John Howell Butler was born at New London House on High Street in Bangor, Caernarvonshire, Wales on 27 August 1890; he was baptised on 14 September that year. 

He was the son eldest son and second child of Robert Henry Butler, a draper and tailor, and Ann Catherine Roberts; he had five siblings. The family moved into England sometime after 1898, settling in the Wirral where his mother died in 1900; John and the remainder of his family appear on the 1901 census as residents of 32 South Road in Hoylake. 

In May 1911 Butler was working as a waiter aboard Ivernia and gave his local address as 312 Borough Road in Birkenhead. By April 1912 Butler was serving as a waiter aboard the eastward-bound voyage of the Carpathia when that ship rescued the survivors of the Titanic.

John Butler in later years

John continued to serve at sea with the merchant fleet during WWI and for many years after, serving his country again during WW2. He was married in 1916 to Maud Williams and raised a family, relocating to Southampton where was widowed in 1939. He died in Southampton in 1959.