Charles Butler, 1st Earl of Arran

Not to be confused with Richard Butler, 1st Earl of Arran.

Lieutenant-General Charles Butler, 1st Earl of Arran (of the second creation), de jure 3rd Duke of Ormonde (1671–1758) was an Anglo-Irish peer. His uncle Richard was the 1st Earl of Arran of the first creation. The titles were re-created for Charles in 1693. His elder brother, the 2nd Duke of Ormonde, was attainted during the Jacobite rising of 1715, but in 1721 Arran was allowed to buy the estate back. At the death of the 2nd Duke, he succeeded as de jure 3rd Duke of Ormonde in the Irish peerage but did not claim the title.

Charles Butler
Earl of Arran (Ireland)
Detail from portrait below
Tenure	1722–1758
Born	4 September 1671
Died	17 December 1758(1758-12-17) (aged 87)
Family	Butler dynasty
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Crew
Father	Thomas Butler, 6th Earl of Ossory
Mother	Emilia von Nassau

Birth and origin

Charles was born on 4 September 1671.^[1] He was the youngest son of Thomas Butler and his wife Emilia. His father was known as Lord Ossory and 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.^[2]

Charles's mother was Dutch. Her family was a cadet branch of the House of Nassau. Both parents were Protestant. They had married on 17 November 1659 N.S.^[3]

Family tree

Charles Butler with wife, parents, and other selected relatives.^[a] 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 Thomas 6th Earl Ossory 1633–1680 d.v.p.* Emilia von Nassau 1635–1688 Richard 1st Earl Arran 1639–1684 Walter B. of Garryricken d. 1700 d.v.p.* James 2nd Duke Ormond 1665–1745 Charles 1st Earl Arran 1671–1758 Elizabeth Crew d. 1756 Amelia Butler d. 1760 unmarried Thomas B. of Garryricken d. 1738 Elizabeth Butler d. 1750 unmarried 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)

He was one of eleven siblings,^[5] but not all seem to be known by name. Lists of his brothers and sisters can be found in his father's article.

Early life

 

Arms of Charles Butler, 1st Earl of Arran

Charles's father died in 1680^[6] when he was eight years old. In 1688 his grandfather, Lord Ormond, died.^[7] Charles's elder brother succeeded as 2nd Duke of Ormond. In 1693, Charles Butler was ennobled as Baron of Cloughgrenan, Viscount of Tullogh and Earl of Arran (of the second creation) in the Peerage of Ireland.^[8] Lord Arran, as he was now, was in the following year also made an English peer by creating him Baron Butler of Weston in County Huntingdon, in the Peerage of England.^[9]

Military career

Arran pursued a career in the Irish army. In 1697 he was appointed Colonel of the 6th Horse (later 5th Dragoon Guards), a post he held until 1703.^[10] In 1699 his brother James resigned his place in the bed chamber,^[11] which was given to Arran, who thus became Lord of the Bedchamber to King William III, which office he retained until the King's death in 1702.^[12] On 24 January 1702 he was promoted Brigadier General.^[13] In 1703 Arran was appointed Colonel of the 3rd Troop of Horse Guards, a post he held until 1715.^[14] On 1 January 1704 he was promoted Major General.^[15]

Marriage

On 3 June 1705 he married Elizabeth Crew, daughter of Thomas Crew, 2nd Baron Crew, by his second wife, Anne Armine, daughter of Sir William Armine, 2nd Baronet, in Oatlands near Weybridge in Surrey.^[16] The marriage was to stay childless.^[17]

 

Elizabeth, Countess of Arran, by C. F. Zincke

 

Portrait by James Thornhill

Further promotions

On 22 April 1708 he was promoted Lieutenant-General, his final rank in the Army.^[18] From November 1712 to 1714 he was Master-General of the Ordnance in Ireland.^[19]

Brother's attainder

His eldest brother, the 2nd duke of Ormond, got involved in the Jacobite rising of 1715. He was impeached for high treason by Lord Stanhope on 21 June 1715.^[20] He was attainted, whereupon all his honours were assumed to have been forfeit.^[21] In 1721 Arran was allowed by act of the English Parliament to buy back the family estates that had been forfeited under his brother's attainder.^[22]

Arran participated in the Atterbury Plot of the early 1720s.^[23] and should have been the commander of all Jacobite forces in England and Ireland.^[24] But the plot was betrayed and the rising never took place. On 2 January 1722, the Old Pretender (Jacobite "King James III") created Charles Duke of Arran in the Jacobite Peerage of England.^[25]

On 16 November 1745 N.S., his brother died in Avignon. It was later ruled that the attainder, enacted by the Parliament of Great Britain, applied to his British titles (i.e. those in the Peerages of England and Scotland) but not to his Irish titles. Lord Arran therefore de jure succeeded on his brother's death on 5 November 1745 as 3rd Duke of Ormonde in the Peerage of Ireland, but was not aware of this succession and never assumed the title.^[26]

The attainders of the Barony of Butler (of Moore Park) and the Lordship of Dingwall would be reversed in 1871. It, therefore, matters how the claims to these titles were transmitted. Both these titles had the particularity of being able to pass through the female line. In 1745 the claim to these titles, therefore, passed to Elizabeth Butler, his brother's only surviving child, who would therefore have been Baroness Dingwall and Baroness Butler in her own right (suo jure). Elizabeth died unmarried in 1750 and the claims passed to Arran, her uncle.^[27]

Death, succession, and timeline

Lord Arran died at his lodgings at Whitehall on 17 December 1758 and was buried in St. Margaret's Church, Westminster.^[17][28] On his death, the Earldom of Arran, the Barony of Butler (of Weston), and the Jacobite Dukedom of Arran (such as it was) became extinct, along with the Dukedom and Marquessate of Ormonde. The rest of his de jure Irish titles, including the Earldom of Ormonde, passed to his kinsman John Butler (de jure 15th Earl), but remained dormant.^[29] Arran's considerable estate was inherited by his unmarried sister Amelia^[30] and on her death in 1760 to John Butler.^[31]

His claims to the Barony of Butler (of Moore Park) and the Lordship of Dingwall passed to his niece, Frances Elliot, eldest daughter of Arran's sister Henrietta who had married the 1st Earl of Grantham.^[32] From Frances the claims eventually passed to the Earls Cowper (descendants of Lord Grantham's youngest daughter). In 1871 the attainder was finally reversed in favour of the 7th Earl.^[33]

Horace Walpole called Arran "an inoffensive old man, the last male of the illustrious house of Ormond ... and much respected by the Jacobites ...".^[34]

Timeline
Age	Date	Event
0	1671, 4 Sep	Born.^[1]
8	1680, 30 Jul	Father died.^[6]
13	1685, 6 Feb	Accession of King James II, succeeding King Charles II^[35]
16	1688, 21 Jul	His brother succeeded as 2nd Duke as their grandfather died.^[7]
17	1689, 13 Feb	Accession of William and Mary, succeeding King James II^[36]
21	1693, 8 Mar	Created Earl of Arran.^[8]
22	1694, 23 Jan	Created Baron Butler of Weston in England.^[9]
25–26	1697	Appointed Colonel of the 6th Horse (later 5th Dragoon Guards) until 1703.^[10]
27–28	1699	Appointed a lord of the bedchamber to King William III.^[12]
30	1702, 24 Jan	Promoted Brigadier General^[13]
30	1702, 8 Mar	Accession of Queen Anne, succeeding King William III^[37]
31–32	1703	Appointed Colonel of the 3rd Troop of Horse Guards.^[14]
32	1704, 1 Jan	Promoted Major-General^[15]
33	1705, 3 Jun	Married Elizabeth Crew in Surrey, England.^[16]
36	1708, 22 Apr	Promoted Lieutenant-General^[18]
41	1713, 11 Apr	Peace of Utrecht ended the War of the Spanish Succession.^[38]
42	1714, 1 Aug	Accession of King George I, succeeding Queen Anne^[39]
43	1715, 21 Jun	Brother impeached for treason^[20]
49–50	1721	Allowed to buy back his brother's estate^[22]
50	1722, 2 Jan	Created Duke of Arran by the Old Pretender^[25]
55	1727, 11 Jun	Accession of King George II, succeeding King George I^[40]
74	1745, 5 Nov	Succeeded his brother as the de jure 3rd Duke of Ormond^[26]
87	1758, 17 Dec	Died in London^[17]

Notes and references

Notes

1. This family tree is partly derived from the condensed Butler family tree pictured in Dunboyne.^[4] Also see the lists of siblings in the text.

Citations

1. Cokayne 1910, p. 226, line 10a. "was b. 4 Sep 1671."
2. Debrett 1828, p. 640. "Theobald le Boteler on whom that office [Chief Butler of Ireland] was conferred by King Henry II., 1177 ..."
3. Lodge 1789, p. 59, line 27. "He married 17 November 1659, N.S. the Lady Amelia Nassau, eldest daughter of Louis, Lord of Beverwaert ..."
4. Dunboyne 1968, pp. 16–17. "Butler Family Tree condensed"
5. Davies 2004, p. 226, right column. "The marriage produced eleven children ..."
6. Cokayne 1895, p. 150, line 28. "He [Ossory} d. v.p. of a violent fever, after four days illness, 30 July 1680 ..."
7. Airy 1886, p. 60, right column, line 22. "... he [Lord Ormond] died quietly of decay, not having, as he rejoyced to know, 'outlived his intellectuals.'"
8. Cokayne 1910, p. 226, line 10b. "On 8 Mar. 1693, he was cr. [created] Baron of Cloughgrenan, Viscount of Tullogh, and Earl of Arran [I. [Ireland] ]."
9. Cokayne 1910, p. 226, line 12. "On 23 Jan. 1693/4, he was cr. Baron Butler of Weston, co. Huntingdon, [E. [England] ]."
10. Cokayne 1910, p. 226, line 14. "Col. of the 6th Horse (now 5th Dragoon guards) 1697–1703;"
11. Handley 2004, p. 165, right column. "In February 1699 Ormond resigned his place in the bed chamber, which William then gave to his brother Charles, earl of Arran."
12. Cokayne 1910, p. 226, line 13. "He was Lord of the bed chamber to William III 1699–1702."
13. Cokayne 1910, p. 226, line 16a. "Brig. Gen. 24 Jan. 1702;"
14. Cokayne 1910, p. 226, line 15. "Col of the 3rd Troop of Horse Guards 1703–1715"
15. Cokayne 1910, p. 226, line 16b. "Major Gen. 1 Jan. 1704;"
16. Cokayne 1910, p. 226, line 29. "He m. [married], ... 3 June 1705 at Oatlands, Weybridge, Surrey, Elizabeth, 4th da. [daughter] and coh. [coheir] of Thomas (Crew), 2nd Lord Crew of Stene ..."
17. Cokayne 1910, p. 226, line 35. "He d. s.p. [died childless], in his 88th year, at his lodgings next the Tilt yard, Whitehall, 17 and was bur. 23 Dec. 1758, at St. Margarets, Westm. ..."
18. Cokayne 1910, p. 226, line 16c. "Lieut. Gen. 22 Apr. 1708;"
19. Cokayne 1910, p. 226, line 17. "Master-General of the Ordnance [I. [Ireland] ], Nov 1712–1714."
20. Smollett 1800, p. 314. "On the twenty-first day of June, Mr. Secretary Stanhope impeached James Duke of Ormond, of high-treason ..."
21. "No. 5357". The London Gazette. 20–23 August 1715. p. 1. Westminster, August 20. ... An act for the Attainder of James Duke of Ormond of High Treason, unless he shall render himself to Justice by a day certain therin mentioned.
22. Cokayne 1910, p. 226, line 20. "By Act of Parl. [E.] 1721 he was enabled to repurchase the family estates (forfeited by the attainder of his br., the duke of Ormonde, in 1715), which were thus preserved in the family."
23. Miller 1971, p. 259. "In London, in addition to Bishop Atterbury, there were ... Lords Orrery, Grey, North, Gower and Arran."
24. Miller 1971, p. 265. "Lord Arran would be General of all the forces in England and Ireland."
25. Ruvigny 1904, p. 14, line 2. "On the 2nd of January 1722 he was as 'Charles Butler' created by James III and VIII Duke of [?Arran] {E} with remainder to the heirs male of his body ..."]
26. Handley 2004, p. 167. "He [Ormond] was succeeded in his Irish peerages by his brother, the earl of Arran, who did not assume them."
27. Burke & Burke 1909, p. 1401, left column, line 6. "1. Elizabeth d. unm. [died unmarried] 20 April 1750."
28. Walcott 1847, p. 47. "1758 Dec. 17. Earl of Arran"
29. Burke & Burke 1909, p. 1401, left column, line 33. "... the Irish earldoms of Ormonde and Ossory, with the viscounty of Thurles, supposed to have fallen under the English attainder, became dormant, but were really vested in John Butler, of Kilcash ..."
30. Dunboyne 1968, p. 18. "While the 2nd Duke was in exile, his estates were bought in 1721 by his brother, the Earl of Arran, and settled first on their sister, Lady Amelia Butler, who inherited them when, in the words of Walpole 'a young heiress of 99'—she died two months short of her centenary—and secondly on John Butler of Kilcash, the representative of Richard, younger brother of the 1st Duke."
31. Burke & Burke 1915, p. 1550, right column, line 18. "2. Emilia, d.[died] unm. [unmaried] 1760."
32. Cokayne 1916, p. 368. "The Lady Frances Elliot, niece and h. of line, being eldest da. and coh. of Henry (Nassau de Overquerque), Earl of Grantham (1698–1754) by Henrietta, sister of Charles and James ... and the sole sister whose issue was then remaining."
33. Burke & Burke 1909, p. 483, left column. "He [Cowper] was declared, 15 Aug. 1871, to have inherited, as heir-general of Thomas, Earl of Ossory, son of James 1st Duke of Ormonde, the barony of Butler in the English Peerage, and that of Dingwall in the peerage of Scotland, the attainder of 1715 having been reversed in July 1871."
34. Walpole 1822, p. 332. "1758 – At the end of the year died Lord Arran, an inoffensive old man, the last male of the illustrious house of Ormond. He was chancellor of Oxford and much respected by the Jacobites  ..."
35. Fryde et al. 1986, p. 44, line 46. "James II. ... acc. 6 Feb. 1685 ..."
36. Fryde et al. 1986, p. 45, line 11. "William III. ... acc. 13 Feb. 1689 ..."
37. Fryde et al. 1986, p. 45, line 31. "Anne ... acc. 8 Mar. 1702 ..."
38. Miller 1971, p. 147, line 8. "On 11 April 1713 the peace was signed at Utrecht: in return for the acknowledgement of his grandson as Philip V of Spain, Louis had to recognize the Hanoverian and Protestant succession in England."
39. Fryde et al. 1986, p. 45, line 38. "George I … acc. 1 Aug. 1714;"
40. Fryde et al. 1986, p. 46, line 11. "George II … acc. 11 Jun. 1727;"

Sources

• Airy, Osmund (1886). "Butler, James, twelfth Earl and first Duke OF Ormonde(1610–1688)". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 8. New York: MacMillan and Co. pp. 52–60. (for his grandfather)
• 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.
• 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.
• Cokayne, George Edward (1895). The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant. Vol. 6 (1st ed.). London: George Bell and Sons. – N to R (for Ossory under Ormond)
• Cokayne, George Edward (1910). Gibbs, Vicary (ed.). The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). London: St Catherine Press. – Ab-Adam to Basing (for Arran)
• Cokayne, George Edward (1916). Gibbs, Vicary (ed.). The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant. Vol. 4 (2nd ed.). London: St Catherine Press. – Dacre to Dysart (for Dingwall)
• 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.
• Debrett, John (1828). Peerage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Vol. 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.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I., eds. (1986). Handbook of British Chronology. Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, No. 2 (3rd ed.). London: Offices of the Royal Historical Society. ISBN 0-86193-106-8. (for timeline)
• 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 his brother)
• Lodge, John (1789). The Peerage of Ireland. Vol. 4. Dublin: James Moore. – Viscounts (for Ossory under Butler, Viscount Mountgarrett)
• Miller, Peggy (1971). James: Old Pretender. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9780049230569.
• Ruvigny, Melville Henry, Marquis de (1904). Jacobite Peerage Baronetage Knightage and Grants of Honour. Edinburgh: T C & E C Jack.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Smollett, Tobias (1800). The History of England. Vol. 2 (A new ed.). London: T. Cadell. – From the revolution to the death of George the Second.
• Walcott, Rev. MacKenzie Edward Charles (1847). The History of the Parish Church of Saint Margaret, in Westminster. London: W. Blanchard & Sons.
• Walpole, Horace (1822). Memoires of the Last Ten Years of the Reign of George the Second. Vol. 2. London: John Murray. – 1756 to 1760

Military offices
Preceded by John Coy	Colonel of The Earl of Arran's Regiment of Horse 1697–1703	Succeeded by William Cadogan
Preceded by The Earl Rivers	Captain and Colonel of the 3rd Troop of Horse Guards 1703–1715	Succeeded by George Cholmondeley
Academic offices
Preceded by The Duke of Ormonde	Chancellor of the University of Oxford 1715–1759	Succeeded by The Earl of Westmorland
Peerage of England
New creation	Baron Butler 1694–1758	Extinct
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by James Butler	Duke of Ormonde (de jure) 1745–1758	Extinct
	Earl of Ormonde (de jure) 1745–1758	Succeeded by John Butler
New creation	Earl of Arran 1693–1758	Extinct