James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde

James FitzJames Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde, KG (1665–1745) was an Irish statesman and soldier. He was the third of the Kilcash branch of the family to inherit the earldom of Ormond. Like his grandfather, the 1st Duke, he was raised as a Protestant, unlike his extended family who held to Roman Catholicism. He served in the campaign to put down the Monmouth Rebellion, in the Williamite War in Ireland, in the Nine Years' War and in the War of the Spanish Succession but was accused of treason and went into exile after the Jacobite rising of 1715.

His Grace The Duke of Ormonde KG
Portrait by Michael Dahl
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
In office 19 February 1703 – 30 April 1707
Monarch	Anne
Preceded by	The Earl of Rochester
Succeeded by	The Earl of Pembroke
In office 26 October 1710 – 22 September 1713
Monarch	Anne
Preceded by	The Earl of Wharton
Succeeded by	The Duke of Shrewsbury
Personal details
Born	(1665-04-29)29 April 1665 Dublin, Leinster Ireland
Died	16 September 1745(1745-09-16) (aged 80) Papal Enclave of Avignon
Spouse(s)	Lady Anne Hyde Lady Mary Somerset
Children	4
Parent(s)	Thomas Butler, 6th Earl of Ossory Emilia van Nassau-Beverweerd
Awards	Knight of the Garter
Military service
Allegiance	Kingdom of England Kingdom of Great Britain Spain
Branch/service	English Army British Army Spanish Army
Rank	General
Battles/wars	Monmouth Rebellion Williamite War in Ireland Nine Years' War War of the Spanish Succession Jacobite rising of 1715

Birth and origins

James was born on 29 April 1665 at Dublin Castle. He was the second but eldest surviving son of Thomas Butler by his wife Emilia van Nassau-Beverweerd. His father was known as Lord Ossory. He was heir apparent of James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond but predeceased him and so never became duke. 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. James's mother was Dutch. She descended from a cadet branch of the House of Nassau. Both parents were Protestant. They married on 17 November 1659.

They had eleven children.

James listed among his siblings

He appears among some of his siblings as the fourth child: Elizabeth (died 1717), married William Stanley, 9th Earl of Derby in 1673 Henrietta (died 1724), married Henry de Nassau d'Auverquerque, 1st Earl of Grantham Amelia (died 1760), inherited from her brother Charles and never married James (1665–1745) Charles (1671–1758), became the de jure 3rd Duke of Ormonde, following his elder brother's attainder in 1715

Early life

He was educated in France and afterwards at Christ Church, Oxford. On the death of his father on 30 July 1680 he became Baron Butler in the English peerage and the 7th Earl of Ossory in the Irish Peerage.

Early military career

The Battle of the Boyne, at which Butler commanded the Queen's Troop.

Arms of James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde

He obtained command of a cavalry regiment in Ireland in 1683, and having received an appointment at court on the accession of James II, he served against the Duke of Monmouth at the Battle of Sedgemoor in July 1685. Having succeeded his grandfather as 2nd Duke of Ormonde on 21 July 1688, he was appointed a Knight of the Order of the Garter on 28 September 1688. In 1688 he also became Chancellor of the University of Dublin and Chancellor of the University of Oxford.

In January and February 1689 he voted against the motion to put William of Orange and Mary on the throne and against the motion to declare that James II had abdicated it. Nevertheless, he subsequently joined the forces of William of Orange, by whom he was made colonel of the Queen's Troop of Horse Guards on 20 April 1689. He accompanied William in his Irish campaign, debarking with him in Carrickfergus on 14 June 1690 and commanded this troop at the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690. In February 1691 he became Lord Lieutenant of Somerset.

He served on the continent under William of Orange during the Nine Years' War and, having been promoted to major-general, he fought at the Battle of Steenkerque in August 1692 and the Battle of Landen in July 1693, where he was taken prisoner by the French and then exchanged for the Duke of Berwick, James II's illegitimate son. He was promoted to lieutenant-general in 1694.

After the accession of Queen Anne in March 1702, he became commander of the land forces co-operating with Sir George Rooke in Spain, where he fought in the Battle of Cádiz in August 1702 and the Battle of Vigo Bay in October 1702 during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714). Having been made a Privy Councillor, Ormonde succeeded Lord Rochester as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1703. In 1704 he leased and rebuilt a property that became known as Ormonde Lodge in Richmond outside London.

Following the dismissal of the Duke of Marlborough, Ormonde was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Forces and colonel of the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards on 4 January 1712 and Captain-General on 26 February 1712. In the Irish Parliament Ormonde and the majority of peers supported the Tory interest.

Family tree

James Butler with wife, parents, and other selected relatives. Walter 11th Earl 1559–1633 Thomas Viscount Thurles d. 1619 d.v.p.* Elizabeth Pointz 1587–1673 James 1st Duke 1610–1688 Elizabeth Preston 1615–1684 Richard B. of Kilcash 1615–1701 Frances Tuchet Thomas 6th Earl Ossory 1633–1680 d.v.p.* Emilia von Nassau 1635–1688 Walter B. of Garryricken d. 1700 d.v.p.* Anne Hyde d. 1685 James 2nd Duke 1665–1745 Mary Somerset 1664–1733 Charles 1st Earl Arran de jure 3rd Duke 1671–1758 Thomas B. of Garryricken d. 1738 Mary Butler d. 1688 Thomas Butler 1686–1689 John de jure 15th Earl d. 1766 Legend XXX Subject of the article XXX Earls & dukes of Ormond *d.v.p. = predeceased his father (decessit vita patris).

James when he was still Lord Ossory

The Guiscard affair

He played a dramatic role at the notorious meeting of the Privy Council on 8 March 1711 when Antoine de Guiscard, a French double agent who was being questioned about his treasonable activities, attempted to assassinate Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford, against whom he had a personal grudge for drastically cutting his allowance, by stabbing him with a penknife (how he managed to get into the Council room with a weapon remains a mystery). Harley was wounded, but not seriously, due largely to the fact that he was wearing a heavy gold brocade waistcoat, in which the knife got stuck. Several Councillors, including Ormonde, stabbed Guiscard in return. Guiscard implored Ormonde to finish the deed, but Ormonde replied that it was not for him to play the hangman. In any case, he had the sense to see that Guiscard must be kept alive at least long enough to be questioned, although as it turned out Guiscard's wounds were fatal and he died a week later.

The last campaign

On 23 April 1712 he left Harwich for Rotterdam to lead the British troops taking part in the war. Once there he allowed himself to be made the tool of the Tory ministry, whose policy was to carry on the war in the Netherlands while giving secret orders to Ormonde to take no active part in supporting their allies under Prince Eugene. In July 1712 Ormonde advised Prince Eugene that he could no longer support the siege of Quesnoy and that he was withdrawing the British troops from the action and instead intended to take possession of Dunkirk. The Dutch were so exasperated at the withdrawal of the British troops that they closed the towns of Bouchain on Douai to British access, despite the fact that they had plenty of stores and medical facilities available. Ormonde took possession of Ghent and Bruges as well as Dunkirk, in order to ensure his troops were adequately provided for. On 15 April 1713 he became Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk.

Jacobite

Ormonde's position as Captain-General made him a personage of much importance in the crisis brought about by the death of Queen Anne and, during the last years of Queen Anne, Ormonde almost certainly had Jacobite leanings and corresponded with the Jacobite Court including his cousin, Piers Butler, 3rd Viscount Galmoye, who kept barrels of gunpowder at Kilkenny Castle. King George I on his accession to the throne in August 1714 instituted extensive changes and excluded the Tories from royal favour. Ormonde was stripped of his posts as Captain-General, as colonel of the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards and as Commander in Chief of the Forces with the first two posts going to the Duke of Marlborough and the role of Commander-in-Chief going to the Earl of Stair. On 19 November 1714 Ormonde was instead made a member of the reconstituted Privy Council of Ireland.

James Butler c. 1725–1730

Accused of supporting the Jacobite rising of 1715, during which the rebels had shouted "High church and Ormond", he was impeached for high treason by Lord Stanhope on 21 June 1715. He might have avoided the impending storm of parliamentary prosecution, if he had remained in England and stood trial but instead he chose to flee to France in August 1715 and initially stayed in Paris with Lord Bolingbroke. On 20 August 1715 he was attainted, his estate forfeited, and honours extinguished. The Earl Marshal was instructed to remove the names and armorial bearings of Ormonde and Bolingbroke from the list of peers and Ormonde's banner as Knight of the Garter was taken down in St George's Chapel.

On 20 June 1716, the Parliament of Ireland passed an act extinguishing the regalities and liberties of the county palatine of Tipperary; for vesting his estate in the crown and for giving a reward of £10,000 for his apprehension, should he attempt to land in Ireland. But the same parliament passed an act on 24 June 1721, to enable his brother Charles Butler, 1st Earl of Arran, to purchase his estate, which he accordingly did.

Ormonde subsequently moved to Spain where he held discussions with Cardinal Alberoni. He later took part in a Spanish and Jacobite plan to invade England and put James Francis Edward Stuart on the British throne in 1719, but his fleet was disbanded by a storm in the Bay of Biscay. In 1732 he moved to Avignon, where he was seen in 1733 by the writer, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Ormonde died at Avignon in exile on 16 November 1745, but his body was brought back to London and buried in Westminster Abbey on 22 May 1746.

Mary Somerset, his second wife, painted by Michael Dahl

Marriage and children

On 20 July 1682 he, then called Lord Ossory, married Lady Anne Hyde, daughter of Laurence Hyde, who was then Viscount Hyde of Kenilworth but became Earl of Rochester in November. The couple had a daughter, Mary, who died young in 1688.

Following the death of his first wife (which is known to have caused him intense grief) in 1685, Ossory planned to marry again, in order to secure a male heir. He gained permission from the House of Lords for the arranging of a jointure for another marriage in May 1685, and in August of that year, he married Lady Mary Somerset, daughter of the Duke of Beaufort and Mary Capel. The couple had a son, Thomas (1686–1689), and two daughters, Elizabeth (1689–1750) and Mary (1690–1713). Ormonde's second wife was a lady of the bedchamber to Queen Anne. Their younger daughter, Mary, married John Ashburnham, 1st Earl of Ashburnham.

Notes and references

Sources

Books

• Barnard, Toby, and Jane Fenlon (eds.) (2000). The Dukes of Ormonde, 1610–1745. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. ISBN 978-0-85115-761-0 OCLC 44956083
• Burke, Bernard; Burke, Ashworth Peter (1915). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage, the Privy Council, Knightage and Companionage (77th ed.). London: Harrison. OCLC 1155471554.
• Cane, Robert; Lenihan, Maurice (1884). The History of the Williamite and Jacobite Wars in Ireland from their Origin to the Capture of Athlone with Continuation to the Death of James II. Dublin: James Duffy and sons. OCLC 1046587889.
• Chester, Joseph Lemuel (1876). Registers of Westminster Abbey. London: Private Edition. OCLC 1140248. – Marriages, baptisms and burials from about 1660 to 1875
• Cokayne, George Edward (1895). Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, or Dormant. Vol. VI (1st ed.). London: George Bell and Sons. OCLC 1180818801. – N to R (for Ormonde)
• 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. Vol. 9. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 226–229. ISBN 0-19-861359-8. (for his father)
• Debrett, John (1816). Peerage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Vol. I (10th ed.). London: F. C. and J. Rivington. OCLC 23089464. – England (for his sister Elizabeth, cited in this edition because the corresponding page is missing in the 1828 edition.)
• Debrett, John (1828). Peerage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Vol. II (17th ed.). London: F. C. and J. Rivington. OCLC 54499602. – Scotland and Ireland
• Desmond, Ray (2007). The History of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. London: Kew Publishing. ISBN 978-1-8424-6168-6.
• Dunboyne, Patrick Theobald Tower Butler, Baron (1968). Butler Family History (2nd ed.). Kilkenny: Rothe House.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Gregg, Edward (1980). Queen Anne. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. ISBN 0-7100-0400-1.
• Handley, Stuart (2004). "Butler, James, second duke of Ormond (1665–1745)". In Matthew, Henry Colin Gray.; Harrison, Brian (eds.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 9. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 163–168. ISBN 0-19-861359-8. (for him)
• Hamilton, Elizabeth (1969). The Backstairs Dragon – a life of Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford. London: Hamish Hamilton. ISBN 0-241-01601-0.
• Historical Manuscripts Commission (HMC) (1902). Calendar of the Stuart Papers. Vol. 1. London: HM Stationery Office. OCLC 1041616450.
• Lodge, John (1789). Archdall, Mervyn (ed.). The Peerage of Ireland or, A Genealogical History of the Present Nobility of that Kingdom. Vol. IV. Dublin: James Moore. OCLC 264906028. – Viscounts (for Ormond under Butler, Viscount Mountgarrett)
• Smollett, Tobias (1800). The History of England from the revolution to the death of George the Second (Designed as a continuation of Mr. Hume's History). Vol. II (A new ed.). London: T. Cadell. OCLC 6017016. – From the revolution to the death of George II
• Stanhope, Philip Henry (1836). History of England From the Peace of Utrecht to the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. Vol. I. London: John Murray. OCLC 5417396. – 1713 to 1748
• Stanhope, Philip Henry (1870). History of England Comprising the Reign of Queen Anne Until the Peace of Utrecht. London: John Murray. OCLC 896128. – 1700 to 1713
• Taylor, William Benjamin Sarsfield (1845). History of the University of Dublin. London: T. Cadell. OCLC 458216575.
• Ward, Adolphus William (1886). "Butler, James, second Duke of Ormonde (1665–1745)". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. VIII. New York: MacMillan and Co. pp. 60–65. OCLC 8544105.
• Wood, Anthony (1790). Fasti Oxonienses. Oxford: Clarendon Press. OCLC 982206292. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)

London Gazette

• "No. 2386". The London Gazette. 27 September – 1 October 1688.
• "No. 4948". The London Gazette. 3–5 January 1711.
• "No. 4971". The London Gazette. 26–28 February 1711.
• "No. 4994". The London Gazette. 19–22 April 1712.
• "No. 5112". The London Gazette. 14–18 April 1713.
• "No. 5278". The London Gazette. 16–20 November 1714.
• "No. 5352". The London Gazette. 2–6 August 1715.
• "No. 5357". The London Gazette. 20–23 August 1715.
• "No. 5715". The London Gazette. 24–27 January 1719.
• "No. 5727". The London Gazette. 7–10 March 1719.
• "No. 5799". The London Gazette. 14–17 November 1719.

Further reading

• Clarendon, Edward, Earl of (1736). A vindication of the conduct of James, Duke of Ormonde during his long and faithful administration in Ireland.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Faculty of Advocates (Scotland). Library (1867). Catalogue of the Printed Books in the Library of the Faculty of Advocates: A-Byzantium. 1867. Vol. 1. W. Blackwood and sons. p. 812.
• Murdoch, Tessa (ed.) (2022). Great Irish Households: Inventories from the Long Eighteenth Century. Cambridge: John Adamson, pp. 25–85 ISBN 978-1-898565-17-8 OCLC 1233305993.
• Wilson, Rachel (2015). Elite Women in Ascendancy Ireland, 1690–1745: Imitation and Innovation. Boydell and Brewer, Woodbridge. ISBN 978-1-7832-7039-2.

External links

• Media related to James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde at Wikimedia Commons
• "Archival material relating to James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde". UK National Archives.