At the last meeting in November and the final one of 2014, Probus members were very happy to welcome once again Mrs Herring as the appointed speaker.
As the digital presentation progressed it became increasingly obvious she had ‘certainly done her homework’ – giving a most clear and precise record of Lady Butler’s life as the only female battle artist in the 19th Century. This was probably considered an unusual course to take for such a ‘genteel lady’.
Elizabeth and her sister were the daughters of Thomas James and Christiana Thompson. Their father took on the responsibility of educating them because of the constant moving to other countries. This meant that from a very early age they acquired a lot of military information in terms of battles.
When she was 15 years of age, Elizabeth was given oil painting lessons, otherwise the tuition she received was patchy. She spent some time at the ‘School of Art’ but with her family moving so frequently it was difficult to maintain her attendance.
Painting was very much part of who she was and she persevered until eventually, after many refusals, her work was accepted by the ‘Royal Academy’ in London. Although Elizabeth had the title ‘Battle Artist’ her pictures were mostly painted of men and horses returning from Battles in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries as she was keen not to “glorify war but capture some of the pathos”.
She painted most of the significant historic battle events some of which were done after her marriage in 1877 to Major Butler who rose through the Ranks to become Lt General Sir William Butler. They had six children and two of their sons also entered Military Service.
On her husband’s retirement from the Army they went to live in Castle Bansha, Co Tipperary and it was there in 1910 the Lt General died. Lady Butler continued painting and her attention was drawn to the First World War.
Her home having been sequestered and everything in it, she lived with one of her daughters in Ireland until she passed away in 1933 at 87 years of age.
Another meeting where there was superb mental stimulation.
Fracking
‘Fracking’ is a topical and highly debated subject in areas of Britain today.
Betty Guy, on behalf of Probus reported, “Ffinlo Costain gave a very good digital presentation of the studies which have so far been done and the discussions taking place in Britain at a local level, through the various scientific studies and within the main political parties.
“What is Fracking? It is a process of fracturing approximately 3km below ground level through horizontal drilling using water, sand and chemicals. Polls have been taken and opinions expressed regarding the safety of the process and the result as yet would not seem to be conclusive. Providing different forms of energy in the future, although needed, has created a lot of scepticism and even mistrust.
“Ffinlo informed the club there would probably be 20 years of production in any one drilling operation. America has many areas where fracking occurs, but where the companies operate the land mass is much bigger than is available in Britain and therefore could be a greater risk to land and property.
“Some experts see fracking as a ‘bridge to a lower carbon economy’ as other answers continue to be sought for the providing of energy in the future, although the leakages from the operations are considered to be dirtier than coal!
“Through the questions that were asked by the members at the end of the meeting there seemed to be a preference for more consideration to be given to the use of tidal and hydro electric power, although even that had many issues around it.
“Ffinlo certainly gave members a lot to think about, particularly in terms of the affect on the environment and climate, whichever new form of energy was found.”
