Born in 1928 in South Croydon, the only child of Edward Butler (1893-1965) and Florence nee Whitaker (1895-1953). The family moved to Potters Bar in 1933 where Nigel was educated . In 1944 he became a junior clerk in the Clerk’s Department of the Potters Bar Urban District Council.
Nigel met Joyce Frances Hutchings a primary school teacher at the Amateur Dramatic Society in Carshalton, and they were married in 1957. They had a son Nicholas (b. 1962) and a daughter Diana (b. 1964) Joyce was taken ill in 1978 and died two years later.
Nigel qualified as a chartered secretary and was employed in a number of roles by the Carshalton Urban District Council, the Borough of Wimbledon and the London Borough of Merton.
He was appointed Deputy Town Clerk for the Borough of Wokingham in 1967 and remained in that post until 1971 when he became Town Clerk. He retained that post until the local government reorganization in 1974, when he became District Secretary. He also acted a temporary Town Clerk of the newly created Wokingham Town Council until September 1974.
In 1979 he was appointed General Commissioner for Income Tax, subsequently becoming Chairman of the Wokingham Division. He also served as one of the governors of St. Crispin’s School, Wokingham, and for a time was chairman. He was appointed Chief Executive in 1982, a post he held until he retired from the Wokingham Town Council in 1990.
He however continued to act as a General Commissioner for Income Tax until 2003, when he reached 75.
Wokingham Town Museum Unique Identifier: WTH0491