John Watt Butters

John Watt Butters FRSE FRSGS (1863–1946) was a Scottish mathematician who served as Rector of Ardrossan Academy from 1899 to 1928.

He was born in Edinburgh in 1863, the son of Isabella Watt and John Butters, a tailor.

Initially studying to be a minister at the Established Free Church College, in conjunction with studies at the University of Edinburgh, his interests returned fully to mathematics and he graduated MA with First Class Honours in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in 1894.

He left in 1899 to take the role of Rector (headmaster) at Ardrossan Academy where he remained until retiral in 1928.

[2] He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in April 1896, his proposers were George Chrystal, Peter Guthrie Tait, David Fowler Lowe and John Sturgeon Mackay.