William Allen Butler
Encyclopedia
William Allen Butler was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 lawyer and writer of poetical satires.

Son of the poet and lawyer Benjamin Franklin Butler
Benjamin Franklin Butler (lawyer)
Benjamin Franklin Butler was a lawyer, legislator and Attorney General of the United States.-Early life:...

 and nephew of naval hero William Howard Allen
William Howard Allen
William Howard Allen was a United States naval officer. He was born in Hudson, New York in 1790; appointed midshipman in 1808 and became a hero during the War of 1812 when he served aboard USS Argus. Later he commanded the Alligator, which was sent to the West Indies to destroy pirates as part of...

, Allen graduated at the University of the City of New York in 1843 and became a New York lawyer. Butler eventually headed the firm of Butler, Stillman & Hubbard, and served as president of the American Bar Association
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...

 and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York
Association of the Bar of the City of New York
The New York City Bar Association , founded in 1870, is a voluntary association of lawyers and law students. Since 1896, the organization, formally known as the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, has been headquartered in a landmark building on 44th Street, between Fifth and Sixth...

. On March 21, 1850 he married Mary R. Marshall.

He contributed travel writing and comic writing to The Literary World, a series on 'The Cities of Art and the Early Artists' to the Art Union Bulletin and also wrote for the Democratic Review
The United States Magazine and Democratic Review
The United States Magazine and Democratic Review was a periodical published from 1837–1859 by John L. O'Sullivan. Its motto, "The best government is that which governs least," was famously paraphrased by Henry David Thoreau in On the Duty of Civil Disobedience.-History:In 1837, O'Sullivan...

. His most famous satirical poem, Nothing to Wear, was first published anonymously in Harper's Weekly
Harper's Weekly
Harper's Weekly was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many subjects, and humor...

in 1857 (see 1857 in poetry
1857 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-United Kingdom:* Edward Bulwer-Lytton, writing under the pen name "Owen Meredith", The Wanderer...

), though Butler was forced to reveal his name after someone else claimed authorship. His son Howard Russell Butler
Howard Russell Butler
Howard Russell Butler was an American painter and founder of the American Fine Arts Society. Butler also persuaded Andrew Carnegie to fund the construction of Carnegie Lake near Princeton University. Butler also designed a mansion, an astronomy hall and painted a solar eclipse for the U.S. Naval...

was born in 1856.

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