Samuel Butler was born on the 4th of December 1835 at the rectory in Langar, Nottinghamshire. He grew up under an antagonistic relationship with his father Rev Thomas Butler which shaped every aspect of his early education.
Samuel Butler emigrated to New Zealand on the ship Roman Emperor in September 1859 to maximize distance from his family. He lived as a sheep farmer on Mesopotamia Station and wrote about this experience in A First Year in Canterbury Settlement published in 1863.
Erewhon appeared anonymously in 1872 and caused speculation about its author until Butler revealed himself. The work contains drafts and source material developed during his time in New Zealand and includes themes now debated by proponents of technological singularity.
Butler accepted evolution but rejected Darwin's theory of natural selection in his book Evolution Old and New published in 1879. He accused Darwin of borrowing heavily from Buffon Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck while playing down these influences and giving them little credit.
The semi-autobiographical novel The Way Of All Flesh did not appear in print until after death as he considered tone of satirical attack on Victorian morality too contentious at time. It was published after Butler's death by literary executor R A Streatfeild in 1903.