Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond

Sir Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond and 4th Earl of Ossory (1559–1633), succeeded his uncle Black Tom, the 10th earl, in 1614. He was called "Walter of the Beads" because he was a devout Catholic, whereas his uncle had been a Protestant. King James I intervened and awarded most of the inheritance to his uncle's Protestant daughter Elizabeth. Ormond contested the King's decision and was for that insolence detained in the Fleet Prison from 1619 until 1625 when he submitted to the King's ruling. He then found a means to reunite the Ormond estate, by marrying his grandson James, who had been raised a Protestant, to Elizabeth's only daughter.

Birth and origins

Walter was born in 1559, the second son of John Butler of Kilcash and his wife Katherine MacCarthy. His father was a younger son of James Butler, 9th 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.

Walter's mother was a daughter of Cormac na Haoine MacCarthy Reagh. Her father was the 13th prince of Carbery. Her family was Gaelic Irish. Walter's parents were both Catholic. Walter was one of four siblings, who are listed in his father's article.

Early life Butler was brought up as a devout Catholic and was known as "Walter of the Beads" (Irish: "Váitéar an Phaidrín").

His father, John of Kilcash, died on 10 May 1570 when Walter was about eleven. His brother James inherited but died unmarried sometime before September 1576 when Walter became the owner of the land around Kilcash Castle that had been his father's appanage. For some while he lived in a house in Drury Lane, London, with his grandson James, afterwards Duke of Ormond. In 1629, on the projected marriage of his grandson with Elizabeth Preston, Preston's only child, Charles I of England granted her marriage and the wardship of her lands to him by letters patent dated 8 September. After the marriage Ormond was recognised, on 9 October 1630, heir to the lands of his uncle, Earl Thomas, as well as of Sir John Butler of Kilcash, his father.

Ormond also suffered problems within his own family. His son Thomas, styled viscount Thurles, married the daughter of Sir John Poyntz of Gloucestershire against his wish. In 1619 Thomas was accidentally drowned at The Skerries, Isle of Anglesey, at the beginning of Walter's long imprisonment in the Fleet Prison. Viscount Thurles had been a prominent Catholic and at the time of his death, was being sent to England on charges of having garrisoned Kilkenny.

Death and timeline Ormond died at Carrick-on-Suir on 24 February 1633 and was buried in St. Canice's Cathedral, Kilkenny, on 18 June 1633. His eldest son having predeceased him, he was succeeded by his grandson, James Butler, later the 1st Duke of Ormond.

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