Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles

Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles (before 1596 – 1619) was the son and heir apparent of Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond (1559–1633), whom he predeceased. He lived at the Westgate Castle in Thurles, County Tipperary. He was accused of treason but drowned in a shipwreck off the Skerries in the Irish Sea, before he could be judged. He was the father of the Irish statesman and Royalist commander James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde.

Thomas Butler
Viscount Thurles (courtesy title)
Died	15 December 1619 at sea, off the Skerries
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Poyntz
Issue Detail	James, Richard, & others
Father	Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond
Mother	Helen Butler

Family tree

Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles, with wife, parents, and other selected relatives. John of Kilcash d. 1570 Katherine MacCarthy Walter 11th Earl 1559 – 1632/3 'Beads' Helen Butler d. 1631 John Pointz d. 1633 Thomas Viscount Thurles d. 1619 d.v.p.* Elizabeth Pointz 1587–1673 James 1st Duke 1610–1688 Elizabeth Preston 1615–1684 Richard of Kilcash 1615–1701 Frances Tuchet Thomas 6th Earl Ossory 1633–1680 d.v.p.* Emilia von Nassau 1635–1688 Walter of Garryricken d. 1700 Mary Plunket James 2nd Duke 1665–1745 Charles 1st Earl Arran 1671–1758 Thomas of Garryricken d. 1738 John Butler John de jure 15th Earl d. 1766 Walter de jure 16th Earl d. 1783 Legend XXX Thomas Butler XXX Earls & dukes of Ormond *d.v.p. = predeceased his father (decessit vita patris)

Birth and origins

Thomas was born in 1594, the eldest son of Walter Butler and his wife Helen Butler. At the time of his birth, his father was a nephew of the ruling earl, Black Tom, the 10th earl of Ormond. His father's family, the Butler Dynasty, was Old English and descended from Theobald Walter, who had been appointed chief butler of Ireland by King Henry II in 1177.

Thomas's mother was the eldest daughter of Edmund Butler, 2nd Viscount Mountgarret and his wife Grizel FitzPatrick. Thomas was one of eleven siblings, two brothers and nine sisters, who are listed in his father's article, but he was the only surviving son.

Marriage and children

Probably in 1608, but surely before 1610, Butler married Elizabeth Poyntz against his father's wishes. She was the second daughter of Sir John Poyntz (died 1633) of Iron Acton, Gloucestershire, and his second wife Elizabeth Sydenham (died 1595). His wife's family were English Catholics.

Thomas and Elizabeth had three sons:

1. James (1610–1688), became the 1st Duke of Ormond
2. John (died 1636), died unmarried in Naples on his travels
3. Richard (1615–1701) of Kilcash

—and four daughters:

1. Helena or Ellen or Eleanor (1612–1682), before 1633 married Donough MacCarty, 1st Earl of Clancarty
2. Eleanor or Ellen, in 1634 married Sir Andrew Aylmer (1613–1671), baronet, of Donadea in the County of Kildare
3. Mary (died 1680), in 1635 married Sir George Hamilton, 1st Baronet, of Donalong
4. Elizabeth (died 1675), married first James Purcell (1609–1652), Baron of Loughmoe, by whom she had Nicholas Purcell of Loughmoe (1651–1722); she married secondly John FitzPatrick of Castletown

Viscount Thurles

When Black Tom died on 22 November 1614, Butler's father succeeded as the 11th earl and Butler became heir apparent with the courtesy title of Viscount Thurles. While the Ormond title was secure, the lands were claimed by Richard Preston, 1st Earl of Desmond, who had married Elizabeth, Black Tom's only surviving child.

Death and succession

In 1619 after the beginning of his father's long imprisonment in the Fleet Prison in London, Thurles was summoned to England to answer charges of treason, specifically, of having garrisoned Kilkenny. However, on 15 December the ship conveying him was wrecked off the Skerries, Isle of Anglesey, and he drowned. Like his father, Thurles was a prominent Catholic and it seems likely that his refusal to conform to the established Anglican religion had angered King James I and may have been the true motive for his summons.

Thurles predeceased his father, who would die in 1634. His eldest son James, the future 1st Duke of Ormond, became heir apparent and bearer of the courtesy title Viscount Thurles until he succeeded his grandfather as the 12th Earl of Ormond. Thurles's widow survived him for more than 50 years.

Notes and references

Sources

• Burke, Bernard (1866). A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire (New ed.). London: Harrison. OCLC 11501348. – (for FitzPatrick)
• Burke, Bernard; Burke, Ashworth Peter (1915). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage, the Privy Council, Knightage and Companionage (77th ed.). London: Harrison. OCLC 1155471554. – (for Ormond)
• Carte, Thomas (1851) [1st pub. 1736]. The Life of James Duke of Ormond. Vol. I (New ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. OCLC 1086656347. – 1613 to 1641
• Debrett, John (1828). Peerage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Vol. II (17th ed.). London: F. C. and J. Rivington. OCLC 54499602. – Scotland and Ireland
• Dunboyne (1968). Butler Family History (2nd ed.). Kilkenny: Rothe House.
• Edwards, David (2004). "Butler, Thomas, tenth earl of Ormond and third earl of Ossory (1531–1558)". In Matthew, Henry Colin Gray; Harrison, Brian (eds.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 9. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 220–225. ISBN 0-19-861359-8.
• G. E. C. (1895). Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, or Dormant. Vol. VI (1st ed.). London: George Bell and Sons. OCLC 1180818801. – N to R (for Ormond)
• G. E. C. (1900). Complete Baronetage, 1611 to 1800. Vol. I (1st ed.). Exeter: William Pollard & Co. OCLC 866278985. – 1611 to 1625
• G. E. C. (1913). Gibbs, Vicary (ed.). The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, or Dormant. Vol. III (2nd ed.). London: The St Catherine Press. OCLC 228661424. – Canonteign to Cutts (for Clancarty)
• Hasler, P. W., ed. (1981). The House of Commons 1558–1603. Vol. II. London: His/Her Majesty's Stationery Office. ISBN 0-11-887501-9. – M to Z
• Lainé, P. Louis (1836). "Mac-Carthy". Archives généalogiques et historiques de la noblesse de France [Genealogical and Historical Archives of the Nobility of France] (in French). Vol. Tome cinquième. Paris: Imprimerie de Bethune et Plon. pp. 1–102. OCLC 865941166.
• Lodge, John (1789). Archdall, Mervyn (ed.). The Peerage of Ireland or, A Genealogical History of the Present Nobility of that Kingdom. Vol. IV. Dublin: James Moore. OCLC 264906028. – Viscounts (for Butler, Viscount Mountgarrett)
• Manning, Conleth (2001). "The Two Sir George Hamiltons and their Connections with the Castles of Roscrea and Nenagh" (PDF). Tipperary Historical Journal: 149–154.
• Rigg, James McMullen (2004). "Fitzpatrick, Richard, 1st Baron Gowran (c. 1662–1727)". In Matthew, Colin; Harrison, Brian (eds.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 19. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 915. ISBN 0-19-861369-5.