Sherard Dawes Butler, a member of the Indian Civil Service, and Anne Smith. He had two sisters, Iris Mary Butler (1905–2002), who married Lieutenant-Colonel Gervase Portal (1890–1961) and became a writer, and Dorothy (1909–1999), the wife of Laurence Middleton (1905–1982). His younger brother John (1914–1943) was killed in an air crash on active service in January 1943. In July 1909, at the age of six, Butler's right arm was broken in three places in a riding accident, which left his right hand permanently disabled. He attended a preparatory school in Hove but rebelled against going to Harrow School, where most of his family were educated. Having failed to win a scholarship to Eton College, he instead attended Marlborough College, leaving in December 1920. In June 1921, he won an exhibition to Pembroke College, Cambridge. At that stage, he planned a career in the Diplomatic Service. Butler entered Pembroke College in October 1921 and became President of the Cambridge Union Society for Easter (summer) term of 1924. Initially studying French and German, he graduated in 1925 with one of the highest first-class degrees in history in the university. He was elected a fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and gave lectures on the politics of the French Third Republic. At Cambridge, he met Sydney Courtauld; after they married in 1926, his father-in-law awarded him an income of £5,000 a year after tax for life, which was comparable to a Cabinet Minister's salary and gave him the financial freedom to pursue a political career. Early political career While visiting Vancouver on his honeymoon in June 1927, Butler learned that William Foot Mitchell, Conservative MP for Saffron Walden, would not contest the next election. With the help of his Courtauld family connections, Butler was selected unopposed as the Conservative candidate on 26 November 1927. He was elected in the 1929 general election, and retained the seat until his retirement in 1965. Even before being elected to Parliament, Butler had been private secretary to Samuel Hoare. When the National Government was formed in August 1931 Hoare was appointed Secretary of State for India, and Butler was appointed as Hoare's Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS). In January 1932, he visited India as part of Lord Lothian's Franchise Committee, which was set up by the Round Table Conference and which recommended a large increase in the Indian electorate. On 29 September 1932, Butler became Under-Secretary of State