*Born in Milfield, Northumberland to Hannah and John Grey on an undeterminable date.

*John Grey was active in the abolition of slavery in Britain.

*Josephine's family life was supportive, her father a strong egalitarian, raised her equally with her siblings without separating activities between genders.

*The Grey family was highly regarded in their area, and despite Josephine's sex, she and her sister's had acquired the upmost respect of the local people.

*In 1852, Josephine married the son of the Headmaster of Harrow, George Butler. They had a companionate marriage in which each was equally responsible. They had three son's and one daughter.

*In 1856, George and Josephine Butler moved to Oxford, where she found difficulty adjusting. She was no longer in Northumberland, where people knew her family and respected her intelligence. She was now the pretty wife of George Butler, who was not regarded highly within the college and was denied the seat of the Latin Chair.

*Josephine suffered bronchial attacks throughout her life, and when they became too much for her at Oxford, the family decided to move to Cheltenham in 1857. (This decision was also due to her husbands conflicting liberal ideas at Oxford)

*In 1863, Josephine and her husband suffered a tragedy which shaped their lives. The couple arrived home from a drive, and the children, excited to see their parents came running, and Eva, their only daughter tripped and fell over the banister, landing on her head, suffering a fatal injury that took her life minutes later.

*The family found it difficult to remain in Cheltenham, and George received an invitation to work at Liverpool College. The family moved to Liverpool in 1865.

*Josephine grew tired of the role of wife and dealing with the pain of her loss. She says, "I became possessed with an irresistible desire to go forth, and ...meet with people more unhappy than myself...and to say... ‘I understand, I, too, have suffered." She began taking in women of ill repute who needed assistance, and later gathered funding for a home for rest for those who were prostitutes or had no hope of employment.

*In 1869, Josephine received a telegram from Elizabeth Wolstenholme asking her to lead the campaign against the Contagious Diseases Acts of 1866. After much deliberation, she accepted and her husband remained at home with the children and supported her in his lectures.

*Josephine began work on opposing the acts with speeches, articles, and arguments that favored religion. In 1872, the Bruce Bill was introduced. The Bill would repeal the C.D. acts, raised the age of consent from 12 to 14, but the law gave the power of the special police to all law enforcement. Josephine was asked to accept on the grounds that "half a loaf is better than none," she replied, "not when it is poisoned." Eventually she gave her position to James B. Stansfeld, and he led the activism of the C.D. acts to victory in 1883, when they were repealed.

*Josephine took on other crusades, fighting for prostitutes and women's issues in India, the Dreyfus Case, the Jews in Russia and the Boer War. She died on December 29, 1906.