Thomas Thompson Butement was born in Berwick upon Tweed, England. He immigrated to Australia in 1853 and between 1854 and 1862 he established two aerated water factories in Melbourne. Thomas died in 1884.

Thomas Butement's sons, William Curry Butement, John Trotter Butement, James Dodds Butement and Thomas Thompson Butement II, were also involved in the aerated water industry, having moved to New Zealand during the 1860s.

Aerated water factories were established at Dunedin, Greymouth, Christchurch, and Shortland (Thames) as well as in Wellington.

The Butement brothers bought William Strike's old factory in Polhill's Gully, Wellington some eighteen months after Strike's death. The factory was about three miles out of Wellington and it seems the factory was not in a very fine state of repairs but records suggested Butement didn't intend spending money on it. He told Alfred Lewis he'd "give it a trial and see how it works".

At the time of this conversation with Lewis in June 1889, Butement's factory didn't have Codd's fillers, only a "Lamont upright". In addition, there were no bottles in the factory, as Lewis bought them some 18 months prior.

Butement began brewing beer in late July/early August 1889 and by September 1889 the business was concentrating more on the manufacture of beer and less on aerated waters. By November they weren't supplying lemonade to any of the hotels in Wellington. In addition, it was made known that Butement wanted to sell his 50 gross of new bottles with his name on them (at 10% advance on what he paid for them). By May 1890, Butement made it clear he wanted to sell his aerated water plant and he did so soon thereafter.

The majority of Butement's bottles have been found in Wairarapa, suggesting a Wairarapa-based aerated water company purchased Butement's order of bottles following his short period of operation in Wellington.