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General Sir William Butler, was an enigmatic member of Sir Garnet Wolseley’s Ashanti Ring of officers in the British Army during the late 19th century.

And yet, despite being part of Queen Victoria’s army as it painted large parts of the globe British red, he was also a passionate supporter of Irish Home Rule and of Boer Independence in South Africa.

Indeed, there was a brief moment when he came tantalisingly close to preventing the 2nd Boer War. And how history might have been different if he had done so.

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56 The Ashanti Ring
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