Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles


Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles was the son and heir apparent of Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond, whom he predeceased, and Helen Butler. He resided at Thurles Castle, Thurles, County Tipperary. He was the father of the noted Anglo-Irish statesman and Royalist commander James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde.

Marriage and children

Sometime before 1610, he married Elizabeth Poyntz against his father's wishes. She was the daughter of Sir John Poyntz of Iron Acton in Gloucestershire and Elizabeth Sydenham. They had six children:
  1. James, who would become the 1st Duke of Ormond;
  2. John, who would die unmarried in Naples on his travels;
  3. Eleanor, who would marry Donough MacCarty, 1st Earl of Clancarty;
  4. Richard who was confirmed as owner of lands of Kilcash, Garryricken and many others in the counties of Tipperary and Kilkenny by the Commission of Grace in 1639;
  5. Elizabeth, who would marry James Purcell, titular Baron of Loughmoe;
  6. Mary, who would marry Sir George Hamilton, 1st Baronet, of Donalong.

Death and succession

In 1619 at 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, the ship conveying him was wrecked off the coast of The Skerries, Isle of Anglesey and he was drowned. Like his father, Viscount 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 died in 1634. His son James, the future 1st Duke of Ormond, then followed him as the bearer of the courtesy title Viscount Thurles until he became the 12th Earl of Ormond.