Educated at St George's and Westminster Hospitals, after which he practised in Tasmania, where he was Consulting Surgeon to the General Hospital at Hobart Town. He represented the Brighton constituency in the House of Assembly continuously for thirty-one years, and once held office as Minister for Lands. He was appointed Chairman of Committees in 1876, and in the following year was elected to the Speakership, which he held until the beginning of the session in 1885, when he resigned on account of ill health. He held the positions of Chairman of the Board of Education and President of the Commissioners of the New Norfolk and Cascades Hospital for the Insane, and served as a Member of the Tasmanian Court of Medical Examiners. Henry Butler was universally respected throughout the Colony, and both houses of Parliament adjourned out of respect for his memory on the day of his funeral. He died on Saturday, August 21st, 1885, at his residence, Stowell, Battery Point, Hobart.