Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles

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.

chldrn 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.