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 resided at Thurles Castle, Thurles, County Tipperary. He was the father of the Irish statesman and Royalist commander James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde.

Birth and origins[]

Thomas was born the eldest son of Walter Butler and his wife Helen Butler. His father was the 11th Earl of Ormond. His mother was the eldest daughter of Edmund Butler, 2nd Viscount Mountgarret and his wife Grizel FitzPatrick.^[1][2] His father and mother were cousins. Their common great-grandfather was Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond. Their 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.^[3]

Marriage and children[]

Some time before 1610, he married Elizabeth Poyntz against his father's wishes. She was the daughter of Sir John Poyntz (died 1633) of Iron Acton in Gloucestershire and his wife Elizabeth Sydenham.

Thomas and Elizabeth had seven children, three sons:^[5]

1. James (1610–1688), became the 1st Duke of Ormond^[6]
2. John (died 1636), died unmarried in Naples on his travels^[7]
3. Richard (1615–1701), owned Kilcash, Garryricken, and other lands in the counties of Tipperary and Kilkenny^[8]

—and four daughters:^[b]

1. Helena or Ellen or Eleanor (1612–1682), before 1633^[c] married Donough MacCarty, 1st Earl of Clancarty^[13][14][15]
2. Eleanor or Ellen, in 1634 married Sir Andrew Aylmer (1613–1671), baronet, of Donadea in the County of Kildare^[16][17]
3. Mary (died 1680), in 1629 married Sir George Hamilton, 1st Baronet, of Donalong^[18][19]
4. Elizabeth (died 1675), married first James Purcell, Baron of Loughmoe, by whom she had Nicholas Purcell of Loughmoe (1651–1722);^[20] she married secondly John FitzPatrick^[21]

Death and succession[]

In 1619 after the beginning of his father's long imprisonment in the Fleet Prison, Thomas 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 coast of the Skerries, Isle of Anglesey and he drowned.^[22] 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.

He predeceased his father who would die in 1634. His eldest son James, the future 1st Duke of Ormond, succeeded him as heir apparent and bearer of the courtesy title Viscount Thurles^[23] until he succeeded his grandfather as the 12th Earl of Ormond.^[24]

Notes, citations, and sources[]

Notes[]

Citations[]

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.
• Burke, Bernard; Burke, Ashworth P. (1909). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage, the Privy Council, Knightage and Companionage (71st ed.). London: Harrison. OCLC 28297274. – (for Ormond)
• Carte, Thomas (1851) [1st pub. 1736]. The Life of James Duke of Ormond. 1 (New ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. OCLC 1086656347. – 1613 to 1641
• Cokayne, George Edward (1900). Complete Baronetage, 1611 to 1800. 1 (1st ed.). Exeter: William Pollard & Co. OCLC 866278985. – 1611 to 1625
• Cokayne, George Edward (1913). Gibbs, Vicary (ed.). The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant. 3 (2nd ed.). London: St Catherine Press. OCLC 1042531848. – Canonteign to Cutts (for Clancarty)
• Debrett, John (1828). Peerage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 2 (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.
• 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. 9. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 220–225. ISBN 0-19-861359-8.
• 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). 5. 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. 4. Dublin: James Moore. OCLC 264906028. – Viscounts (for Butler, Viscount Mountgarrett)

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