Family background
Joseph Butterfield was born in 7 July 1854 at Keighley in West Yorkshire, England, the son of Benjamin Butterfield, a blacksmith, and Ann née Foster.
Butterfield arrived in Victoria, Australia aboard the John Elder on 22 August 1880, before arriving in Sydney on 28 August. On 28 April 1881 he married Annie Smith, who was also from Keighley, at St David’s Church of England in Surry Hills. Between 1882 and 1899 they had nine children: seven sons and two daughters. Their eldest child, William Foster, born in June 1882, died aged 1 year and 9 months. His death was the subject of a coronial inquest, attributed to ‘collapse arising from violent diarrhoea and vomiting’.
Butterfield died, aged 67, on 29 January 1923 and was buried at Botany Cemetery.
Occupation & interests
Butterfield’s listed occupation on arrival in Australia was ‘druggist’ and he began working as a chemist in Elizabeth Street, Sydney and later Redfern Street, Redfern. In 1884 he applied to register a trademark for ‘Madame De Nouvelle’s Parisian Linen Gloss’, used for the purpose of ‘getting up linen’; that is, making it easier to iron.
In 1886 he was called before a coronial inquest which resulted in a charge of murder. Butterfield appeared at both the inquest and the court case as a result of having provided ‘powders’ to the deceased. In 1896 he was admitted as a pharmaceutical chemist by the (NSW) Board of Pharmacy.
Community activity
In 1893 Butterfield supported the candidature of Henry Vernon for the Surry Hills Ward, of Redfern Council, attending meetings of ratepayers of the ward as well as organising fundraising activities for him. In 1895 he sought to physically quiet some obstructionists at a rally for a protectionist candidate in Newtown and was, subsequently, charged with having behaved in a riotous manner and fined 10s for fighting. In 1896 he attended a meeting, which he was elected to chair, to form a Protectionist Association in Redfern. Two years later, as one of two protectionist (or Bartonian) candidates for the seat of Redfern, Butterfield stood aside rather than splitting the protectionist vote against the Labor candidate.
Local government service
In 1888 Butterfield was elected an alderman for the Surry Hills Ward of Redfern Council. He served until 1891. He was returning officer for the 1890 Redfern municipal elections. He stood again, unsuccessfully, for the Surry Hills Ward of Redfern Council in the 1891 and 1894 elections and for the Belmore Ward, Redfern Council in 1899.
References
‘Family Notices’, Sydney Morning Herald, 5 March 1884, p. 1, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13549905
‘Local and General’, Cumberland Mercury, 5 March 1884, p. 2,
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/248784126
‘Trademark’, NSW Government Gazette, 29 August 1884 (No.440), p. 5863, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/225588485
‘Coroner’s Inquests’, Sydney Morning Herald, 7 August 1886, p. 8, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13633591
‘Central Criminal Court – Thursday’, Sydney Morning Herald, 4 September 1886, p. 10, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13645187
‘The Municipal Elections and Nominations’, Sydney Morning Herald, 8 February 1888, p. 7, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13672542
‘Advertising’, Daily Telegraph, 18 January 1890, p. 11, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/235708838 ‘Municipal Elections and Local Option Vote’, Sydney Morning Herald, 10 February 1891, p. 6, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13813481
‘Certificate Applications’, Australian Star, 26 April 1893, p. 6, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/227183149
‘Election Rioters’, Australian Star, 16 July 1895, p. 7, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/227262033
‘Government Gazette Notices’, NSW Government Gazette, 24 January 1896 (No.58 (SUPPLEMENT), p. 561, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/222648142
‘Meeting at Redfern’, Daily Telegraph, 5 June 1896, p. 3, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/238606839 ‘Redfern’, Sydney Morning Herald, 25 July 1898, p. 4, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/14166486 ‘Redfern’, Sunday Times, 12 February 1899, p. 2, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/127374739
‘Family Notices’, Daily Telegraph, 30 January 1923, p. 4, https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/245839434
NSW State Archives: Chemists, Druggists and Pharmacists Index 1876-1920: Item No: [2/696], Reel No: 3855, Residence: Redfern; Bankruptcy Index 1888-1929: File No: 14089; Item No: [2/8530], Page No: 331, File No: 5462, Business and Company Records 1903-1922; Item No: [2/8530], Page No: 331, File No: 5461, Nature of Business: Manufacturing Chemists & Toilet Soap Makers, Place of Business: 94 Redfern Street Redfern; Deceased Estates Index 1880-1939: Item No: Pre A 003214 [20/935]