Butler was born on 1 August 1869 in Cambridge. He was educated at Harrow and Oxford. He was the last person to occupy the position of Lieutenant Governor of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, before it was renamed and upgraded to a Governorship. He continued his office for just under two years, before moving to the Burma administration. Having previously been based in Delhi, Butler was first posted to Burma in 1915, during World War One.

Butler's second term in office as Lieutenant Governor of Burma began in 1922, after a time as Governor of the United Provinces. Harcourt Butler's two second terms in Burma are roughly the setting for George Orwell's novel Burmese Days. Orwell was a police officer in Burma during this time. He opened the Medicine University of Yangon during his office.