William Butler Smith was born near the Woolwich Toothery in 1863. His parents were both present at the time, although left as soon as was suitably convenient. The young Butler Smith was never to see them again.

From an early age Butler Smith displayed a strong artistic bent, and was keen to get it out whenever he could.  At the age of 17 Butler Smith decided he had enough of lying down and decided to get out of bed and find employment, however being unable to account for himself for the years spent loafing, potential employers were reluctant to take up Butler Smith’s services, and the talented ne’er-do-well was forced to tread his own path through Life. Ever versatile, Butler Smith was able to turn his hand to virtually anything, and he continued in this fashion for some years. Then one day, quite by chance Butler Smith happened upon an old abandoned Cheese Stack. Desperately in need of repair and smelling most foul it was, nonetheless, a perfectly reasonable stack. Butler Smith knew he possessed the requisite skills not only to make the Cheese Stack habitable again, but also if he were lucky, coax it into multiplying. He set to work almost immediately and within a very short time had a veritable pile of Cheese Stacks at his disposal.

It was around about this time that Butler Smith developed a fondness for dressing up in outlandish garb; among the many costumes Smith took to regularly wearing were those of a Siberian Cosack, a Jungle Ape and a mysterious Lady Monk, Smith often referred to as ‘Honestina’. Not surprisingly, such eccentric behavior was frowned upon in Victorian London and  it was only a matter of time before Butler Smith’s antics would come to the attention of the Establishment.

On April 2nd 1898 a warrant was issued for the arrest of ‘the sillie basterd whoe dresses as a Gorilla and afrights the young women of the parish of Brocklea’. Not surprisingly, when Butler Smith learnt of the warrant for his arrest, he decided to pack his trunk and head out of London until the fuss had died down.

Having heard that the streets of Anglia were coated in Gypsum dust and interested in seeing if he could utilise it’s potential to turn those who wore it invisible, Butler Smith bought a one way ticket to Kings Lynn.