Lieutenant-General Charles Butler, 1st Earl of Arran (of the second creation), ''

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' (; ; ) describes practices that are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. The phrase is often used in contrast with '' de facto'' ('from fa ...

'' 3rd Duke of Ormonde (1671–1758) was an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

peer. His uncle

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

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 The Jacobite rising of 1715 ( ; or 'the Fifteen') was the attempt by James Francis Edward Stuart, James Edward Stuart (the Old Pretender) to regain the thrones of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland and Kingdom of Scotland ...

, 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.

Birth and origin

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

heir apparent An heir apparent is a person who is first in the order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person. A person who is first in the current order of succession but could be displaced by the birth of a more e ...

James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond Lieutenant-General James FitzThomas Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond, KG, PC (19 October 1610 – 21 July 1688), was an Anglo-Irish statesman and soldier, known as Earl of Ormond from 1634 to 1642 and Marquess of Ormond from 1642 to 1661. Followin ...

, but predeceased him and so never became duke. His father's family, the

Butler dynasty Butler () is the name of a noble family whose members were, for several centuries, prominent in the administration of the Lordship of Ireland and the Kingdom of Ireland. They rose to their highest prominence as Dukes of Ormonde. The family ha ...

, was

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

and descended from Theobald Walter, who had been appointed Chief Butler of Ireland by King Henry II in 1177. Charles's mother was Dutch. Her family was a cadet branch of the

House of Nassau The House of Nassau is the name of a European aristocratic dynasty. The name originated with a lordship associated with Nassau Castle, which is located in what is now Nassau, Rhineland-Palatinate, Nassau in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. With t ...

. Both parents were Protestant. They had married on 17 November 1659 N.S. He was one of eleven siblings, 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

Charles's father died in 1680} when he was eight years old. In 1688 his grandfather, Lord Ormond, died. 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 The peerage of Ireland consists of those Peerage, titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lordship of Ireland, Lord or Monarchy of Ireland, King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great B ...

. 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 The Peerage of England comprises all peerages created in the Kingdom of England before the Act of Union in 1707. From that year, the Peerages of England and Scotland were closed to new creations, and new peers were created in a single Peerag ...

Military career

Arran pursued a career in the Irish army. In 1697 he was appointed Colonel of the 6th Horse (later

5th Dragoon Guards The 5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Dragoon Guards was a British army cavalry regiment, officially raised in January 1686 as Shrewsbury's Regiment of Horse or the Earl of Shrewsbury's Horse. By 1687, it was known as Langsdale's Horse, from ...

), a post he held until 1703. In 1699 his brother James resigned his place in the bed chamber, which was given to Arran, who thus became

Lord of the Bedchamber Gentleman of the Bedchamber was a title in the Royal Household of the Kingdom of England from the 11th century, later used also in the Kingdom of Great Britain. A Lord of the Bedchamber was a courtier in the Royal Household, the term being fir ...

King William III William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 1650 – 8 March 1702), also known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from 167 ...

, which office he retained until the King's death in 1702. On 24 January 1702 he was promoted Brigadier General. In 1703 Arran was appointed

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

of the 3rd Troop of Horse Guards, a post he held until 1715. On 1 January 1704 he was promoted Major General.

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 Sir William Armine, 2nd Baronet (14 July 1622 – 2 January 1658) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1646 to 1653. Armine was born at Ruckholt,Oatlands near

Weybridge Weybridge () is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge, Elmbridge district in Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. The settlement is recorded as ''Waigebrugge'' and ''Weibrugge'' in the 7th century and the name derives from a cro ...

in Surrey. The marriage was to stay childless.

Further promotions

On 22 April 1708 he was promoted

Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normall ...

, his final rank in the

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

. From November 1712 to 1714 he was

Master-General of the Ordnance The Master-General of the Ordnance (MGO) was a very senior British military position from 1415 to 2013 (except 1855–1895 and 1939–1958) with some changes to the name, usually held by a serving general. The Master-General of the Ordnance was ...

in Ireland.

Brother's attainder

His eldest brother, the 2nd duke of Ormond, got involved in the

. He was impeached for

high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its d ...

by Lord Stanhope on 21 June 1715. He was attainted by the Attainder of Duke of Ormonde Act 1714 ( 1 Geo. 1. St. 2. c. 17), whereupon all his honours were assumed to have been forfeit. In 1721 Arran was allowed by act of the British Parliament, the Crown Lands (Forfeited Estates) Act 1720 ( 7 Geo. 1. St. 1. c. 22), to buy back the family estates that had been forfeited under his brother's attainder. Arran participated in the

Atterbury Plot The Atterbury Plot was a conspiracy led by Francis Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester and Dean of Westminster, aimed at the restoration of the House of Stuart to the throne of Great Britain. It came some years after the unsuccessful Jacobite risin ...

of the early 1720s. and should have been the commander of all Jacobite forces in England and Ireland. 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 The Jacobite peerage includes those peerages created by James II and VII, and the subsequent Jacobite pretenders, after James's deposition from the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland following the Glorious Revolution of 1688. These creati ...

of England. On 16 November 1745 N.S., his brother died in

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. It was later ruled that the attainder, enacted by the

Parliament of Great Britain The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union 1707, Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a ...

, applied to his British titles (i.e. those in the Peerages of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

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) 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

, but was not aware of this succession and never assumed the title. 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.

Death, succession, and timeline

Lord Arran died at his lodgings at

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London, England. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It ...

on 17 December 1758 and was buried in St. Margaret's Church, Westminster.226, line 35
/> 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. Arran's considerable estate was inherited by his unmarried sister Amelia and on her death in 1760 to John Butler. 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. 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.

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (; 24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English Whig politician, writer, historian and antiquarian. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twickenham, southwest London ...

called Arran "an inoffensive old man, the last male of the illustrious house of Ormond ... and much respected by the Jacobites ...".

Notes and references

Notes

Citations

Sources

* (for his grandfather) * * * – N to R (for Ossory under Ormond) * – Ab-Adam to Basing (for Arran) * – Dacre to Dysart (for Dingwall) * * – Scotland and Ireland * * (for timeline) * (for his brother) * – Viscounts (for Ossory under Butler, Viscount Mountgarrett) * * * – From the revolution to the death of George the Second. * * – 1756 to 1760 {{DEFAULTSORT:Arran, Charles Butler, 1st Earl Of 1671 births 1758 deaths 17th-century Irish nobility 18th-century Irish people

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...

British Army lieutenant generals British Life Guards officers Chancellors of the University of Oxford 3 Dukes in the Jacobite peerage Irish Jacobites Peers created by James Francis Edward Stuart Peers of Ireland created by William III Peers of England created by William III People from County Tipperary Younger sons of earls