Lieutenant, Royal Air Force
Born: June 8th 1899
Died: May 26th 1918
Age at Death: 18
Killed in action, France, May 26th 1918
Son of Rev. Arthur Butt & Dora Annette Butt, Balliol College.
Grave Reference: I.C.12 Doullens Cemetery, Extension Number 2, Somme.
His headstone was engraved as follows (see Headstone documentation) - sent by his mother Mrs D. A. Butt:
"Their name shall be held in everlasting remembrance."
A donation to the memorial statue has been made in honour of this soldier by Philip Marsden (Al. 1972-77).
Francis Wilfrid Butt
Frank Butt was born in Gloucester on June 8th 1899. He was the eldest child and elder son of Rev. Arthur Butt, Rector of Rodmorton, Gloucestershire, and his wife Dora (nee Nolan). The family subsequently moved to Brighton and as a consequence Butt was briefly a pupil at the school. It is unclear what Butt did immediately on leaving the school but it is possible that he may have intended to join the legal profession because he enlisted immediately in the Inns of Court OTC.
Sometime thereafter he must have trained to fly and received a commission into the RFC which was combined with the RNAS to become the RAF, a wholly separate branch of the armed services, on April 1st 1918. He was posted to the 102nd Squadron RAF, a specialist unit formed in August 1917 to conduct night-time bombing raids using FE2b Biplanes. The science of night flying was still in its infancy and the operations of 102 Squadron were consequently dangerous in the extreme. The unit was sent to France in Spring 1918 when and sent on missions to attack the railway network used by the Germans to supply their lines. It was one such mission that Butt was killed in action on 26th May 1918.
Butt’s body was recovered and he is buried in the Commonwealth War Graves Extension of Doullens Communal Cemetery, France
Source: LEST WE FORGET PROJECT, Brighton College 2014/15
