Richard Butler of Kilcash

Richard was born in 1615, probably at Thurles Castle. He was one of six children, and the third son, of Thomas Butler and his wife Elizabeth Pointz. His father, who was styled Viscount Thurles, was the eldest son and heir apparent of Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond, called "Walter of the rosary beads". 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.[1] Richard's mother was English but Catholic, a daughter of Sir John Pointz of Iron Acton in Gloucestershire and his second wife Elizabeth Sydenham.

In 1619 his father perished on his way from Ireland to England in a shipwreck[8] near the Skerries off the coast of Anglesey. On 24 February 1633, his grandfather died and his brother James succeeded to the earldom as the 12th Earl of Ormond.[9]

In 1639 Richard Butler was confirmed in the ownership of the lands of Kilcash, Garryricken, and many others in the counties of Tipperary and Kilkenny by the Commission of Grace with special remainder to the heirs male of his grandfather, Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond and some other family members.[10][11] These lands would form the Manor of Garryricken.[12]

In 1641 Butler sided with the rebellion and was made Governor of County Waterford by the Irish Confederacy. In January he was asked to take the city of Waterford but was prevented by the mayor and council. He nevertheless reduced the town of Cappoquin and other places. In March 1642, Butler, together with Lord Muskerry, Theobald Purcell, Roche, Ikerrin and Dunboyne unsuccessfully besieged St Leger in Cork.[13][14]

On the morning of 4 June 1643 he scouted the position of an detachment of Inchiquin's troops at Cloughleagh Castle, which allowed the Confederate Munster Army commanded by Lord Muskerry to launch an surprise attack on this troop that led to the Confederate victory of the Battle of Cloughleagh, won by James Tuchet, 3rd Earl of Castlehaven.[15]

In October 1645 the Confederate Supreme Council sent him to welcome Giovanni Battista Rinuccini in Ireland. He met Rinuccini on his way from Kenmare to Limerick and escorted him to that town.[16]

When his side lost to Cromwell's army, Richard went into exile in France where he lived, often in poverty, until the Restoration of Charles I who returned his estate to him.[17]

In 1636, he married Frances Tuchet (or Touchet; died 1688), youngest daughter of Mervyn Tuchet, 2nd Earl of Castlehaven.[18] This marriage made him the brother-in-law of his military ally, James, the 3rd Earl of Castlehaven Castlehaven.

Richard and Frances had five children, two sons:

1. Walter (died 1700), known as Walter Butler of Garryricken and married Mary Plunkett, only daughter of Christopher Plunkett, 2nd Earl of Fingall;[19][20][21]
2. John (died 1714), married Catharine, daughter of James Aylmer, of Cragbryen, County Clare;[22]

—and three daughters:

1. Lucia (died 1685), married Sir Laurence Esmond, of Clonegall, County Carlow;[23]
2. Mary (died 1737), married Christopher, Lord Delvin;[24]
3. Frances (died 1709), married Patrick Barnewall, 3rd Baronet of Crickstown Castle.[25]

He and his family lived in Kilcash Castle at the foot of Slievenamon. About 1660 his son Walter built a house at Garryricken and started to live there with his family.[26]

Mr Richard Butler died in 1701 at Kilcash Castle, aged 85 or 86.[27]

He was succeeded by his grandson Colonel Thomas Butler of Garryricken, the heir of his eldest son, Walter Butler of Garryricken. Richard's descendants, dubbed the Garryricken branch, would inherit the earldom of Ormond following the failure of the senior branch that occurred when Charles Butler, 1st Earl of Arran died childless in 1658 (see Family tree). Arran had been de jure 3rd Duke of Ormond and 14th Earl.

• Bagwell, Richard (1909). Ireland under the Stuarts and under the Interregnum. 2. London: Longmans, Green, and Co. – 1642 to 1660
• Burke, Bernard (1949). A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire (99th ed.). London: Burke's Peerage Ltd.
• Burke, Bernard; Burke, Ashworth P. (1909). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage, the Privy Council, Knightage and Companionage (71st ed.). London: Harrison.
• Carrigan, Rev William (1905). The History and Antiquities of the Diocese of Ossory. 4. Dublin: Sealy Bryers & Walker.
• Castlehaven, James Tuchet, Earl of (1815). The Earl of Castlehaven's Review. Dublin: George Mullens.
• 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 Ormond)
• 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
• Dunboyne, Patrick Theobald Tower Butler, Baron (1968). Butler Family History (2nd ed.). Kilkenny: Rothe House.
• Flood, John (2020), Kilcash and the Butlers of Ormond: Conflict and Kinship from the Middle Ages to the Great Famine, Dublin: Geography Publications, ISBN 9780906602942
• Lodge, John (1789). The Peerage of Ireland. 4. Dublin: James Moore. – Viscounts (for Butler, Viscount Mountgarrett)
• McGrath, Brid (1997). A Biographical Dictionary of the Membership of the Irish House of Commons 1640 to 1641. 1. Dublin: Trinity College. – MP biographies
• 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.
• Smyth, Constantine (1839). Chronicle of the Law Officers of Ireland. London: Henry Butterworth. – (for Table of reigns)