Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond

Sir Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond and 4th Earl of Ossory (1559–1633), succeeded his uncle Black Tom, the 10th earl, in 1614. He was called "Walter of the Beads" because he was a devout Catholic, whereas his uncle had been a Protestant. King James I intervened and awarded most of the inheritance to his uncle's Protestant daughter Elizabeth. Ormond contested the King's decision and was for that insolence detained in the Fleet Prison from 1619 until 1625 when he submitted to the King's ruling. He then found a means to reunite the Ormond estate, by marrying his grandson James, who had been raised a Protestant, to Elizabeth's only daughter.

Walter Butler
Earl of Ormond
Tenure	1614–1633
Predecessor	Thomas, 10th Earl of Ormond
Successor	James, 1st Duke of Ormond
Born	1559
Died	24 February 1633 Carrick-on-Suir
Buried	St. Canice's Cathedral, Kilkenny
Spouse(s)	Helen Butler
Issue Detail	Thomas & others
Father	John Butler of Kilcash
Mother	Katherine MacCarthy Reagh

Birth and origins

Family tree

Walter Butler, 11th Earl, with wife, parents, and other selected relatives. Piers 8th Earl Ormond 1467–1539 Margaret FitzGerald 1473–1542 James 9th Earl 1496–1546 Joan FitzGerald d. 1565 Richard 1st Viscount MountGarrett 1500–1571 Thomas 10th Earl c. 1531 – 1614 Elizabeth Sheffield John of Kilcash d. 1570 Katherine MacCarthy Reagh Edmund 2nd Viscount d. 1602 Theobald Viscount Tulleophelim d. 1613 Elizabeth Butler c. 1585 – 1628 Richard Preston 1st Earl Desmond d. 1628) Walter 11th Earl 1559–1633 'Beads' Helen Butler d. 1631 Thomas Viscount Thurles d. 1619 d.v.p.* Elizabeth Pointz 1587–1673 Elizabeth Preston 1615–1684 James 1st Duke 1610–1688 Richard of Kilcash 1615–1701 Frances Tuchet Legend XXX Subject of the article XXX Earls & dukes of Ormond XXX Viscount Mountgarret *d.v.p. = predeceased his father (decessit vita patris)

Walter was born in 1559, the second son of John Butler of Kilcash and his wife Katherine MacCarthy. His father was a younger son of James Butler, 9th 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.

Walter's mother was a daughter of Cormac na Haoine MacCarthy Reagh. Her father was the 13th prince of Carbery. Her family was Gaelic Irish. Walter's parents were both Catholic. Walter was one of four siblings, who are listed in his father's article.

Early life

Butler was brought up as a devout Catholic and was known as "Walter of the Beads" (Irish: "Váitéar an Phaidrín").

His father, John of Kilcash, died on 10 May 1570 when Walter was about eleven. His brother James inherited but died unmarried sometime before September 1576 when Walter became the owner of the land around Kilcash Castle that had been his father's appanage.

Butler worked closely with his uncle, the Earl of Ormond. As a reward for his military service with the earl, he was knighted by Adam Loftus and Robert Gardiner in 1598.

Marriage and children

About 1584 Butler married a second cousin, Helen Butler (also known as Ellen), eldest daughter of Edmund Butler, 2nd Viscount Mountgarret and his wife Grizel FitzPatrick. Their common great-grandfather was Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond.

Walter and Helen had two sons:

1. Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles (1594–1619), married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Pointz, and had issue, including James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond
2. James, died young in France

—and nine daughters:

1. Margaret, married Barnaby Fitzpatrick, 5th Baron Upper Ossory
2. Catherine, married Piers Power of Monalargie, 2nd son of Richard Power, 2nd Baron Power of Curraghmore
3. Ellen (died 1663), married Pierce Butler, 1st Viscount Ikerrin
4. Helena, married James Butler of Grellagh, 5th son of James Butler, 2nd Baron Dunboyne
5. Joan, married 1st George Bagenal, 2ndly Theobald Purcell, and 3rdly Sir Thomas Esmond, 1st Baronet.
6. Mary, married George Hamilton of Greenlaw and Roscrea
7. Elizabeth, married 1st Sir Edmond Blanchville and 2ndly Richard Burke, 6th Earl of Clanricarde
8. Eleanor (died 1633), died unmarried
9. Ellis Butler (died 1625), who married Sir Terence O'Brien-Arragh, 1st Baronet of Arragh

Member of parliament

In 1613 the only Irish parliament of the reign of James I was called. On 13 April 1613 Butler was returned as member of the Irish House of Commons for County Tipperary County. He was part of the resistance to government attempts to introduce anti-Catholic legislation.

Earl of Ormond

His uncle, Black Tom, the 10th Earl died on 22 November 1614 leaving an only daughter, Elizabeth, who had married Richard Preston, 1st Earl of Desmond. Butler, his nephew, succeeded as the 11th Earl of Ormond and expected to also inherit the estates, but his claim to the family estates was challenged by Richard Preston, the husband of the 10th Earl's only child. The dispute was arbitrated by King James I, who awarded most of the estate, including Kilkenny Castle, to Preston. Ormond, as he now was, spent much time and money in litigation opposing the King's decision. His persistence resulted in him being committed to the Fleet prison in 1617. He remained incarcerated for eight years in great want with no rents reaching him from his estate. James meanwhile challenged his ownership of the county palatine of Tipperary with a writ of quo warranto (by what right?). This county had been vested in the head of the family for nearly four hundred years and could therefore under no circumstance have belonged to his cousin Elizabeth, the wife of Richard Preston. No answer was made to the writ, if indeed an opportunity was afforded for an answer, and James took the county palatine into his own hands.

Ormond was freed in 1625 and large parts of his estates were restored to him. For some while he lived in a house in Drury Lane, London, with his grandson James, afterwards Duke of Ormond. In 1629, on the projected marriage of his grandson with Elizabeth Preston, Preston's only child, Charles I of England granted her marriage and the wardship of her lands to him by letters patent dated 8 September. After the marriage Ormond was recognised, on 9 October 1630, heir to the lands of his uncle, Earl Thomas, as well as of Sir John Butler of Kilcash, his father.

Ormond also suffered problems within his own family. His son Thomas, styled viscount Thurles, married the daughter of Sir John Poyntz of Gloucestershire against his wish. In 1619 Thomas was accidentally drowned at The Skerries, Isle of Anglesey, at the beginning of Walter's long imprisonment in the Fleet Prison. Viscount Thurles had been a prominent Catholic and at the time of his death, was being sent to England on charges of having garrisoned Kilkenny.

Death and timeline

Ormond died at Carrick-on-Suir on 24 February 1633 and was buried in St. Canice's Cathedral, Kilkenny, on 18 June 1633. His eldest son having predeceased him, he was succeeded by his grandson, James Butler, later the 1st Duke of Ormond.

Timeline

Italics for historical background.
Age	Date	Event
0	1559	Born
10–11	10 May 1570	Father died.
16–17	Before Sep 1576	Elder brother James died.
24–25	About 1584	Married Helen Butler.
41–42	23 Sep 1601	The Spanish landed at Kinsale
43–44	24 Mar 1603	Accession of King James I, succeeding Queen Elizabeth I
53–54	13 Apr 1613	Was returned as one of two MPs for Tipperary County.
54–55	22 Nov 1614	Uncle Thomas, the 10th earl, dies.
57–58	1617	Detained in Fleet Prison.
65–66	18 Mar 1625	Submitted to the King's decision.
65–66	27 Mar 1625	Accession of King Charles I, succeeding King James I
68–69	10 Oct 1628	Cousin Elizabeth Butler, Countess of Desmond died.
68–69	28 Oct 1628	Richard Preston, 1st Earl of Desmond drowned.
69–70	25 Dec 1629	Grandson James married Elizabeth Preston.
71–72	28 Jan 1631	Mother died.
73–74	24 Feb 1633	Died at Carrick-on-Suir.

Notes and references

Sources

• Armstrong, Robert (October 2009). McGuire, James; Quinn, James (eds.). "Butler, Thomas". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
• Airy, Osmund (1886). "Butler, Walter, of Kilcash, eleventh Earl of Ormonde (1569–1633)". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. VIII. New York: MacMillan and Co. p. 86. OCLC 8544105.
• Burke, Bernard (1866). A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire (New ed.). London: Harrison. OCLC 11501348.
• 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.
• Cokayne, George Edward (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)
• 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, Patrick Theobald Tower Butler, Baron (1968). Butler Family History (2nd ed.). Kilkenny: Rothe House.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Edwards, David (2004). "Butler, Walter, eleventh earl of Ormond and fourth Earl of Ossory (1559–1633)". In Matthew, Henry Colin Gray; Harrison, Brian (eds.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 9. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 230–231. ISBN 0-19-861359-8.
• Flood, John (2020). Kilcash and the Butlers of Ormond: Conflict and Kinship from the Middle Ages to the Great Famine. Dublin: Geography Publications. ISBN 978-0-906602-94-2. — Google Books no preview
• French, Rev. Nicholas (1846) [1st pub. 1676]. Bindon, Samuel Henry (ed.). The Historical Works of the Right Rev. Nicholas French. Vol. II. Dublin: James Duffy. OCLC 4187137. – Contains "The Unkinde Desertor of Loyall Men and True Frinds"
• Fryde, Edmund Boleslaw; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I., eds. (1986). Handbook of British Chronology. Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, No. 2 (3rd ed.). London: Offices of the Royal Historical Society. ISBN 0-86193-106-8. – (for timeline)
• House of Commons (1878). Return. Members of Parliament – Part II. Parliaments of Great Britain, 1705–1796. Parliaments of the United Kingdom, 1801–1874. Parliaments and Conventions of the Estates of Scotland, 1357–1707. Parliaments of Ireland, 1599–1800. London: His/Her Majesty's Stationery Office. OCLC 13112546.
• Joyce, Patrick Weston (1903). A Concise History of Ireland from the Earliest Times to 1837 (12th ed.). Dublin: M. H. Gill & Son. OCLC 815623752.
• Lodge, John (1789a). 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)
• Shaw, William A. (1906). The Knights of England. Vol. II. London: Sherratt & Hughes. – Knights bachelors & Index