Elizabeth (Poyntz) Butler (1587 - 1673)

Born 1587 in Iron Acton, Gloucestershire, England

Ancestors

Wife of Thomas Butler — married 1608 in Ireland

Wife of George Mathew — married 1620 in Cashel

Descendants

Died May 1673 at about age 86 in Thurles, County Tipperary, Ireland

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Biography

Elizabeth Poyntz became "Lady Thurles" when in 1608 she married Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles, who was the son of Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond.

It was said that her father-in-law did not approve of the union because Elizabeth's father, Sir John Poyntz, of Iron Acton in Gloucestershire, was notoriously debt ridden, and he would die penniless.^[1]

Children of Elizabeth Poyntz and Thomas Butler:

• James Butler, first Duke of Ormonde, b. 19 Oct 1610, d. 21 Jul 1688;^[2]

• Mary Butler, died August 1680, who was married to Sir George Hamilton of Donalong, co Tyrone.^[2]

• Ellen married Sir Andrew Aylmer, 2nd Bt., son of Sir Gerald Aylmer, 1st Bt. and Julia Nugent, in 1634 ^[3]

• Richard d. 1701 married Lady Frances Tuchet, daughter of Mervyn Tuchet, 2nd Earl of Castlehaven and Elizabeth Barnham. ^[4]

• Eleanor d. 1682 married Donough MacCarty, 1st Earl of Clancarty, son of Charles MacCarty, 1st Viscount Muskerry and Margaret O'Brien, before 1648. ^[5]

• John d. 1636 at Naples, Italy, without issue.

• Elizabeth d. 1675 She married, firstly, Colonel James Purcell, who was Baron of Loughmoe.^[6] She married, secondly, Colonel John FitzPatrick.^[7][8]

The widowed Lady Thurles married ca.1620 her 2nd husband, Captain George Mathew,^[9]of Radyr and Llandaff in Glamorganshire, Wales.

Children of Elizabeth Poyntz and George Mathew:

• Theobold Mathew
• George Mathew
• Frances Mathew, a nun, d.s.p.

Research Notes

There is some discrepancy regarding her 2nd husband's death. While some sources says 1636, his will was probated in 1670. However, Elizabeth called herself "Lady Thurles" and lived until 1673. She was buried in Saint Mary’s Church of Ireland church.

"As a widow of her first husband, she lived for a time in the Black Castle in Thurles, and then remarried to George Mathew. They are presumably the ancestors of Nano Nagle, the founder of the Presentation Sisters as well as the Temperance campaigner, Father Theobald Mathew, and the Mathew family, Earls of Llandaff."^[10]

From the book History of Clonmel:^[11]

• "... on the following 8th November [1652], a high commission was opened in Clonmel before Judges Donnelan and Cooke and Commissary general Reynolds, to try for murder those who in 1641 on the first outbreak had slain any English ... the great mass of evidence showed that the English and Protestants had been sheltered by Lady Thurles, John Cantwell of Ballymakeedy, Sir Richard Everard, Thomas Tobin of Clorine, Geoffry Mockler of Mocklerstown, James Sail of Meldrum and others..."

Sources

1. ↑ From the history blog of Rev. Patrick Comerford:
   • http://www.patrickcomerford.com/2018/07/in-search-of-castle-that-was-thurles.html
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} George Edward Cokayne, The Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland and Great Britian and the United Kingdom Extant Extinct or Dormant, Ed. The Hon. Vicary Gibbs, I AB-ADAM to BASING, (London: The St Catherine Press Ltd, 1910), accessed 30 June 2014, https://archive.org/stream/completepeerageo01coka#page/6/mode/2up pp.6.
3. ↑ http://thepeerage.com/p12773.htm#i127724
4. ↑ http://thepeerage.com/p13293.htm#i132925
5. ↑ http://thepeerage.com/p20757.htm#i207564
6. ↑ Col. James Purcell descended from Patrick Purcell and a long line of Barons of Loughmoe dating back to the 1300s. James & Elizabeth's son was the well-known military commander Col. Nicholas Purcell.
7. ↑ http://thepeerage.com/p65652.htm#i656512
8. ↑ John FitzPatrick was a likely descendant of Florence, 3rd Baron Ossory, since Florence's elder brother Barnaby had no male issue. Family Papers Belonging to the Purcells of Loughmoe, p.125, specifies that John's parents were Florence FitzPatrick and Bridget Darcey:
   • http://www.limerickcity.ie/media/nmas%2003%2002,%2008%20Family%20papers%20belonging%20to%20the%20Purcells%20of%20Loughmoe,%20Co.%20Tipperary.%20By%20Rev.%20St.%20John%20D.%20Seymour.pdf
9. ↑ A Biographical Peerage of the Empire of Great Britain: In which are Memoirs and Characters of the Most Celebrated Persons of Each Family, Volume 4. By Sir Egerton Brydges (J. Johnson, 1817)
10. ↑ From the history blog of Rev. Patrick Comerford:
    • http://www.patrickcomerford.com/2018/07/saint-marys-mediaeval-site-in-thurles.html
11. ↑ William P. Burke, History of Clonmel (N. Harvey & Co., Waterford, Ireland, 1907), Chapter 6, p.83:
    • https://archive.org/details/historyclonmel00burkgoog/page/82/mode/2up

• ("The Peerage")
• Mathew of Landaff-Addenda Pgs. 351-353. A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland, Volume 2. John Burke, Bernard Burke (H. Colburn, 1850)
• The visitation of the county of Gloucester, taken in the year 1623 by Chitting, Henry, d. 1638; College of Arms (Great Britain); Philipot, John, 1589?-1645; Camden, William, 1551-1623; Heane, William Crawshay, 1849- joint ed; Maclean, John, Sir, 1811-1895 Page 135: Poyntz