Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormonde and 4th Earl of Ossory (1569 – 1632/3), was an Irish peer, the son of John Butler of Kilcash (who was the son of the 9th Earl) and of Lady Katherine MacCarthy, herself the daughter of Cormac na Haoine MacCarthy Reagh, 10th Prince of Carbery.[1] He inherited the earldom because his uncle Thomas (Black Tom or Thomas Dubh) had died without legitimate male issue.
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He served as a Member of Parliament for Tipperary. Consistently a devout Catholic, he was known as "Walter of the Beads". His claim to the family estates was thwarted by James I of England. The failure of Henry VIII of England's policy of maintaining a balance of power between the Butlers and Geraldines had been made all too apparent by the Battle of Affane. King James sought a different solution, by engineering the marriage of Black Tom's daughter and heiress, Elizabeth Butler, with one of his own Scottish favourites, Richard Preston. He made Preston Earl of Desmond and awarded Elizabeth instead of Walter, most of the Ormond estates.
After much time and money had been spent in litigation, King James made an award which Earl Walter refused to submit to. He was thereupon, in 1617, committed to the Fleet prison, where he remained for eight years in great want, no rents reaching him from his estate. James meanwhile brought a writ of quo warranto against him for the county palatine of Tipperary, which had been vested in the head of the family for nearly four hundred years, and which could not therefore under any circumstances have belonged to his cousin Elizabeth, the wife of Preston; no answer was made to the writ, if indeed an opportunity was afforded for answer, and James took the county palatine into his own hands.
Earl Walter was set at liberty in 1625 and a large part of his estates restored to him. For some while he lived in a house in Drury Lane, London, with his grandson James, afterwards Duke of Ormonde. In 1629, on the projected marriage of his grandson and Elizabeth Preston, Charles I of England granted her marriage and the wardship of her lands to him by letters patent dated 8 Sept. After the marriage he was recognised, 9 Oct. 1630, as heir to the lands of his uncle, Earl Thomas, as well as of Sir John Butler his father. Walter also suffered problems within his own family. His son Thomas, Viscount Thurles, married the daughter of Sir John Poyntz of Gloucestershire against Walter's wish, and years later, he was accidentally drowned at The Skerries, Isle of Anglesey at the beginning of Walter's long imprisonment in the Fleet Prison. Viscount Thurles was a prominent Catholic and at the time of his death, was being sent to England on charges of having garrisoned Kilkenny.
He died at Carrick-on-Suir on 24 Feb. 1632-3, and was buried in St. Canice's Cathedral, Kilkenny on 18 June 1633.
He married his second cousin Hon. Helen Butler, (also known as Ellen) daughter of Edmund Butler, 2nd Viscount Mountgarret and Grizel FitzPatrick. Their common great-grandfather was Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond. Their children were:
| Peerage of Ireland | ||
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| Preceded by Thomas Butler |
Earl of Ormonde 1614–1632/3 |
Succeeded by James Butler |