James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond

James was born on 19 October 1610 at Clerkenwell, London,[1] the eldest son of Thomas Butler and his wife Elizabeth Pointz. His father, who was known by the courtesy title of Viscount Thurles, was the eldest son and heir apparent of Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond, called "Walter of the rosary beads". 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.[2]

James's mother, Lady Thurles, was English and Catholic, a daughter of Sir John Pointz of Iron Acton, Gloucestershire, and his second wife Elizabeth Sydenham. James's birth house in Clerkenwell belonged to him, his maternal grandfather.

James was one of seven siblings, three brothers and four sisters, who are listed in his father's article. James was not only the eldest son but also the first-born as his eldest sister was born after him in 1612.

Shortly after his birth, his parents returned to Ireland where they were welcome to Black Tom, the 10th Earl of Ormond but not to Walter his heir apparent, who had opposed James's father's marriage into the English Poyntz family, who were Catholic but only gentry.

Black Tom died on 22 November 1614.[3] James's grandfather Walter succeeded as the 11th Earl and James's father became heir apparent with the courtesy title of Viscount Thurles. While the title was secure, the Ormond lands were claimed by Richard Preston, 1st Earl of Desmond, who had married Elizabeth, Black Tom's only surviving child.

In 1619 his father perished on his way from Ireland to England in a shipwreck[4] near the Skerries off the coast of Anglesey. James inherited his father's courtesy title Viscount Thurles.[5] The year following that disaster, his mother brought young Thurles, as he now was, back to England, and placed him, then nine years old, at school with a Catholic gentleman at Finchley — this doubtless through the influence of his grandfather, the 11th Earl. His mother remarried to George Mathew of Thurles.[6]

On 26 May 1623, King James I, made Thurles a ward of Richard Preston, Earl of Desmond, and placed him at Lambeth, London, under the care of George Abbot, archbishop of Canterbury to be brought up as a Protestant.[7] The Ormond estates being under sequestration, the young Lord had but £40 a year for his own and his servants' clothing and expenses.[8] He seems to have been neglected by the Archbishop — "he was not instructed even in humanity, nor so much as taught to understand Latin".[9]

When fifteen Thurles went to live with his paternal grandfather (then released from prison) at Drury Lane. His grandfather, the 11th Earl of Ormond, was now an old man and did not interfere much with his Protestant religious education.[10] This was very important for Thurles's future life, as it meant that, unlike almost all his relatives in the Butler dynasty, he was a Protestant. This strained his relationship with the rest of his family and dependants, as they suffered from land confiscations and legal discrimination on account of their religion, while he did not.

Now having more means at his command, Thurles entered into all the gaieties of the court and town. At eighteen he went to Portsmouth with his friend George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham intending to join the expedition for the relief of La Rochelle; a project abandoned upon the Duke's assassination.[11]

It was during his London residence that he set himself to learn Irish, a partial knowledge of which proved most useful to him in after years.[12]

About six months after his visit to Portsmouth, Thurles first saw at Court, and fell in love with, his cousin Lady Elizabeth Preston, only child and heiress of Richard Preston, Earl of Desmond and his wife Elizabeth.[13] Charles I gave his consent by letters patent, on 8 September 1629. At Christmas 1629,[14] they married putting an end to the long-standing quarrel between the families and united their estates, one of which was Kilkenny Castle [15]

James and Elizabeth had eight sons, five of whom died in childhood, and two daughters. Five children survived into adulthood:[17]

1. Thomas (1634–1680), predeceased his father, but had a son who would become the 2nd Duke[18]
2. Richard (1639–1686), became first and last Earl of Arran of the 1662 creation and predeceased his father[19]
3. Elizabeth (1640–1665), married Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Chesterfield[20][21] and had affairs with James Hamilton[22] and the Duke of York[23]
4. John (1643–1677), became the Earl of Gowran[24]
5. Mary (1646–1710), married William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire[25]

Thurles's career began in 1633 with the appointment as head of government in Ireland of Thomas Wentworth, the future Earl of Strafford, by whom Ormond was treated with great favour. Writing to Charles I, Wentworth described Ormond as "young, but take it from me, a very staid head".[26]

On 24 February 1633, Thurles, on the death of his grandfather, succeeded to the earldom as the 12th Earl of Ormond.[27] Lord Ormond, as he now was, became Wentworth's chief friend and supporter.[28] In January 1635 he became a member of the Irish Privy Council.[29] Wentworth planned large-scale confiscations of Catholic-owned land, both to raise money for the crown and to break the political power of the Irish Catholic gentry, a policy which Ormond supported. Yet, it infuriated his relatives, and drove many of them into opposition to Wentworth and ultimately into armed rebellion. In 1640, with Wentworth having been recalled to attend to the Second Bishops' War in England, Ormond was made commander-in-chief of the forces in Ireland.[30] The opposition to Wentworth ultimately aided impeachment of the Earl by the English Parliament, and his eventual execution in May 1641.[31]

The Duke of Ormond as Knight of the Garter, wearing the mantle, with its cordon and tassels, and the collar. The hat with its white ostrich feathers is in his left hand. Painted by John Michael Wright (c. 1680).

Lord Ormond (Restoration of Lands, etc., in Ireland) Act 1660
Act of Parliament
Parliament of England
Long title	An Act for restoreing unto James Marquesse of Ormond all his Honours Mannours Land and Tenements in Ireland whereof he was in Possession on the twenty-third Day of October one thousand six hundred fourty-one, or at any Time since.
Citation	12 Cha. 2. c. 7
Dates
Royal assent	28 July 1660
Repealed	16 June 1977
Other legislation
Repealed by	Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1977
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

On the return of Charles to England as King in 1660, Ormond was appointed a commissioner for the treasury and the navy, made Lord Steward of the Household, a Privy Councillor, Lord Lieutenant of Somerset (an office which he resigned in 1672), High Steward of Westminster, Kingston and Bristol, chancellor of Trinity College Dublin, Baron Butler of Llanthony and Earl of Brecknock in the peerage of England; and on 30 March 1661 he was created Duke of Ormond in the Irish peerage[58] and made Lord High Steward of England, for Charles's coronation that year. At the same time, he recovered his enormous estates in Ireland, and large grants in recompense of the fortune he had spent in the royal service were made to him by the king, while in the following year the Irish Parliament presented him with £30,000. His losses, however, according to Carte, exceeded his gains by nearly a million pounds. See also Act of Settlement 1662.[56]

On 4 November 1661, he once more received the lord lieutenancy of Ireland, and busily engaged in the work of settling that country. The main problem was the land question, and the Act of Explanation was passed through the Irish parliament by Ormond, on 23 December 1665.[59]

His heart was in his government, and he vehemently opposed the Importation Act 1667 prohibiting the importation of Irish cattle, which struck so fatal a blow at Irish trade; and retaliated by prohibiting the import into Ireland of Scottish commodities, and obtained leave to trade with foreign countries.[60] He encouraged Irish manufacture and learning, and it was due to his efforts that the Irish College of Physicians owes its incorporation.[56]

He had great influence over the appointment of judges: while he naturally wished to appoint to the Bench men of legal ability, a record of loyalty to the Crown was also generally required. It is interesting that he was prepared to appoint judges of Gaelic descent, like James Donnellan, and even some who were known to have Roman Catholic leanings. He was criticised for favouring old friends like John Bysse who were considered too infirm to be effective, but this also shows one of his main virtues, loyalty: as Elrington Ball remarks, those whom Ormond had ever loved, he loved to the end.[61] Himself a merciful man, he encouraged the Irish judges to show a similar spirit of clemency; as he remarked, a man who has been reprieved can later be hanged, but a man who has been hanged can never be reprieved. In general, the judges followed his example and, by the standards of the age, were merciful enough.[62]

Ormond's personality had always been a striking one, and he was highly regarded. He was dignified and proud of his loyalty, even when he lost royal favour, declaring, "However ill I may stand at court I am resolved to lye well in the chronicle".[56] Ormond soon became the mark for attack from all that was worst in the court. Buckingham especially did his utmost to undermine his influence. Ormond's almost irresponsible government of Ireland during troubled times was open to criticism.[56]

He had billeted soldiers on civilians, and had executed martial law. He was threatened by Buckingham with impeachment. In March 1669, Ormond was removed from the government of Ireland and from the committee for Irish affairs. He made no complaint, insisted that his sons and others over whom he had influence should retain their posts, and continued to fulfil the duties of his other offices, while his character and services were recognised in his election as Chancellor of the University of Oxford on 4 August 1669.[63]

In 1670, an extraordinary attempt was made to assassinate the duke by a ruffian and adventurer named Thomas Blood, already notorious for an unsuccessful plot to surprise Dublin Castle in 1663, and later for stealing the royal crown from the Tower. Ormond was attacked by Blood and his accomplices while driving up St James's Street on the night of 6 December 1670, dragged out of his coach, and taken on horseback along Piccadilly with the intention of hanging him at Tyburn. Ormond, however, succeeded in overcoming the horseman to whom he was bound, and escaped.[64]

The outrage, it was suspected, had been instigated by Buckingham, who was openly accused of the crime by Lord Ossory, Ormond's son, in the king's presence, and threatened by him with instant death if any violence should happen to his father. These suspicions were encouraged by the improper action of the king in pardoning Blood, and in admitting him to his presence and treating him with favour after his apprehension while endeavouring to steal the crown jewels.[64]

In his estates in Carrick-on-Suir in County Tipperary, Ormond was responsible for establishing the woollen industry in the town in 1670.

In 1671 Ormond successfully opposed Richard Talbot's attempt to upset the Act of Settlement 1662. In 1673, he again visited Ireland, returned to London in 1675 to give advice to Charles on affairs in parliament, and in 1677 was again restored to favour and reappointed to the lord lieutenancy. On his arrival in Ireland, he occupied himself in placing the revenue and the army upon a proper footing. Upon the outbreak of the disturbances caused by the Popish Plot (1678) in England, Ormond at once took steps towards rendering the Roman Catholics, who were in the proportion of 15 to 1, powerless; and the mildness and moderation of his measures served as the ground of an attack upon him in England led by Shaftesbury, from which he was defended with great spirit by his own son Lord Ossory.[64] While wary of defending Oliver Plunkett publicly, in private he denounced the obvious falsity of the charges against him – of the informers who claimed that Plunkett had hired them to kill the King he wrote that "no schoolboy would have trusted them with the design of robbing an orchard".[65]

In 1682 Charles summoned Ormond to court. The same year he wrote "A Letter, from a Person of Honour in the Country, in answer to the earl of Anglesey, his Observations upon the earl of Castlehaven's Memoires concerning the Rebellion of Ireland", and gave Charles general support. On 29 November 1682, an English dukedom was conferred upon him,[66][64] and in June 1684 he returned to Ireland, but he was recalled in October in consequence of fresh intrigues. Before he could give up his government to Rochester, Charles II died; and Ormond's last act as lord lieutenant was to proclaim James II in Dublin.[64]

Ormond also served as the sixth Chancellor of the University of Dublin between 1645 and 1688, although he was in exile for the first fifteen years of his tenure.

Subsequently, Ormond lived in retirement at Cornbury in Oxfordshire, a house lent to him by Lord Clarendon, but emerged in 1687 to offer opposition at the board of the Charterhouse to James's attempt to assume the dispensing power and force upon the institution a Roman Catholic candidate without taking the oaths. Ormond also refused the king his support in the question of the Indulgence; James, to his credit, refused to take away his offices, and continued to hold him in respect and favour to the last.[64] Despite his long service to Ireland he admitted that he had no wish to spend his last years there.

Ormond died on 21 July 1688 at Kingston Lacy estate, Dorset, "not having, as he rejoyced to know, outlived his intellectuals", i.e. not having become senile.[67] Ormond was buried in Westminster Abbey on 4 August 1688.[68] His eldest son, Thomas, 6th Earl of Ossory, predeceased him, but Ossory's eldest son James succeeded as 2nd Duke of Ormond (1665–1745).

The anonymous author of Ormond's biography in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.) wrote that with him disappeared the greatest and grandest figure of the times, and that Ormond's splendid qualities were expressed with some felicity in verses written on welcoming his return to Ireland and printed in 1682:[64]

A Man of Plato's grand nobility,

An inbred greatness, innate honesty;

A Man not form'd of accidents, and whom

Misfortune might oppress, not overcome

Who weighs himself not by opinion

But conscience of a noble action.

• Lenihan, Pádraig (2001). Confederate Catholics at War , 1641-49 (illustrated ed.). Cork University Press. ISBN 978-1-85918-244-4. – No preview
• Williams, Mark R.F. (2014). The King's Irishmen: The Irish in the Exiled Court of Charles II, 1649-1660. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell and Brewer Press. ISBN 978-1-84383-925-5.

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• "Archival material relating to James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond". UK National Archives.