Peter Butler

A Pioneer of Biddulph

from the London and Middlesex Society Historian Autumn, 1990

Peter Butler was a life long resident of Lucan, where he was well known and respected by his fellow citizens. His grandfather was an escaped slave who located in the Wilberforce Settlement during the 1830s. Wilberforce was a black colonization project using Canada Company land within Biddulph Township. Unfortunately, the experiment was as short-lived as it was innovative, and most of the few settlers it attracted gradually drifted away. The Butlers remained, however, and prospered. Profiting from the arrival of the Grand Trunk Railway in 1859, which intersected the Butler farm, and capitalizing on the value it gave his extensive property in Lucan, Peter's grandfather became a modestly wealthy man. Peter was born in 1859, and as a young man he was employed as a Middlesex County constable in Lucan. For the most part, he relied on his size and strength to maintain the peace (and occasionally a big stick). He only carried a gun when he was escorting prisoners to their trial in London, or when he was chasing down cattle rustlers. Peter continued as a county constable, in addition to farming, and in about 1913 he began service with the Ontario Provincial Police. Noted for his kindness and generosity to his prisoners, he remained a highly-regarded provincial police officer until his retirement in 1936. He died in 1943. His family's achievements have been included in a 1981 book entitled: The Freedom-Seekers.