Thomas Butler (bef. 1568 - 1627)

Born before 1568 in Ireland

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 31 Jan 1627 after age 59 in Ireland

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

Note on potential confusion regarding the Barons of Cahir: The Wikipedia profile for Thomas' father Theobald Butler indicates that there were 2 different creations of "Baron Cahir". The first creation was Theobald's paternal uncle Thomas Butler^[1] who married Eleanor Butler, daughter of Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormonde. The earlier Thomas died in 1558 and his son Edmond Butler became 2nd Baron Cahir, but died in 1560 without issue. The title went into abeyance until it was revived for Edmond's first cousin Theobald (father of this Thomas) in 1583.^[2]

Biography

Thomas succeeded to the title of 2nd Baron of Cahir (2nd creation) on 28 April 1596.

From Annals of the Four Masters, p.641 and pp.647-8:^[3]

• 1598: The lord of the Third of Clonmel (barony of Iffa and Offa, in Tipperary), and of Cathair-Duim-Iasgaigh (Cahir), namely Thomas [Butler], the son of Theobald, son of Pierce, son of Edmond (Butler), and the baron of Luachmaighi (Purcell, Baron of Loughmoe, in the barony of Eliogarty, in Tipperary), together with a great number of young men of the Butlers, rose in war and alliance with the Irish.

• 1599: Battles in Munster and Death of Norris. Sir Thomas Norris, president of Munster, was brother of Sir John Norris, whose campaigns in Ulster, against Hugh O'Neill, have been recorded at the years 1595-96, in the Annals. According to Mac Geoghegan, Sir Thomas Norris, at the head of 2,500 men, marched from Cork towards Kilmallock, but was attacked at a place called Bearrach Abharra by William Burke, who repulsed him, killed many of his men, and took his baggage. Norris afterwards advanced to Kilmallock, but, on his return, was attacked at Ard-Sciath by the Earl of Desmond; Butler, Viscount Mountgarrett; Butler, Baron of Cahir; Purcell, Baron of Loughmoe; William Burke, and captain Richard Tyrrell, who pursued his forces during the entire day, for eight miles of his march, and slew great numbers before they reached Kilmallock.

May 1599: Edmond FitzGibbon, 11th White Knight, came to the aid of his kinsman Thomas Butler, 2nd Baron of Cahir, when Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, launched the siege of Cahir Castle.^[4][5]

During the siege Thomas was held prisoner, although his [first] wife and brother [most likely James] refused to give up the castle. In 1599 Thomas joined Tyrone's rebellion, but then surrendered and was attainted. On 27 May 1601 he was pardoned of all treason and other crimes.

From Cokayne's Peerage, 2nd Edition:^[6]

• Thomas Butler, Baron Caher, son and heir, aged 28 years at the death of his father. He joined in Tyrone's Rebellion,^[7] but surrendered in 1599. Caher Castle, accounted the strongest place in Ireland, was carried by storm on Whitsunday 1599, by Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex. Butler was then a prisoner, but his wife and brothers refusing to give it up. He was attainted, but on 27 May 1601 had pardon for all treasons and crimes.

• Thomas married 1) Eleanor Butler,^[8] widow of Gerald Blancheville (d.1594),^[9][10][11] of Blanchevillestown, co. Kilkenny, and before that of Thomas Tobin (d. before 1584), of Cumpshinagh, co. Tipperary. Eleanor was the daughter of Richard, 1st Viscount Mountgarret, by his wife, Eleanor, daughter of Theobald Butler of Neigham,^[12] co. Kilkenny. Eleanor died ca.1601, when Thomas Butler re-married.

• Thomas married 2) Ellice, daughter of Sir John Fitzgerald, of Dromana, co. Waterford. He died s.p.m. on 31 Jan 1627.

Siblings: "The sisters of Thomas ... were married to Butler of Ballyboe and Sir Cormac McCarthy of Blarney; his brother James Galdie was engaged in the risings of 1598 and 1641; his castle of Cahir was besieged and taken by Essex. He married a sister of Lord Mountgarrett. — Lodge, vol. 6, p. 219. His brother Edmund lived at Cloghcully."^[13]

Marriage & Children

Thomas married (1) bef. October 1598: Eleanor Butler, his distant cousin, who was daughter of Richard Butler, 1st Viscount Mountgarret, and granddaughter of Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond). No issue.

He married (2) in 1601: Ellice Fitzgerald, daughter of Sir John Fitzgerald, 7th Lord Decies and Ellen FitzGibbon. Their daughter Margaret Butler (ca.1602-1632) married Edmond Butler, 3rd/13th Baron Dunboyne, and they had at least 8 children, including: ^[14]

• James (ca.1620-1662), 4th/14th Baron Dunboyne, who married Ellen Butler, daughter of Pierce Butler, 1st Viscount of Ikerrin and Lady Helen Butler
• Thomas, who fought in the Irish Rebellion of 1641
• Ellen, who married James Butler (grandson of Walter, 11th Earl of Ormond) and they were parents of Pierce, 2nd Viscount Ikerrin (1637-1686)
• Eleanor, who married her 2nd cousin Edmond Butler,^[15] and they were parents of Pierce, 4th Baron Cahir
• John, Edmund, Richard and Margaret, all of whom died young

Continuing the lineage: Richard Butler (1775-1819) was son of the 9th Baron Cahir and in 1816 became Viscount Cahir and 1st Earl of Glengall.

Sources

• Pedigree of Butler, Baron Cahir and Earl of Glengall, and of Knockananomagh, and of Glengall in Co. Tipperary, and of Knocklofty, c. 1500 - 1829 GO MS 170. Ireland. Genealogical Office. Registered Pedigrees Vol. 16, [between ca. 1816 and 1817]. pp. 225-230 (Image 97. Genealogical Office. The National Archives of Ireland

• Cahir Castle: Brief History & Modern Photos:
  • http://www.megalithicireland.com/Cahir%20Castle,%20Tipperary.html
• Wikipedia: Thomas Butler, 2nd Baron Cahir
• Butlers of Cahir
• Butler dynasty

• History of Cahir Castle through the ages, from the blog entry (11 Sep 2020) of Rev. Patrick Comerford:
  • http://www.patrickcomerford.com/2020/09/cahir-castle-childhood-pit-stop-and.html

1. ↑ Wikipedia: Thomas Butler
2. ↑ Lodge, Edmund, "The genealogy of the existing British peerage with brief sketches of the family history of the nobility.", 1832, pg 160.
3. ↑ https://archive.org/details/annalsofireland00ocle_0/page/640/mode/2up?q=purcell
4. ↑ Kinsman: Edmond's elder brother Maurice (d.1565 in battle in Lixnaw, County Kerry) had been married to Ellen Butler, paternal aunt of Thomas, 2nd Baron.
5. ↑ Irish historian Turtle Bunbury wrote (1999) "Robert of Essex and the Siege of Caher", which mentions "Tom Butler" as owner of Caher Castle:
   • https://www.turtlebunbury.com/history/history_irish/history_irish_siegeofcaher.html
6. ↑ Barons of Cahir:
   • Cokayne, George Edward and Vicary Gibbs ed. Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom,Vol. II: Bass - Canning, 2nd edition (London, 1912).
     • https://archive.org/details/completepeerageo02coka/page/466/mode/2up
7. ↑ Instigated by Hugh O'Neill
8. ↑ According to Collins' Peerage (1812), p.79, Eleanor Butler was the daughter of Richard, 1st Viscount Mountgarret:
   • https://books.google.nl/books?id=PfwUAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA79
9. ↑ Dennis Walsh, "The Blanchville Family: Early Documented History":
   • "Gerald is described as of Blanchvillestown in many documents of the latter half of the 16th century. He was Sheriff of Co. Kilkenny, in 1565, and M.P. of same in 1585-6. He died at the castle of Blanchvillestown, April 6th, 1594, leaving his (second ?) wife, Elinor, daughter of Richard, 1st Viscount Mountgarret, two sons: Edmund, his heir; and Leonard. Edmund was but 9 years old at the time of his father's death, so that he was born in 1585."
   • "[Edmund Blanchville] had livery of seisin on attaining his majority in 1606. In 1623, he received the honour of knighthood from Viscount Falkland, Lord Deputy. For their part in the manslaughter of Edmund Purcell, of Ballyfoyle Castle, in 1625, Sir Edmund and his brother, Leonard Blanchville, succeeded after considerable trouble in having a royal pardon, Dec. 12th, 1629.
   • Sir Edmund appears to have been a lunatic for a considerable time before his death, which occurred subsequent to the year 1647. By his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Peter Butler, of the Old Abbey (an illegitimate son of Thomas the Black, 10th Earl of Ormond), he had a son, Garret, or Gerald Blanchville, who took a prominent part in the Catholic Confederate Movement of 1641, and died Feb. 21st, 1646-47, and is buried in St. Canice's Cathedral."
     • https://sites.rootsweb.com/~irlkik/history/blanchville.html
10. ↑ Gerald Blanchville was descended from Sir James Butler of Polestown, via "John fitz James Butler, younger brother of Pierce the Red, [8th] Earl of Ormond", who was father to daughter and heiress Margaret, who married "Edmond Blanchvvylle of Blanchvvyllesstown".
    • Dennis Walsh, "The Blanchville Family: Early Documented History"
      • https://sites.rootsweb.com/~irlkik/history/blanchville.html
11. ↑ George Dames Burtchaell supports the lineage that Gerald Blanchville descended from Sir James Butler of Polestown in "The Family of Rothe of Kilkenny", Journal of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland, 4th Series, Vol. 7, No. 67 (July 1886), pp. 501-537, see footnote on p.510.
    • https://www.jstor.org/stable/25506965
12. ↑ Thomas Butler of Neigham was the son of Edmund Butler of Polestown (brother to Piers, 8th Earl of Ormond) and the grandson of Sir James Butler of Polestown.
13. ↑ Edmund Hogan, The Description of Ireland (1878), p.229:
    • https://archive.org/details/descriptionofire00hoga/page/228/mode/2up?q=butler
14. ↑ Mosley, editor. Burke's Peerage, 107th Edition (2003), Vol.1, p.1212.
15. ↑ Edmond Butler was the son of Thomas Butler, 3rd Baron Cahir, who in turn was the grandson of Theobald, 1st Baron Cahir