Butler was born on 12 September 1916 and educated at Bristol University, graduating with honours in medicine and surgery in 1940. As the second world war was in progress he was immediately commissioned in the RAMC and was posted to India. After the war he held resident posts at Bristol Royal Infirmary, and took the Fellowship in 1947. He was appointed to the staff of Frenchay Hospital, Bristol, gave the greater part of his working life to the Hospital, and was promoted to be a consultant surgeon there. He gained the Bristol MD in 1960. He was known throughout the south-west of England as a skilled abdominal surgeon, while his great knowledge of post-gastrectomy problems was even more widely admired. His research on pancreatic function in gastric operations earned him a Hunterian Professorship at the College (1961); he was an active member of the British Society of Gastroenterology, and published important papers on his special subject. His career was tragically cut short by severe illness in 1967. He bore his disability and inactivity with notable courage, but died on 26 February 1972 aged fifty-five. He was survived by his wife with their son and three daughters. 'Paddy' Butler's cheerful personality endeared him to his staff and his patients. He was a devout Roman Catholic; a requiem mass was celebrated in Bristol Pro-Cathedral before his burial at Canford on 2 March 1972. Publications: Clinical study of the early post-gastrectomy syndrome. *Brit med J* 1951, 2, 265. Study of significance of reactive hypoglycaemia following gastrectomy. *Gastroenterology*, 1951, 19, 99. A study of the pancreatic response to food after gastrectomy in man. *Gut* 1960, 1, 55.