BUTLER, John. Lip hot, Hampshire 1809 — Hampshire 22.5.1874. British Colonial Officer in India. Served in India in 1837-51 in Bengal Native Infantry. In 1840 transferred from “Mynpooree in Upper India” to Gauhati (“Gowahatty”), Assam (annexed by the British only little before). Worked as Assistant to the Agent to the Governor General, from 1844 in charge of the Hill tribes of Upper Assam. Major of Assam Light Infantry in 1847. Remained in Assam until 1851. Retired as Colonel in 1859 and settled in Empshott, East Hampshire. Married (probably twice), father of the younger —> John Butler, also seven other children.
Publications: A Sketch of Assam: With some account of the Hill Tribes. 8+220 p. 16 pl. L. 1847 (signed only “by an Officer in the Hon. East India Company’s Bengal Native Infantry in civil employ”, but the title page of his second book mentions him as its author).
– Travels and Adventures in the Province of Assam, during a Residence of Fourteen Years. 11+268 p. 9 pl. L. 1855, new ed. 1923 (concentrating on the description of various Naga groups).
Sources: Rajib Handique, “Colonial Ethnography and Understanding the ‘Other’ through John Butler’s Travels in Assam” in https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3479274, Syeda Zahan, “Development as a Myth: A Study of Major John Butler’s Travels and Adventures…” in academia.edu; some information culled from his books; https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=549949.0; ancestry.com.
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