Claud Butler (14 July 1903 – 2 November 1978) was a London-based bicycle dealer and frame-builder, who from 1928 created a chain of bicycle-retail shops in London and the Midlands.
The weekly magazine, The Bicycle, said: Claud Butler cycles were known for features such as bronze-weld construction and decorative lugs (techniques pioneered by continental frame builders).
For instance, how many other quality lightweight manufacturers promoted an annual 'do' with a dance band and cabaret acts, or produced a pin badge, or were active sponsors of well known international riders, or placed regular display advertising in Cycling, or used their proprietor's personality in the form of a cartoon caricature, or marked their jubilee with special models, or claimed to be both "The King of Lightweights" and "Just one of the boys"?
The cycling historian David Palk says: Saudi Arabia's oil embargo against Britain and France during the Suez Crisis brought Claud Butler to closure.
With fuel shortages, British industry could operate only a four-day week and, with little demand for cycles let alone lightweight frames, the Clapham Manor Street site began to fall quiet.
[4] However, his venture to buy Claud Butler added to the financial pressures on his own business which then floundered, and ended with a meeting with creditors in 1958.
These acquisitions brought with them a change to volume production with the Claud Butler and Holdsworth brands reserved for the premium frames in the new range.