labor MP Mark Butler
is Richard Layton Butler's grandson.
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
(31 March 1885 – 21 January 1966) was the 31st Premier of South Australia, serving two disjunct terms in office: from 1927 to 1930, and again from 1933 to 1938.
Born on a farm near Gawler, South Australia
Gawler, South Australia
Gawler is the first country town in the state of South Australia, and is named after the second Governor of the colony of South Australia, George Gawler. It is located north of the centre of the state capital, Adelaide, and is close to the major wine producing district of the Barossa Valley...
, the son of former South Australian Premier Sir Richard Butler
Richard Butler (Australian politician)
Sir Richard Butler was an Australian politician and Premier of South Australia.-Early life:Butler was born at Stadhampton, near Oxford, England, elder son of Richard Butler, pastoralist, and his wife Mary Eliza, née Sadler. The family emigrated to South Australia, arriving in Adelaide on 8 March...
and his wife Helena (née Layton), Butler studied at Adelaide Agricultural School before becoming a grazier at Kapunda and marrying Maude Draper on 4 January 1908.
Inheriting his father's interest in politics, Butler joined the conservative Liberal Union
Liberal Union
The Liberal Union was a Dutch liberal political party. A major party in its time, the LU was one of the historic predecessors of the Liberal State Party, and therefore of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy....
while young and was elected to the South Australian House of Assembly
South Australian House of Assembly
The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide.- Overview :...
for the rural electorate of Wooroora at the 1915 election
South Australian state election, 1915
State elections were held in Australia on 27 March 1915. All 46 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Union government led by Premier of South Australia Archibald Peake was defeated by the opposition Australian Labor Party led by Leader of the...
, serving in the House alongside his father. Butler would lose his seat at the 1918 election
South Australian state election, 1918
State elections were held in Australia on 6 April 1918. All 46 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Union government led by Premier of South Australia Archibald Peake defeated the opposition Australian Labor Party led by Leader of the...
(due to his support for conscription) but regained Wooroora at the 1921 election
South Australian state election, 1921
State elections were held in Australia on 9 April 1921. All 46 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Union government led by Premier of South Australia Henry Barwell defeated the opposition Australian Labor Party led by Leader of the Opposition...
and retained the seat comfortably for the next seventeen years.
Butler made infrequent speeches in parliament and was in the habit of accidentally offending people through his choice of words. He was, however, known for his convivial style outside parliament and his equally pugnacious style inside the house. In 1925 he became Liberal Federation party whip and then party leader (and therefore Opposition leader) following the retirement of former premier Henry Barwell
Henry Barwell
Sir Henry Newman Barwell KCMG was the 28th Premier of South Australia.Born in Adelaide, South Australia, Barwell was educated at St Peter's College and Adelaide University, graduating in law...
from politics. At the 1927 election
South Australian state election, 1927
State elections were held in Australia on 26 March 1927. All 46 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party government led by Premier of South Australia Lionel Hill was defeated by the opposition Liberal Federation led by Leader of the...
, Butler successfully led the Liberal Federation to victory, winning 23 seats in the 46 seat Assembly, with the coalition Country Party
National Party of Australia
The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...
winning five seats, the Australian Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
16, the Independent Protestant Labor Party one and an independent winning a seat. In becoming Premier (as well as Treasurer and Minister of Railways), Butler and his father became the first (and so far only) father-son combination to serve as Premier of South Australia.
In government, Butler passed the Drought Relief and Debt Adjustment Acts to assist drought stricken farmers but his reaction to other industries hit by the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
was less sympathetic; believing that the way out of the Depression was for South Australians to work harder, Butler dealt heavily with a waterside workers strike in 1929 and cut funding to many government departments.
By the 1930 election
South Australian state election, 1930
State elections were held in Australia on 5 April 1930. All 46 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Federation government led by Premier of South Australia Richard L. Butler was defeated by the opposition Australian Labor Party led by Leader of...
, South Australia faced severe drought as well as the Depression, leaving Butler to warn of hard times ahead and further belt-tightening required. Labor leader Lionel Hill
Lionel Hill
Lionel Laughton Hill was the thirtieth Premier of South Australia.Born in Adelaide, South Australia but raised on a farm near Maitland, Hill left school aged 12 to work on the South Australian government railways, where he first became involved in the labour movement...
, on the other hand, promised a golden future. Not surprisingly, the Liberal Federation was reduced to 13 seats and the Country Party two as Labor swept to power and Butler returned to the opposition benches as Leader. The loss turned out to be a blessing in disguise to Butler, as the Labor Party was forced to deal with the Depression while Butler could work on his pet project: namely, the amalgamation of the Liberal Federation and the Country Party. This amalgamation resulted in the Liberal and Country League
Liberal and Country League
The Liberal and Country League was a major political party in South Australia throughout its forty year existence. Thirty-four years were spent in government, in part due to the electoral malapportionment known as the Playmander, introduced after coming to power.Created on 9 June 1932 as the...
in 1932.
Butler led the LCL to victory at the 1933 election
South Australian state election, 1933
State elections were held in Australia on 8 April 1933. All 46 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party government led by Premier of South Australia Robert Richards was defeated by the opposition Liberal and Country League led by...
following the self-destruction of the Labor Party over its handling of the Depression. The LCL won 29 seats; Butler became Treasurer and Immigration Minister as well as Premier.
In Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, Butler achieved fame for his tough bargaining skills, which resulted in extra grants for South Australia; through this funding, and a reduction in government spending, South Australia was the first state since the start of the Depression to balance its budget. He was also known in Canberra as a fierce opponent of federal control, strongly opposing the proposed Commonwealth wheat pool and the rationalisation of butter production.
Butler's term in office also saw the founding of the South Australian Housing Trust, designed to build cheap homes for those affected by the Depression and the successful enticing of Broken Hill Proprietary Company (BHP)
BHP Billiton
BHP Billiton is a global mining, oil and gas company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia and with a major management office in London, United Kingdom...
to build a blast furnace in Whyalla, and General Motors Holden to maintain their Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
base, as well as major changes to the structure of Parliament, including an increase in parliamentary terms from three years to five years, the reduction of the number of members in the Lower House from 46 to 39, and the introduction of single-member electorates. The result was later known as the Playmander
Playmander
The Playmander was a form of electoral malapportionment in the Australian state of South Australia, in place from 1936 to 1968. It consisted of rural districts enjoying a 2-to-1 advantage in the state parliament, even though they contained less than half of the population, as well as a change from...
.
Not all was rosy for Butler, though. The conditions laid down by the Country Party, prior to its merging with the Liberal Federation, left former Country Party politicians with more influence in the LCL than their numbers in parliament would indicate, including a guaranteed ministerial post for Albert Percy Blesing
Albert Percy Blesing
Albert Percy Blesing was a farmer and politician from South Australia who served as Minister for Agriculture , for Local Government and for Afforestation...
. Butler struggled to control rural members of the LCL - some of these members publicly disagreed with Butler over key issues. This internal opposition was magnified by Butler's refusal to introduce compulsory religious education into state schools or to ban drinking and gambling, which led church and temperance
Temperance movement
A temperance movement is a social movement urging reduced use of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements may criticize excessive alcohol use, promote complete abstinence , or pressure the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation or complete prohibition of alcohol.-Temperance movement by...
groups to launch a moral crusade against Butler, and which prompted conservative LCL members to consider dumping Butler as leader. Butler held on to his position and led the LCL to the 1938 election
South Australian state election, 1938
State elections were held in Australia on 19 March 1938. All 39 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal and Country League government led by Premier of South Australia Richard L. Butler defeated the opposition Australian Labor Party led by Leader...
. At that poll, the LCL lost several seats, but (thanks to support from independent parliamentarians) retained office.
Charles Hawker
Charles Allan Seymour Hawker was an Australian politician.Hawker was born near Clare, South Australia and educated at Geelong Grammar School, Hawker and Trinity College, Cambridge, earning Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees in 1919 and 1922 respectively. While at Cambridge he enlisted in the...
. Butler gained pre-selection for the 1938 Wakefield by-election
Wakefield by-election, 1938
A by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Wakefield on 10 December 1938. This was triggered by the death of United Australia MP Charles Hawker.The election was won by Labor candidate Sydney McHugh.-Results:...
and resigned his position as Premier and his seat in parliament on 5 November 1938, to be replaced as Premier by Thomas Playford IV
Thomas Playford IV
Sir Thomas Playford, GCMG was a South Australian politician. He served continuously as Premier of South Australia from 5 November 1938 to 10 March 1965, the longest term of any elected government leader in the history of Australia. His tenure as premier was marked by a period of population and...
. At the time of his resignation, Butler was the longest-serving Premier in South Australian history.
In a surprise result, Butler lost the by-election, and although he continued to seek federal pre-selection for the LCL, internal party opponents thwarted him. Instead, after being knighted in 1939, Butler was first appointed by Playford to the critical wartime positions of Director of Emergency Road Transport and Chair of the Liquid Fuel Control Board and later as a Director of the Electricity Trust of South Australia.
Butler died in Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
of cerebro-vascular disease in 1966. He received a state funeral.
Labor MP Mark Butler
Mark Butler
Mark Christopher Butler has been the Australian Labor Party representative for the electoral division of Port Adelaide in north-western Adelaide, South Australia since the 2007 federal election, succeeding prior Labor MP Rod Sawford....
is Richard Layton Butler's grandson.