John Butler, 17th Earl of Ormonde, 11th Earl of Ossory (1740–1795) was an Irish peer and Member of Parliament (MP). He became a Protestant in 1764. He was an Irish MP, representing Gowran between 1776 and 1783, and Kilkenny City between 1783 and 1792. In 1791, his right to the peerage was acknowledged in the Irish House of Lords and he became the 17th Earl of Ormond; he was a great-great grandson of Richard Butler of Kilcash, the younger brother of James Butler, 1st Duke and 12th Earl of Ormonde.
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Birth and origins
John was born on 10 December 1740 at Garryricken. He was the only son, of Walter Butler and his wife Ellen Morres. At the time of his birth his father was the heir apparent of his father the esquire of Garryricken. In 1766 his father would become the de jure 16th Earl of Ormond. 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.
John's mother was a daughter of Nicholas Morres of the Court, County Dublin, granddaughter of Sir John Morres, 7th Baronet Morres of Knockagh. John was one of four siblings, who are listed in his father's article.
Conversion to Protestantism
On 16 December 1764 he conformed to the established Church of Ireland in a ceremony performed in the church of Golden, County Tipperary. In other words: he became a Protestant.
Marriage and children
In February 1769 Butler married Lady Anne Wandesford.
Anne was the daughter of John Wandesford, 1st Earl Wandesford and his wife Agnes Southwell, who was the only daughter and heiress of John Southwell of Enniscourt, Limerick. Following the death of Anne's brother John Wandesford, Viscount Castlecomer, Anne became the sole heiress to the Wandesford estates, which comprised some 20,000 acres centred on Castlecomer in County Kilkenny.
The marriage produced ten children, six of whom survived infancy:
Walter Butler, 18th Earl of Ormonde (1770–1820), who was created Marquess of Ormonde in 1816.
John Butler (b. 1771, d. 1771)
The Hon. John Wandesford Butler (1772–1796), who died unmarried.
Thomas Butler (b. 1773 d. 1773)
The Hon. James Butler (1774–1838), (succeeded as 19th Earl of Ormonde in 1820, and later created Marquess of Ormonde in 1825)
Lady Elizabeth Butler (1777 - 1823), who married Thomas Kavanagh Esq. of Burros House, Kilkenny in 1798.
Richard Butler
The Hon. Charles Harward Butler (1780–1860), who married (1) Lady Sarah Butler, daughter of Henry Thomas Butler, 2nd Earl of Carrick (2) Lucy Butler, Dowager Countess of Carrick (his first wife's sister-in-law, and daughter of Arthur French). Charles Butler adopted several additional surnames by Royal Licence throughout his lifetime, eventually becoming The Hon. Charles Harward Butler-Clarke-Southwell-Wandesford.
Piers Butler
Lady Eleanor Butler (1788 - 1859), who married Cornelius O'Callaghan, 1st Viscount Lismore in 1808.
Two inheritances
In 1783 his father died in Kilkenny Castle. John inherited 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. In 1784 his father-in-law, the Earl of Wandesford died. His titles became extinct, but John inherited the land and the coal mines.
Family tree and claim to the Earldoms of Ormond and Ossory
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.
Death and succession
Ormond, as he now was, died on 25 or 30 December 1795 at Kilkenny Castle and was buried in Kilcash. His widow died in Dublin in 1830. He was succeeded by his son Walter, who was made a Marquess in 1816.
