Richard Butler was born in Greenwich on 6 March 1901, the son of Alfred George and Beatrice Tempe Anne Oakes Butler (née Manders).  He had three brothers, James, Edward and Alfred.

He joined the Royal Navy in September 1914.  He joined HMS DOLPHIN ‘for Submarines’ on 27 April 1924. He served in HMS L7 in the 4th SM Flotilla from September 1924 to April 1927 firstly as ‘the Navigator’ and then as ‘the 1st Lieutenant’.

After Service in the battleship HMS EMPEROR OF INDIA he served in HMS K26 as 1st Lieutenant from 15 November 1928 to 2nd September 1929 when he took his ‘Perisher’ and command of HMS H34 followed.

He returned to General Service on 30 April 1931 and, following service in Cruisers, River Gunboats and a spell as an ‘Assistant King’s Harbourmaster’ at Malta he joined the Cruiser HMS GALATEA ‘as 1st Lieutenant’ in January 1940. Richard Butler died, along with 469 of his shipmates on 15 December 1941, when GALATEA was torpedoed and sunk by U-557 off Alexandria.