The youngest of eight children, Joseph Butler was born 18 May 1692 at Wantage, Berkshire. His father, Thomas Butler, had been a successful and respected linen draper but was retired at the time of Joseph's birth. A Presbyterian, Thomas Butler decided early to educate his youngest son for the Presbyterian ministry. He first attended the free grammar school at Wantage, where he received a basic classical education under the direction of the Reverend Philip Barton, an Anglican clergyman. He then was sent to a Dissenting academy operated by Samuel Jones, first at Gloucester and then at Tewkesbury. The academy enjoyed a high reputation, and among Butler's contemporaries were several individuals who later distinguished themselves in public and religious life, both Anglican and Dissenting. The close friendship Butler established with Thomas Secker, who later became archbishop of Canterbury, is especially notable.

Butler's progress at the academy was remarkable, and he demonstrated...