John Butler, 17th Earl of Ormonde

John was born on 10 December 1740[2] at Garryricken.[3] He was one of the 4 children, and the only son, of Walter Butler and his wife Ellen Morres.[4] His father was the de jure 16th Earl of Ormond. His 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.[5] John's mother was a daughter of Nicholas Morres of the Court, County Dublin, granddaughter of Sir John Morres, 7th Baronet Morres of Knockagh.[6][7]

On 16 December 1764 he conformed to the established Church of Ireland in a ceremony performed in the church of Golden, County Tipperary.[13] In other words: he became a Protestant.

In February 1769 he married Anne Elizabeth Wandesford, who was also known as Frances Susan Elizabeth.[14][15] She was a rich heiress being the only surviving child of John Wandesford the 1st Earl Wandesford and 5th Viscount Castlecomer. The Wandesfords were Protestants and had supported the Prince of Orange during the Williamite War in Ireland. They owned land and coal mines around Castlecomer in northern County Kilkenny. When the Earl of Wandesford died in 1784, his titles became extinct, but his estates passed to John Butler.[16]

The couple had five children:

1. Walter (1770–1820), who became the 1st Marquess of Ormonde in the Peerage of Ireland;[17]
2. James (1777–1838), who also became the 1st Marquess of Ormonde but in the Peerage of the United Kingdom;
3. Charles Harward (1781–1860), who married firstly Lady Sarah Butler, daughter of Henry Thomas Butler, 2nd Earl of Carrick and, secondly, Lucy French, daughter of Arthur French;
4. Eleanor (died 1859), who married Cornelius O’Callaghan, 1st Viscount Lismore (1775–1857) in 1808; and
5. Elizabeth (died 1822), who married Thomas Kavanagh (1767–1837), The MacMorrough, in 1799.

In 1783 his father died in Kilkenny Castle.[18] John inherits Kilkenny and the lands, notably those that his father had inherited from John Butler of Kilcash, the de jure 15th Earl of Ormond, in 1766.[19] In 1784 his father-in-law, the Earl of Wandesford died. His titles became extinct, but John inherits the land and the coal mines.[16]

In 1791 he claimed the title of Earl of Ormond, which was believed to have become extinct in 1715. The Irish House of Lords accepted this claim and he was restored to become the 17th Earl of Ormonde.[20][21]

He died on 25 or 30 December 1795 at Kilkenny Castle and was buried in Kilcash.[22][23] His widow died in Dublin in 1830.[24] He was succeeded by his son Walter, who was made a Marquess in 1816.

• Richard Butler of Kilcash, the youngest son of Viscount Thurles, brother of the 1st Duke.

• Walter Butler of Garryricken (Kilcash), eldest son of Richard, great-grandson of the 11 Earl.

• Colonel Thomas Butler of Garryricken, eldest son of Walter.

• John Butler, 15th Earl of Ormonde, son of Colonel Thomas, great-grandson of the 1st Duke.

• John Butler of Garryricken, second son of Walter and brother of Colonel Thomas, grand-nephew of the 1st Duke.

• Walter Butler, 16th Earl of Ormonde, son of John, great-great-great-grandson of the 11th Earl and the first cousin of the 15th Earl.

• John Butler, 17th Earl of Ormonde, son of the 16th Earl and of Ellen Morris.

• Butler dynasty

• Burke, John; Burke, John Bernard (1838), A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England, London: Scott, Webster and Geary (for Wandesford)
• Burke, Bernard (1949), A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire (99th ed.), London: Burke's Peerage Ltd.
• Carrigan, Rev. William (1905), The History and Antiquities of the Diocese of Ossory, 4, Dublin: Sealy Bryers & Walker
• 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 Ormonde)
• Debrett, John (1828), Peerage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 2 (17th ed.), London: F. C. and J. Rivington – Scotland and Ireland (for his marriage)
• Debrett, John (1838), Courthope, William (ed.), Debrett's Complete Peerage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (22nd ed.), London: F. C. and J. Rivington
• Dunboyne, Patrick Theobald Tower Butler, Baron (1968), Butler Family History (2nd ed.), Kilkenny: Rothe House
• Lodge, John (1789), The Peerage of Ireland, 4, Dublin: James Moore – Viscounts (for Butler, Viscount Mountgarret)
• Mavor, Elizabeth (2004), "Butler, Lady (Charlotte) Eleanor (1739–1829)", in Matthew, Henry Colin Gray.; Harrison, Brian (eds.), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 9, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 129–130, ISBN 0-19-861359-8

• Genealogy of John Butler, 17th Earl of Ormonde on the Peerage website