He was living at 30 Te Pene, Avenue at the time of his death leaving behind his wife Bertha.
Over the 1910–13 seasons he played 49 games for the Christchurch FC side without making any representative appearances whatsoever.
[3] At the beginning of the season a meeting was held with Button in Attendance regarding the formation of the City club.
This was to be his last game of rugby league for some time as he joined the war effort and left for Europe months later.
Following Button's matches for the 'Selected Team' and his City club he was chosen to represent New Zealand against the touring England side.
His inclusion caused a surprise, as the general opinion was that H. Shanks would be the forward selected from Christchurch".
England won an extremely competitive game 16–13 with the New Zealand team given great respect for their play.
Button was playing in the hooker position and saved New Zealand late in the game when England were close to scoring.
[18] It was said later that the New Zealand forwards had al been outstanding and "Button, Banks, and Mitchell all proved the wisdom of their selection".
He embarked from Wellington on 17 April 1915 as a Gunner in the New Zealand Field Artillery as part of the 4th Reinforcements.
[21] He was then reported seriously ill on 2 November with his parents receiving a cabled message from Malta General Hospital.
He was however showing some improvement while in hospital and was removed from the dangerous list on 9 November and embarked for Alexandria on 14 December.
It had been thought that he was likely to die and he had been treated for 3 months in army hospitals in England and Sister Holmes, of the English R.A.M.C had been "untiring" in her efforts to bring him back to health.
[23] After returning to New Zealand he had spent time recovering and on 8 July 1917 he was well enough to join the Linwood rugby league club and play 2 games for them in the same month.
[25] He was granted a Diplomas of Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons after successfully passing the exam in June, 1931 in London.
[26] In 1941 he was granted the temporary rank of Lieutenant-colonel while holding the appointment of officer in charge of the surgical division, No.