James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde

The son of Thomas Butler, 6th Earl of Ossory and his wife Emilia (née van Nassau-Beverweerd),[2] and grandson of James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, Butler was born in Dublin and was educated in France and afterwards at Christ Church, Oxford.[3] On the death of his father on 30 July 1680 he became Baron Butler in the English peerage and Earl of Ossory by courtesy.[4] He obtained command of a cavalry regiment in Ireland in 1683,[4] and having received an appointment at court on the accession of James II, he served against the Duke of Monmouth at the Battle of Sedgemoor in July 1685.[4] Having succeeded his grandfather as Duke of Ormonde on 21 July 1688, he was appointed a Knight of the Order of the Garter on 28 September 1688.[5] In 1688 he also became Chancellor of Trinity College, Dublin[6] and Chancellor of the University of Oxford.[7]

In January and February 1689 he voted against the motion to put William of Orange and Mary on the throne and against the motion to declare that James II had abdicated it.[4] Nevertheless, he subsequently joined the forces of William of Orange, by whom he was made colonel of the Queen's Troop of Horse Guards on 20 April 1689, and commanded the Queen's Troop at the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690 during the Williamite War in Ireland.[4] In February 1691 he became Lord Lieutenant of Somerset.[4]

He served on the continent under William of Orange during the Nine Years' War and, having been promoted to major-general, he fought at the Battle of Steenkerque in August 1692 and the Battle of Landen in July 1693, where he was taken prisoner by the French and then exchanged for the Duke of Berwick, James II's illegitimate son.[4] He was promoted to lieutenant-general in 1694.[4]

After the accession of Queen Anne in March 1702, he became commander of the land forces co-operating with Sir George Rooke in Spain, where he fought in the Battle of Cádiz in August 1702 and the Battle of Vigo Bay in October 1702 during the War of the Spanish Succession.[4] Having been made a Privy Councillor, Ormonde succeeded Lord Rochester as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1703.[8]

Following the dismissal of the Duke of Marlborough, Ormonde was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Forces and colonel of the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards on 4 January 1711/2[9] and Captain-General on 26 February 1711/2.[10] In the Irish Parliament Ormonde and the majority of peers supported the Tory interest.[11]

Ormonde's position as Captain-General made him a personage of much importance in the crisis brought about by the death of Queen Anne and, during the last years of Queen Anne, Ormonde almost certainly had Jacobite leanings and corresponded with the Jacobite Court including his cousin, Piers Butler, 3rd Viscount Galmoye, who kept barrels of gunpowder at Kilkenny Castle.[21] King George I on his accession to the throne in August 1714 instituted extensive changes and excluded the Tories from royal favour.[22] Ormonde was stripped of his posts as Captain-General, as colonel of the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards and as Commander in Chief of the Forces with the first two posts going to the Duke of Marlborough[23] and the role of Commander-in-Chief going to the Earl of Stair. On 19 November 1714 Ormonde was instead made a member of the reconstituted Privy Council of Ireland.[24]

Accused of supporting the Jacobite rising of 1715, during which the rebels had shouted "High church and Ormond",[25] he was impeached for high treason by Lord Stanhope on 21 June 1715.[26] He might have avoided the impending storm of Parliamentary prosecution, if he had remained in England and stood trial but instead he chose to depart for France in August 1715[27] and initially stayed in Paris with Lord Bolingbroke.[28] On 20 August 1715 he was attainted, his estate forfeited, and honours extinguished.[29] The Earl Marshal was instructed to remove the names and armorial bearings of Ormonde and Bolingbroke from the list of peers[30] and Ormonde's banner as Knight of the Garter was taken down in St George's Chapel.[31]

On 20 June 1716, the Parliament of Ireland passed an act extinguishing the regalities and liberties of the county palatine of Tipperary; for vesting his estate in the crown[33] and for giving a reward of £10,000 for his apprehension, should he attempt to land in Ireland.[34] But the same parliament passed an act 24 June 1721, to enable his brother Charles Butler, 1st Earl of Arran, to purchase his estate, which he accordingly did.[35]

Ormonde subsequently moved to Spain[36] where he held discussions with Cardinal Alberoni.[37] He later took part in a Spanish and Jacobite plan to invade England and put James Francis Edward Stuart on the British throne in 1719, but his fleet was disbanded by a storm near Galicia.[38][39] In 1732 he moved to Avignon,[4] where he was seen in 1733 by the writer, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.[4] Ormonde died in exile on 16 November 1745, and was buried in Westminster Abbey on 22 May 1746.[4]

In 1682 he married Lady Anne Hyde, daughter of Viscount Hyde of Kenilworth; they had one daughter.[2] Following the death of his first wife (which is known to have caused him intense grief) in 1685, he married Lady Mary Somerset,[40] daughter of the Duke of Beaufort and Mary Capel in 1685;[2] they had a son and two daughters.[4] Mary was a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Anne.[41]

• List of deserters from James II to William of Orange

• Dunboyne, Patrick Theobald Tower Butler, Baron (1968), Butler Family History (2nd ed.), Kilkenny: Rothe House
• Handley, Stuart (2004), "Butler, James, second duke of Ormond (1665–1745)", in Matthew, Henry Colin Gray.; Harrison, Brian (eds.), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 9, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 163–168, ISBN 0-19-861359-8
• Hamilton, Elizabeth (1969). The Backstairs Dragon – a life of Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford. Hamish Hamilton. ISBN 978-0800805876.
• Historical Manuscripts Commission (HMC) (1902), Calendar of the Stuart Papers, 1, London: HM Stationery Office
• Lodge, John (1789). The Peerage of Ireland or, A Genealogical History of the Present Nobility of That Kingdom, Vol. IV.
• Salter, H.E. (1954). Chancellors of the University of Oxford, A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 3: The University of Oxford. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
• Smollett, Tobias (1800), The History of England, 2 (A new ed.), London: T. Cadell - From the revolution to the death of George the Second
• "Whitehall, September 28", The London Gazette, no. 2386, 27 September – 1 October 1688
• "Whitehall, January 4", The London Gazette, no. 4948, 3–5 January 1711
• "Whitehall, Feb. 26", The London Gazette, no. 4971, 26–28 February 1711
• "Hague, April 26 NS", The London Gazette, no. 4994, 19–22 April 1712
• "At the Court at St. James's, April 15, 1713", The London Gazette, no. 5112, 14–18 April 1713
• "St. James's, November 16", The London Gazette, no. 5278, 16–20 November 1714
• "Paris, August 9", The London Gazette, no. 5352, 2–6 August 1715
• "Westminster, August 20", The London Gazette, no. 5357, 20–23 August 1715
• "By the Lords Justices and Council of Ireland a Proclamation", The London Gazette, no. 5715, 24–27 January 1719
• "Paris March 15 [NS]", The London Gazette, no. 5727, 7–10 March 1719
• "Dublin Nov. 10", The London Gazette, no. 5799, 14–17 November 1719

• Earl of Clarendon, Edward (1736). A vindication of the conduct of James, Duke of Ormonde during his long and faithful administration in Ireland.
• Wilson, Rachel (2015). Elite Women in Ascendancy Ireland, 1690–1745: Imitation and Innovation. Boydell and Brewer, Woodbridge. ISBN 978-1783270392.

• Media related to James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde at Wikimedia Commons
• "Archival material relating to James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde". UK National Archives.

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ormonde, James Butler, 2nd Duke of". Encyclopædia Britannica. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 297–298.