Thomas Butler, 6th Earl of Ossory

Thomas was born on 8 July 1634, at Kilkenny Castle.[1] He was the eldest son of James Butler and his wife Elizabeth Preston. His father was then the 12th Earl of Ormond but would be raised to marquess and duke. His family, the Butler dynasty, is Old English and descends from Theobald Walter, who had been appointed Chief Butler of Ireland by King Henry II in 1177.[2] Thomas's mother was a second cousin once removed of his father as she was a granddaughter of Black Tom, the 10th Earl of Ormond. Her father, however, was Scottish, Richard Preston, 1st Earl of Desmond, a favourite of James I. Both parents were Protestants. They had married on Christmas Day 1629.[3]

He was one of ten siblings, eight brothers and two sisters, but five of the sons died in childhood.[5]

As the eldest living son, he was the heir apparent and was styled with the corresponding courtesy title, which at first was Viscount Thurles but changed to Earl of Ossory when his father became marquess in 1642.[12] His early years were spent in Ireland until 1647 when he accompanied his father to England. In 1648 his father renewed his support for the royalist cause and he and his son had to flee to France, arriving in Caen in February 1648.[13] Lady Ormond also moved to Caen, where she arrived on 23 June 1648 with his siblings.[14]

Ossory was an accomplished athlete and a good scholar. Having come to London in 1652 he was rightly suspected of sympathising with the exiled royalists, and in 1655 was jailed by Oliver Cromwell. After his release about a year later he went into exile to the Netherlands[15] where Charles II had his exile court at the time[16]

On 17 November 1659, while in exile, Ossory married Emilia van Nassau, the second daughter of Louis of Nassau, Lord of De Lek and Beverweerd.[17]

Thomas and Emilia had eleven children,[18] including two sons:

1. James (1665–1745), became the 2nd Duke of Ormonde in 1688;[19] and
2. Charles (1671–1758), became the de jure 3rd Duke of Ormonde, following his elder brother's attainder in 1715.[19]
3. Elizabeth (died 1717), married William Stanley, 9th Earl of Derby in 1673;[20]
4. Amelia (died 1760), inherited the estates of her brother Charles and never married.[21] and
5. Henrietta (died 1724), married Henry de Nassau d'Auverquerque, 1st Earl of Grantham;[22]

Quartered arms of Thomas Butler

Portrait by Sir Peter Lely

The Earl of Ossory

He accompanied Charles II back to England in 1660.

In 1661 Ossory became a member of both the English and the Irish houses of commons, representing in the former Bristol[23] and Dublin University in the latter.[24]

In 1662 Ossory was called to the Irish House of Lords under a writ of acceleration as the Earl of Ossory.[25] His father held the title "5th Earl of Ossory" as one of his subsidiary titles. The acceleration made Thomas Butler the 6th Earl of Ossory. This was the only substantive title he ever held, as he would predecease his father and therefore never succeed to his father's titles. His eldest son, however, would later be the 2nd Duke of Ormond and the 7th Earl of Ossory.

Lord Ossory held several military appointments;

• lieutenant-general of the army in Ireland (appointed in 1665)
• created an English peer as Lord Butler (in 1666). Almost as soon as he appeared in the House of Lords he was imprisoned for two days for challenging the Duke of Buckingham.[15]
• Lord of the Bedchamber to Charles II (appointed in 1660), a post he held until his death.

In 1665 a fortunate accident allowed Ossory to take part in the Battle of Lowestoft against the Dutch, and in May 1672, being now in command of a ship, he fought against the same enemies in the Battle of Solebay, serving with great distinction on both occasions. The earl was partly responsible for this latter struggle, as on 12 March 1672, before war was declared, he had attacked the Dutch Smyrna fleet, an action which he is said to have greatly regretted later in life.[26] Whilst visiting France in 1672 he rejected the liberal offers made by Louis XIV to induce him to enter the service of France, and returning to England he added to his high reputation by his conduct during the Battle of Texel in August 1673.[15] From 1677 until 1679, he served alongside his father as a Lord of the Admiralty.

Ossory was intimate with William, Prince of Orange, and in 1677 he joined the allied army in the Netherlands, commanding the British contingent and winning great fame at the siege of Mons in 1678. He acted as deputy for his father, who was lord-lieutenant of Ireland, and in parliament he defended Ormond's Irish administration with great vigour. In 1680 he was appointed governor of English Tangier, but his death prevented him from taking up his new duties.[15]

One of his most intimate friends was John Evelyn, who eulogised him in his Diary.[15]

Ossory died on 30 July 1680 at Arlington House in London.[27][28] He was buried provisionally in Westminster Abbey on 31 July 1680.[29] The ceremony of burial was performed belatedly on 13 November 1680.[30] Some say Ossory's body was later taken to Ireland and reburied in the family vault in St Canice's Cathedral, Kilkenny. James, his eldest son, succeeded him as the 7th Earl of Ossory and would in 1688 become the 2nd Duke of Ormond.

• Airy, Osmund (1886a). "Butler, James, twelfth Earl and first Duke of Ormonde (1610–1688)". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 8. New York: MacMillan and Co. pp. 52–60.
• Airy, Osmund (1886b). "Butler, Thomas, Earl of Ossory (1634–1680)". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 8. New York: MacMillan and Co. pp. 81–85.
• Burke, Bernard (1949). A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire (99th ed.). London: Burke's Peerage Ltd.
• Carte, Thomas (1851). The Life of James Duke of Ormond. 3 (new ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Chester, Joseph Lemuel (1876). Registers of Westminster Abbey. London: Private Edition.
• 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 Ossory under Ormond)
• Davies, J. D. (2004). "Butler, Thomas, sixth earl of Ossory (1634–1680)". In Matthew, Henry Colin Gray.; Harrison, Brian (eds.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 9. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 226–229. ISBN 0-19-861359-8.
• Debrett, John (1816). Peerage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 1 (10th ed.). London: F. C. and J. Rivington. – England (for his sister Elizabeth, cited here because the corresponding page is missing in the 1828 edition.)
• Debrett, John (1828a). Peerage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 1 (17th ed.). London: F. C. and J. Rivington. – England
• Debrett, John (1828b). 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.
• Evelyn, John (1901). Bray, William (ed.). The Diary of John Evelyn. 2 (new, in two volumes ed.). New York & London: M. Walter Dunn. – 1665 to 1706
• Hamilton, Anthony (1888). Memoirs of Count Grammont. Translated by Walpole, Horace. Philadelphia: Gebbie & Co.
• House of Commons (1878). Members of Parliament. Parliamentary Papers. 62. London: H. M. Stationery Office. (for the subject as MP)
• Lodge, John (1789). The Peerage of Ireland. 4. Dublin: James Moore. - Viscounts (for Ossory under Butler, Viscount Mountgarrett)
• Pepys, Samuel (1893). Wheatley, Henry Benjamin (ed.). The Diary of Samuel Pepys. 2. London: George Bell & Sons. – 1 April 1661 to 31 December 1661
• Perceval-Maxwell, Michael (2004). "Butler [née Preston] Elizabeth, duchess of Ormond and suo jure Lady Dingwall (1615–1684)". In Matthew, Henry Colin Gray.; Harrison, Brian (eds.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 9. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 130–131. ISBN 0-19-861359-8.
• 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. (for Restoration)

Attribution:

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ossory, Thomas Butler, Earl of". Encyclopædia Britannica. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 354.