A Compendium of Irish Biography/Butler, Walter, 11th Earl of Ormond
Butler, Walter, 11th Earl of Ormond, Earl of Ossory, eldest son of Sir John Butler; nephew of preceding; grandson of the 9th Earl; succeeded on the 10th Earl's death in 1614. He was born in 1569. His right to the estates was traversed by Sir R. Preston, Baron Dingwall, afterwards Earl of Desmond, a favourite of King James I., who claimed them through his wife Elizabeth, sole daughter of the late Earl. Carte cites the documents upon which these claims were founded, and then proceeds: "Nothing is clearer than that according to these feoffments all the estate of Earl Thomas (except what he had given to his daughter at her marriage) ought to have descended immediately to Sir Walter Butler, Earl of Ormond. But King James interposed so warmly in the case, and wrote such a number of pressing letters to the Deputies and Council of Ireland … requiring them to stand by the Earl of Desmond, that the Earl of Ormond could never get into possession. Vast sums were spent in law; but the power of the Crown still prevented a decision. At last King James took upon himself to make an award, which Walter, Earl of Ormond conceiving to be unjust, refused to submit to, and was by the King's order taken up and committed to the Fleet prison. He remained in that prison for eight years before the death of King James, who, during that duress, seized on the liberties of the county palatine of Tipperary, and persecuted him in all the ways he could contrive, to the inconceivable detriment of the family." Recovering his liberty in 1625, he lived for a time in London, and then removing to Ireland, died at Carrick, 24th February 1632, aged about 63, and was buried at St. Canice's. In his youth he had distinguished himself in the Irish wars. A devout Catholic, he was styled "Walter of the Beads and Rosaries." He married a daughter of Viscount Mountgarret, and by her had two sons and nine daughters. His second son died young and without issue. His eldest son, Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles, father of the 12th Earl, was drowned off Skerries, near Holyhead, on a voyage to England, 15th December 1619. [1] [2]
- Authorities
- ↑ Lodge's Peerage of Ireland, Revised and Enlarged by Mervyn Archdall. 7 vols. Dublin, 1789.
- ↑ Ormond, Duke of. Life 1610–'88: Thomas A. Carte, M. A. 6 vols. Oxford, 1851.