George Butler (headmaster)

George Butler (5 July 1774 – 30 April 1853) was an English schoolmaster and divine, Headmaster of Harrow School from 1805 to 1829 and Dean of Peterborough from 1842 to his death in 1853.

The son of Weeden Butler (1742–1823), George Butler was educated at the Chelsea school where his father taught and proceeded to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he graduated senior wrangler in 1794 (M.A.

He was elected a public examiner of the university in 1804, and in the following year was one of the select preachers.

As headmaster of Harrow School (1805–1829) his all-round knowledge, his tact and his skill as a track and field athlete rendered his administration successful and popular.

Butler and his wife Sarah Maria Gray had four sons and at least three daughters: