Yeoman of the Signals Thomas Butler was born in Lambeth, Surrey in February 1860 and entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class aboard H.M.S. Fisgard in June 1875. Advanced to Boy 1st Class in January of the following year and to Signalman 2nd Class in September 1878, he was one of 50-odd men landed from H.M.S. Active for service with the Naval Brigade in South Africa in 1879. Present at Inyezane on 22.1.1879, he was knocked down by a bullet that passed through his helmet, prior to receiving a severe gunshot wound in his left thigh (Naval Medals 1857-1880, Captain K.J. Douglas-Morris, R.N., refers). Recovering ashore back in the U.K. until late 1880, he was next appointed to H.M.S. Helicon, in which ship he experienced further active service in the Egypt operations of 1882. Advanced to Yeoman of the Signals in August of the following year, but disrated in July 1886, Butler transferred to the Coast Guard as a Boatman in February 1889 and was pensioned with the Rate of Commissioned Boatman in February 1899. An R.F.R. man between 1902-10, he was recalled for service in August 1914 and briefly served in R.N. Shore Establisments as a Signalman prior to returning to the Coast Guard. Latterly employed in Scotland and South-West England, the long-served Butler was pensioned for a final time, with War Gratuity, in early 1919.