John Butler (abt. 1534 - 1570)

Born about 1534 in Munster, Tipperary, Ireland

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 10 May 1570 at about age 36 in Kilcash Castle, County Tipperary, Ireland

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John Butler was a member of the aristocracy in British Isles.

Biography

John was the 3rd son of James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormonde and Lady Joan Fitzgerald. His elder brother was Thomas (b.1532), 10th Earl of Ormond, who inherited the title quite young (age 14) when their father James and his large entourage were poisoned at a London banquet in 1546.^[1]

Married to Lady Katherine MacCarthy, the daughter of Cormac na Haoine MacCarthy Reagh, 13th Prince of Carbery^[2]

Their children were:

1. Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond (d. 1632)
2. James Butler (died childless before 1576, according to Wikipedia profile for his father)
3. Eleanor Butler, who married Thomas Prendergast. Their son James Prendergast was killed in 1627 by Edmond Butler, 3rd/13th Baron Dunboyne, in a dispute over an inheritance; Dunboyne stood trial for manslaughter but was acquitted.
4. Katherine Butler, who married firstly Maolmhordha O'Reilly and secondly Henry MacShane O'Neill

In his final will and testament (written in 1576 upon embarking on a sea voyage for England, although he did not die until 1614) John's elder brother Thomas, 10th Earl of Ormond, wrote: "That my niece Marget Butler, base daughter of my brother John ... shall receive 100 pounds towards her preferment."^[3]

From "The Descendants of James, 9th Earl of Ormond":^[4]

• John, 3rd son of Earl James, appears as an influential figure in Munster history in the early 1560s, but not during the troubled times of 1568-1569. He had been badly wounded in a conflict with the Geraldines in 1563. He died in 1570, and may have been in poor health in the intervening years.

Sources

• Wikipedia:John_Butler_of_Kilcash

• Wikipedia:James_Butler,_9th_Earl_of_Ormond

• Kilcash Castle: "Kilcash dominates the landscape to the north of the main road between Clonmel and Kilkenny. This very fine Butler tower of 6 storeys, dates from the late 16th or early 17th century, and is undergoing restoration [2010]. There are remains of an attached later 2-storey house and fragments of a bawn to the north. There is a circular bartizan on the SE corner of the tower, and a box machicolation high above the entrance. Of the 4 chimneystacks, one is a later insertion originally from a fireplace in the upper storey of the attached house."
  • https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1542393
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilcash_Castle

• Butler, Bryant. The Butler Family of Lebanon, Connecticut (The Tuttle Co., Rutland, Vt., 1934) Page 12

• Ancestry Family Trees (Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com) Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members. https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/8614077/person/107312904/facts

1. ↑ See the profile of James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormonde for theories about the poisoning.
2. ↑ Note: Katherine MacCarthy outlived John Butler of Kilcash and married 2) Theobald Butler of Derryluscan, son of John Butler and grandson of James Butler, 9th Lord Dunboyne. Theobald Butler lived until at least 1584, when he had a grant of the lands of Derryclooney.
   • Blake Butler, The Barons of Dunboyne, as cited in "The Butlers of County Clare" by Sir Henry Blackall:
     • http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/genealogy/butlers/dunboyne.htm#derryclooney
3. ↑ Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Vol. V, p.280:
   • https://www.irishmanuscripts.ie/digital/Calendar%20of%20Ormond%20Deeds%20Vol.%20V.%201547-1584/Calendar%20of%20Ormond%20Deeds%20Vol.%20V.%201547-1584.pdf
4. ↑ William F. Butler, “The Descendants of James, Ninth Earl of Ormond.” Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol.19, no.1 (1929), p.34.
   • www.jstor.org/stable/25513504