Richard Butler, 5th Viscount Mountgarret (died 27 February 1707) was an Irish soldier and politician.

Biography

Butler was the son of Edmund Butler, 4th Viscount Mountgarret and Lady Dorothy Tuchet, daughter of

Mervyn Tuchet, 2nd Earl of Castlehaven Mervyn Tuchet, 2nd Earl of Castlehaven (1593 – 14 May 1631; also spelled ''Mervin, Touchet''), was an English nobleman who was convicted of rape and sodomy and subsequently executed. A son of George Tuchet, 1st Earl of Castlehaven and 11th ...

. He was a captain in the

French Royal Army The French Royal Army () was the principal land force of the Kingdom of France. It served the Bourbon dynasty from the reign of Louis XIV in the mid-17th century to that of Charles X in the 19th, with an interlude from 1792 to 1814 and another du ...

. A devout

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, he was imprisoned for his faith in Liverpool in 1658 under

The Protectorate The Protectorate, officially the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, was the English form of government lasting from 16 December 1653 to 25 May 1659, under which the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotl ...

. On 5 April 1679 he succeeded to his father's

peerage A peerage is a legal system historically comprising various hereditary titles (and sometimes Life peer, non-hereditary titles) in a number of countries, and composed of assorted Imperial, royal and noble ranks, noble ranks. Peerages include: A ...

. In 1689, he was summoned to the

Irish House of Lords The Irish House of Lords was the upper house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from medieval times until the end of 1800. It was also the final court of appeal of the Kingdom of Ireland. It was modelled on the House of Lords of Englan ...

James II of England James II and VII (14 October 1633 – 16 September 1701) was King of England and Monarchy of Ireland, Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II of England, Charles II, on 6 February 1 ...

in the brief

Patriot Parliament Patriot Parliament is the name commonly used for the Irish Parliament session called by King James II during the Williamite War in Ireland which lasted from 1688 to 1691. The first since 1666, it held only one session, which lasted from 7 May ...

. He raised a regiment, of which he was colonel, in support of James II in the

Williamite War in Ireland The Williamite War in Ireland took place from March 1689 to October 1691. Fought between Jacobitism, Jacobite supporters of James II of England, James II and those of his successor, William III of England, William III, it resulted in a Williamit ...

.BUTLER, Richard, 5th Viscount Mountgarret.
Officers of the Jacobite Armies. Centre for Robert Burns Studies, University of Glasgow. Retrieved 15 February 2023. Despite his support for the Jacobites, he was not targeted by Williamite reprisals. He refused to take the

Oath of Supremacy The Oath of Supremacy required any person taking public or church office in the Kingdom of England, or in its subordinate Kingdom of Ireland, to swear allegiance to the monarch as Supreme Governor of the Church. Failure to do so was to be trea ...

when attending the Irish House of Lords in 1692, but in 1697 he secured a reversal of the outlawry passed against his grandfather, Richard Butler. He married, firstly, Emily Blundell, daughter of William Blundell and Anne Haggerston, in September 1661. Together they had three sons, including Butler's heir, Edmund. He married, secondly, Margaret Shee, daughter of Richard Shee, after 1682.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mountgarret, Richard Butler, 5th Viscount Year of birth uncertain 1707 deaths 17th-century Irish nobility 18th-century Irish nobility Irish Jacobites Irish soldiers Irish soldiers in the French Army Members of the Irish House of Lords Viscounts in the Peerage of Ireland