The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Aspinall, Hon. Butler Cole
Aspinall, Hon. Butler Cole, son of the Rev. James Aspinall, rector of Althorp, Lancashire, and brother of John Bridge Aspinall, Q.C., Recorder of Liverpool, and Attorney-General of the County Palatine of Durham, was called to the English bar in 1853. Having been a contributor to the Morning Chronicle and other London papers, when he was known to Mr. G. H. Lewes, Rossetti, and many other literary celebrities, he went to Victoria in 1854 as law reporter to the Melbourne Argus. Subsequently he contributed to the Morning Herald, Age, and Melbourne Punch. He commenced to practise as a barrister on leaving the Argus, and gained a great reputation as an advocate by his defence of the Eureka rioters. In 1856 he entered parliament as member of the Legislative Assembly for Talbot, established a reputation as a debater, and became still more widely celebrated in social circles as the recognised wit of the colony. He succeeded Mr. R. D. Ireland as Attorney-General in the Heales Administration in July 1861, and held office until November of that year. He became member for Portland, and was Solicitor-General in the Macpherson Ministry from Jan. to April 1870. In 1868 he went to Sydney and defended O'Farrell, who was tried and executed for the attempted assassination of the Duke of Edinburgh. Mr. Aspinall resigned his seat in Parliament in 1870, and the following year became insane. He died in England on April 4th, 1875.