Born in 1859, Evangeline Mary [Eva] Butler was the fourth child and only daughter of George and Josephine Butler, following sons George Grey, Arthur Stanley, and Charles [Charlie] Augustus Vaughan.

Eva died in a tragic accident in 1864 when she was only five years old, falling over the banisters of the upstairs balcony of the family home and landing on the tiled floor of the hall.  The accident was witnessed by her brother Charlie, and it was her father, George, who picked up her body, removing her to a different room, where she died a few hours later, surrounded by her family. 

The tragedy is deepened when we read the following in a letter from Josephine to her son, George, 

She had gone out for a walk with Mrs. Blunke an hour before she fell, during the walk she said ‘I wonder how far heaven is off, it looks as if we might touch the floor of heaven if we went up the very top of Battledown Hill’ and she wondered if she could ever get up so high as heaven 

It was this incident that led to the family moving once again, this time to Liverpool, and for Josephine to become involved in ‘rescue work’ with prostitutes and other ‘friendless’ women, initially to help her overcome her grief.