Richard Butler, 1st Earl of Arran

Richard Butler, 1st Earl of Arran, Baron Butler of Cloughgrenan, Viscount Tullogh (1639–1686) was an Irish peer, the Governor of Ireland (1682-1684) and the fourth son of James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde.

Richard Butler
Earl of Arran
Reign	1662–1686
Born	15 July 1639
Died	25 January 1686 London
Spouse(s)	Mary Stuart, Dorothy Ferrers
Detail Issue Charlotte & others
Father	James, 1st Duke of Ormond
Mother	Elizabeth Preston

Birth and origins

Richard was born on 15 July 1639,[1] probably at Kilkenny Castle. He was the fifth son of James Butler and his wife Elizabeth Preston. His father was then the 12th Earl of Ormond but would be elevated to marquess and duke. 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] Thomas's mother was a second cousin once removed of his father as she was a granddaughter of Black Tom, the 10th Earl of Ormond. Her father, however, was Scottish, Richard Preston, 1st Earl of Desmond, a favourite of James I. Both his parents were Protestants. They married on Christmas Day 1629.[3] They had 10 children, eight sons and two daughters, but five of the sons died in childhood.[4]

Family tree

Richard Butler with wife, parents, and other selected relatives. His mother was a second cousin once removed of his father as both descended from the 9th Earl of Ormond. His earldom of Arran is recreated for his nephew Charles after his death. James 9th Earl 1496–1546 Joan FitzGerald d. 1565 Thomas 10th Earl c. 1531 – 1614 Black Tom Elizabeth Sheffield John of Kilcash d. 1570 Katherine MacCarthy Theobald Viscount Tulleophelim d. 1613 Elizabeth Butler c. 1585 – 1628 Richard Preston 1st Earl Desmond d. 1628) Walter 11th Earl 1559 – 1633 'Beads' Helen Butler d. 1631 Thomas Viscount Thurles bef. 1596 – 1619 Elizabeth Pointz 1587–1673 Elizabeth Preston 1615–1684 James 1st Duke 1610–1688 Richard of Kilcash 1615–1701 Thomas 6th Earl Ossory 1633–1680 Mary Stuart d. 1668 Richard 1st Earl Arran 1639–1684 Dorothy Ferrers d. 1716 Walter of Garryricken d. 1700 James 2nd Duke Ormond 1665–1745 Charles 1st Earl Arran 1671–1758 Charles 4th Baron 1675–1722 Charlotte Butler 1679–1725 Thomas of Garryricken d. 1738 Charles 1st Earl 1700–1762 Elizabeth Townshend d. 1785 John de jure 15th Earl d. 1766 Legend XXX Richard Butler XXX Earls & dukes of Ormond XXX Barons and Earls of Cornwallis His first wife on the left and second on the right. This family tree is partly derived from the condensed Butler family tree pictured in Dunboyne.[5] Also see the lists of siblings and children in the text.

Richard listed among his siblings

He appears below among his siblings as the second of the children that grew up to adulthood: Thomas (1634–1680), predeceased his father, but had a son who would become the 2nd Duke;[6] Richard (1639–1686); Elizabeth (1640–1665), married Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Chesterfield[7] and had affairs with James Hamilton[8] and the Duke of York;[9] John (1643–1677), became the Earl of Gowran;[10] and Mary (1646–1710), married William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire.[11]

Earl of Arran

On 13 May 1662 he was created Baron Butler of Cloughgrennan, Viscount Tullogh and Earl of Arran (having purchased the Aran Islands) in the Peerage of Ireland, with a special remainder to his younger brother John should his own male line fail.[12]

Marriages and children

Arran married twice. Both brides were rich heiresses.[13] In September 1664 he married Mary Stuart, Baroness Clifton in her own right, daughter of James Stuart, 1st Duke of Richmond and 4th Duke of Lennox.[14] She died in 1668 childless at the age of 16.[15][16]

He married secondly Dorothy, daughter of John Ferrers of Tamworth Castle and his wife Anne, daughter of Sir Dudley Carleton.[17]

They had four children:[18]

1. James (1674–1676), died in infancy;
2. Thomas (1675–1681), died in infancy;
3. Charlotte (1679–1725), his only surviving child and heiress, who married Charles, 4th Baron Cornwallis;[19][20] and
4. Thomas (1681–1685), died in infancy.

Career

On 27 August 1673, as a reward for his bravery in the sea-fights against the Dutch in the Third Anglo-Dutch War, Lord Arran, as he was now, was created Baron Butler of Weston in the Peerage of England.[21]

In 1680, when the Catholic nobleman William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford was tried for high treason in the bogus Popish Plot, Arran was one of 31 peers who voted Stafford not guilty. As the most junior English peer, Arran was the first to cast his vote; his vote of "not guilty" took some courage, given the prevailing hysteria whipped up against anyone who cast doubt on the veracity of the supposed Plot. However, 55 peers voted Stafford guilty.

Arran was made Lord Deputy of Ireland in April 1682 when his father, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, went to England, and held the post until August 1684 when his father returned.[22] This honour came to him because his elder brother Ossory, who had been deputy from 1668 to 1669[23] had died in 1680.[24]

Death and timeline

Arran died of pleurisy in London on 25 January 1686[25] and was buried in Westminster Abbey.[26] As he died without surviving male issue, and his brother John had died before him, his titles became extinct. His only daughter, Charlotte, inherited the estate, which she brought her husband when she married Lord Cornwallis in 1699.

However, his three Irish titles were re-created in 1693 for his nephew Charles Butler, who would be created Baron Butler of Cloughgrenan, Viscount Tullough, and Earl of Arran of the 1693 creation.

Timeline
Age	Date	Event
0	1639, 15 Jul	Born, probably at Kilkenny Castle.[1]
3	1642, 30 Aug	His father was created Marquess of Ormond.[27]
10	1649, 30 Jan	King Charles I beheaded.[28]
21	1660, 29 May	Restoration of King Charles II.[29]
22	1662, 13 May	Created Baron Butler of Cloughgrennan, Viscount Tullogh and Earl of Arran.[1]
25	1664, Sep	Married 1st Mary Stuart, Baroness Clifton.[14]
28	1668, 4 Jul	First wife died childless.[15][16]
34	1673, before 7 Jun	Married 2ndly Elizabeth Ferrers.[17]
34	1673, 27 Aug	Created Baron Butler of Weston in the Peerage of England.[21]
38	1677	His brother John died.[10]
41	1680, 21 Jul	His brother Thomas, Earl of Ossory, died.[24]
42	1682, Apr	Appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland when his father went to England.[22]
45	1684, Aug	Appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland while his father returned from England.[22]
46	1685, 6 Feb	Accession of King James II, replacing King Charles II.[30]
46	1686, 25 Jan	Died in London.[25]

Notes

1. Lodge 1789, p. 55, line 23: "Richard, born 15 June 1639 was created 13 May 1662 Baron Butler of Cloughgrennan, Viscount Tullogh, and Earl of Arran ..."
2. Debrett 1828b, p. 640: "THEOBALD LE BOTELER on whom that office [Chief Butler of Ireland] was conferred by King Henry II., 1177 ..."
3. Airy 1886, p. 53, line 2: "... the marriage took place on Christmas of the same year [1629] ..."
4. Perceval-Maxwell 2004, p. 130, right column, line 3: "... between 1632 and 1646 Elizabeth ... gave birth to eight sons including Richard Butler, five of whom died as children, and two daughters."
5. Dunboyne 1968, pp. 16–17: "Butler Family Tree condensed"
6. Cokayne 1895, p. 150, line 10: "THOMAS BUTLER, styled Earl of Ossory ('the gallant Ossory') 2d but 1st surv. s. and h. app., b. at Kilkenny 5 July 1634 ..."
7. Debrett 1828a, p. 114, bottom: "PHILIP, 2nd earl m. 1st Anne, da. of Algernon Percy, earl of Northumberland; 2ndly Elizabeth, da. of James Butler, duke of Ormond; and 3rd ..."
8. Hamilton 1888, p. 181: "Hamilton, therefore was no further embarrassed than to preserve Lady Chesterfield's reputation, who, in his opinion, declared herself rather too openly in his favour ..."
9. Pepys 1893, p. 360: "He tells me also how the Duke of York is smitten in love with my Lady Chesterfield (a virtuous Lady, daughter of my Lord Ormond); and so much, that the duchess of York hath complained to the king and her father about it, and my Lady Chesterfield is gone into the country for it."
10. Burke 1949, p. 1540, right column, line 39: "JOHN, cr. EARL OF GOWRAN 1676, m. Lady Anne Chichester, dau. of 1st Earl of Donegal, but d.s.p. 1677, when the dignity expired."
11. Burke 1949, p. 1540, right column, line 43: "Mary m. 1st Duke of Devonshire, K.G., and d. 31 July 1710, leaving issue."
12. Cokayne 1910, p. 225, line 3: "... was cr. 13 May 1662, BARON BUTLER OF CLOUGHGRENNAN, VISCOUNT TULLOGH, and EARL OF ARRAN [I.], with a spec. rem., failing the heirs male of his body, to his younger br. John Butler."
13. Murtagh 2004, p. 198, left column, line 50: "His financial position was strengthened by his two marriages to substantial heiresses."
14. Lodge 1789, p. 56, line 10: "He first married in September 1664, the Lady Mary Steuart, only surviving child of James, Duke of Richmond and Lennox ..."
15. Murtagh 2004, p. 198, left column, line 52: "The first [marriage], in September 1664, was to Mary, Baroness Clifton of Leighton Bromswold in her own right (bap. 1651, d. 1668)."
16. Cokayne 1910, p. 225, line 21: "She [Mary] d. s.p. 4 July, and was bur. 19 Aug. 1668 at Kilkenny cathedral, aged 16."
17. Cokayne 1910, p. 225, line 22: "He m., secondly, before 7 June 1673, Dorothy, da. of John FERRERS, of Tamworth castle by Anne, da. of Sir Dudley CARLETON."
18. Richard Butler, 1st and last Earl of Arran in: thepeerage.com [retrieved 5 May 2016].
19. Burke, John, A general and heraldic dictionary of the peerage and baronetage of the British Empire., Vol 1, pg 291.
20. Debrett 1828a, p. 174: "CHARLES, 4th lord [Cornwallis], m. 1 June 1699 Charlotte, da. and sole heiress of Richard Butler, Earl of Arran ..."
21. Cokayne 1910, p. 225, line 8: "In 1673 he distinguished himself in the sea fight with the Dutch., for which he was cr., 27 Aug. 1673, BARON BUTLER of Weston, co. Huntingdon [E.]."
22. Bagwell 1916, p. 144: "Ormonde was in England from the end of April 1682 until August 1684, leaving his son Arran as Deputy ..."
23. Davies 2004, p. 227, bottom of right & top of left column: "Ossory spent much of 1668 and the first months of 1669 as his father's deputy in Ireland."
24. Cokayne 1895, p. 150, line 28: "He [Ossory} d. v.p. of a violent fever, after four days illness, 30 July 1680 ..."
25. Cokayne 1910, p. 225, line 24: "He [Richard] d. in London, s.p.m.s. 25, and was bur. 27 Jan. 1685/6 ..."
26. Chester 1876, p. 215: "1685/6 Jan. 27 Richard , Earl of Arran; [in the Abbey]"
27. Cokayne 1895, p. 149, line 27: "He was cr. 30 Aug 1642 MARQUESS OF ORMONDE [I.];"
28. Burke 1949, p. cclxvii, line 9: "… after the decapitation of CHARLES I at Whitehall, 30 Jan. 1649 ..."
29. Seaward 2004, p. 127, right column: "… he sailed to England and on 29 May [1660] he entered London in triumph."
30. Smyth 1839, p. xiii, line 20: "James II. . [Accession] 6 February, 1685"

References

• Airy, Osmund (1886), "Butler, James, twelfth Earl and first Duke of Ormonde (1610–1688)", in Lee, Sidney (ed.), Dictionary of National Biography, 8, New York: MacMillan and Co., pp. 52–60
• Bagwell, Richard (1916), Ireland under the Stuarts and under the Interregnum, 3, London: Longmans, Green, and Co. – 1660 to 1690
• Burke, Bernard (1949), A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire (99th ed.), London: Burke's Peerage Ltd.
• Chester, Joseph Lemuel (1876), Registers of Westminster Abbey, London: Private Edition
• Cokayne, George Edward (1895), The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant, 6 (1st ed.), London: George Bell and Sons – N to R (for Ossory under Ormond)
• Cokayne, George Edward (1910), Gibbs, Vicary (ed.), The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant, 1 (2nd ed.), London: St Catherine Press – Ab-Adam to Basing (for Arran and Hamilton family tree)
• Davies, J. D. (2004), "Butler, Thomas, sixth earl of Ossory (1634–1680)", in Matthew, Henry Colin Gray.; Harrison, Brian (eds.), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 9, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 226–229, ISBN 0-19-861359-8
• Debrett, John (1828a), Peerage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 1 (17th ed.), London: F. C. and J. Rivington – England
• Debrett, John (1828b), Peerage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 2 (17th ed.), London: F. C. and J. Rivington – Scotland and Ireland
• Dunboyne, Patrick Theobald Tower Butler, Baron (1968), Butler Family History (2nd ed.), Kilkenny: Rothe House
• Hamilton, Anthony (1888), Memoirs of Count Grammont, translated by Walpole, Horace, Philadelphia: Gebbie & Co
• Lodge, John (1789), The Peerage of Ireland, 4, Dublin: James Moore – Viscounts (for Butler, Viscount Mountgarrett)
• Murtagh, Harman (2004), "Butler, Richard, first earl of Arran (1639–1686)", in Matthew, Henry Colin Gray.; Harrison, Brian (eds.), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 9, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 197–198, ISBN 0-19-861359-8
• Pepys, Samuel (1893), Wheatley, Henry Benjamin (ed.), The Diary of Samuel Pepys, 2, London: George Bell & Sons – 1 April 1661 to 31 December 1662
• Perceval-Maxwell, Michael (2004), "Butler [née Preston] Elizabeth, duchess of Ormond and suo jure Lady Dingwall (1615–1684)", in Matthew, Henry Colin Gray.; Harrison, Brian (eds.), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 9, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 130–131, ISBN 0-19-861359-8
• Seaward, Paul (2004), "Charles II", in Matthew, Henry Colin Gray.; Harrison, Brian (eds.), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 11, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 122–145, ISBN 0-19-861361-X (for Restoration)
• Smyth, Constantine (1839), Chronicle of the Law Officers of Ireland, London: Henry Butterworth (for Table of reigns)

External links

• http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/5826.php