Mark Butcher, cabinet-maker, was born in 1814 at St. James. Suffolk, England, the son of William and Patience Butcher. He was married first in 1836 to Margaret Chappell, with whom he had six children. Following Margaret's death he married Catherine Hooper in 1849, and they had seven children. Mark Butcher died on 2 June 1883 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

Butcher was Prince Edward Island's most proficient and prolific cabinet-maker in the second half of the nineteenth century, and he produced furniture which compared in quality with any manufactured in British North America. Born into a family of cabinet-makers, he emigrated to PEI with his parents in 1829. By February 1835 he had opened a workshop in Charlottetown to specialize in all types of woodworking and turning. His business flourished and soon he not only had a retail store in Charlottetown but branch stores in Cardigan and Georgetown as well. He also shipped goods to New Brunswick and Newfoundland. He made furniture for several public institutions including Government House and the Charlottetown court house.

Like most cabinet-makers of the time, Butcher was also an undertaker and made coffins. He was also an architect, a builder of railway cars, and was active in community affairs.