James Butler
James Walter Butler MBE RA (25 July 1931 – 26 March 2022) was a British sculptor most famous for his 1980 statue of Richard III in Leicester. Butler was educated at Maidstone Grammar School and studied art at Saint Martin's School of Art and the Royal College of Art. For ten years he was a professional stone carver.
Also recorded as Ra Butler · James W. Butler · James Walter Butler
James Butler

Txllxt · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Born
- 1931
- Died
- 2022
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
James Walter Butler MBE RA (25 July 1931 – 26 March 2022) was a British sculptor most famous for his 1980 statue of Richard III in Leicester. Butler was educated at Maidstone Grammar School and studied art at Saint Martin's School of Art and the Royal College of Art. For ten years he was a professional stone carver.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for James Butler. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q6130606
In this article
Gallery
Gallery
He taught sculpture and drawing at the City and Guilds of London Art School and was visiting professor to the Royal Academy Schools. He was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts in 1964 and was a member of the Royal West of England Academy and fellow of the Royal British Society of Sculptors. Butler's works exist in private collections throughout the world and he undertook numerous public commissions. He designed the current version of the British Great Seal. Butler was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours. Butler was asked to commission a memorial in dedication to the 167th Infantry Regiment of the World War I Rainbow Division in New Croix Rouge Farm, France.
• Illustration — Statue of Jomo Kenyatta (1971) in Nairobi • Illustration — The Burton Cooper (1977), Cooper's Square Shopping Centre, Burton on Trent. The bronze sculpture depicts a local craftsman. It originally stood opposite the market but was moved in 1994. • Illustration — Girl skipping rope, bronze sculpture (1987) at Monte Palace Gardens, Funchal, Madeira • Illustration — The Leicester Seamstress by Butler (1990), Leicester, Hotel Street • Illustration — Statue of James Henry Greathead, railway engineer in Cornhill, London, EC3. Unveiled on 17 January 1994. • Illustration — Statue of Richard III outside Leicester Cathedral • Illustration — Statue of John Wilkes, radical politician in London. Unveiled on 31 October 1988. • Illustration — Statue of Harold Alexander, commander in World War II. Unveiled on 9 May 1985.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1931
James Butler was born on 25 July 1931.
2022
James Butler died.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.James Butler obituary. The Guardian. 2022-04-01.
- 2.Seal of the Realm.
- 3.58929. 31 December 2008. 14.
- 4.The 42nd Rainbow Division Memorial.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
authority record
General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Sculpture
6,174 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Jakov BrdarArtist
- Jakub TatarkiewiczArtist
- Jalal GaryaghdiArtist
- James AcordArtist
- James Earle FraserArtist
- James FillansArtist
- James FitzGeraldArtist
- James Havard ThomasArtist
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by James Butler?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.