|
50 YEARS AGO
From The Household Brigade Magazine, Winter 1965-66 edition
A FAITHFUL FRIEND SAYS FAREWELL
by Colonel Sir Thomas Butler Bt DSO OBE JP
formerly Grenadier Guards
|
Amongst the horses acquired by the 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards after the defeat of Germany in 1945 was one which bore on his hindquarters the emblem of Hanover. He stood fully 17 hands, proud and handsome. His eyes which shone with wisdom and intelligence expressed gentleness and a trust in man. His name was Fortune. He died in the autumn of last year at the age of twenty-nine.
Fortune beside the drinking trough in Knightsbridge Barracks
|
Fortune’s career in Germany was notable, both in the sphere of show jumping, where he won the 2nd Divisional open jumping championship, and in the hunting field. It was, however, when he came to London in 1952, bought out of the Army by my wife, and borne across the sea by the courtesy of the Royal Navy, that he became best known to so many Guardsmen.
For ten years, until his retirement in 1962, he took part in nearly every ceremonial parade in London. Whether he was escorting Winston Churchill and the Commonwealth Prime Ministers in the Coronation procession or carrying the Field Officer in Brigade Waiting on the Queen’s Birthday Parade or merely lining the streets for the Opening of Parliament, Fortune bore himself with impeccable bearing and steadiness.
His love of music was exceptional, and it was a joy to him rather than an ordeal to stand as close as possible to the massed bands of the Brigade during rehearsals in Chelsea Barracks, where the confined space magnified the volume of sound.
His only lapse was when my wife rode him down to watch the 2nd Battalion mount guard at Buckingham Palace after their return from Germany. As the band swung out of Wellington Barracks Fortune took one look and bolted back up Constitution Hill to Hyde Park Corner.
Few people outside the family probably know the story of how, during the State visit of Bulganin and Krushchev, my young son, instead of as we thought exercising Fortune in the Row, rode him through Grosvenor Square and down Brook Street to Claridges in order to catch a glimpse of the Russian leaders. The Police were so astonished they allowed him to have a ring-side view alongside one of their own police horses.
In later years Fortune left Knightsbridge Barracks when summer approached and stayed with friends in Essex where in pastures green he would peacefully graze dreaming of his great days of pomp and ceremony on Horse Guards Parade.
There will be many who will grieve his passing.
Colonel Sir Thomas Butler Bt CVO DSO OBE
 Tom Butler was born in Carlow in Ireland in 1910 and when, to quote his biographer, he started ‘knocking at the door’ the family doctor, who was out with the Carlow Hunt when given the news of the impending arrival, replied ‘I will be over as soon as we have killed the fox!’ Tom Butler joined the 1st Bn Grenadier Guards in 1933 and later served with the 6th Bn in Egypt, Syria and the Desert. He was awarded a DSO as a company commander at the Battle of Mareth in 1943. He was wounded during the battle, was captured but later escaped, walking 600 kms, crossing the Apennines twice in freezing conditions. After the war he was the Brigade Major before commanding the 2nd Bn in BAOR. As AQMG London District in 1953, he took on the responsibility for the administration and quartering of the troops involved in the Coronation. He was Governor of the Tower of London and Keeper of the Jewel House, 1969-71, where he entertained many VIPs, including Bridget Bardot who left her lipstick traces on his cheeks. He retired to Ireland and in 1979 organised the Butler Society Reunion attended by 400 ‘Butlers’ from around the world. He was married to Rosemary Davidson Houston and had three children. Colonel Sir Thomas Butler died in 1994, aged 83. (From his obituary, by Major The Hon N W S L H Villiers, published in The Guards Magazine, Summer edition, 1994)
|
|
