James Butler 1st Earl of Ormond

Alfred Webb

A Compendium of Irish Biography

1878

Butler, James, 1st Earl of Ormond, was a minor at his father's death. He married Eleanor de Bohun, grand-daughter of Edward I., was created Earl of Ormond, and had a grant made him of the annual rent of the City of Waterford. This marriage ultimately procured him still more considerable advantages — particularly the grant of the "Regalities and Liberties of Tipperary," and the rights of a palatine in that county. As soon as he was of age (about 1327) he engaged on the side of his cousin, the Earl of Kildare, in his wars with the De Burghs and Le Poers. In 1329 and 1330 he was at war with the O'Nolans and MacGeoghegans. He founded, in 1336, the Friary of Little Carrick, in the County of Waterford, and dying, 6th January 1337-'8, was buried at Gowran.

Sources

271. Ormond, Duke of, Life 1610-'88: Thomas A. Carte, M.A. 6 vols. Oxford, 1851.

Featured Books

An American widow’s account of her travels in Ireland in 1844–45 on the eve of the Great Famine:

Ireland’s Welcome to the Stranger

Sailing from New York, she set out to determine the condition of the Irish poor and discover why so many were emigrating to her home country.

Mrs Nicholson’s recollections of her tour among the peasantry are still revealing and gripping today.

The author returned to Ireland in 1847–49 to help with famine relief and recorded those experiences in the rather harrowing: Annals of the Famine in Ireland.

See more of our books »

The Ocean Plague: or, A Voyage to Quebec in an Irish Emigrant Vessel is based upon the diary of Robert Whyte who, in 1847, crossed the Atlantic from Dublin to Quebec in an Irish emigrant ship. His account of the journey provides invaluable eyewitness testimony to the trauma and tragedy that many emigrants had to face en route to their new lives in Canada and America. The book is also available in Kindle.

The Irish in America by John F. Maguire provides a substantial and invaluable account of the extreme difficulties faced by pioneer Irish immigrants in North America during the 19th Century. The book is also available in Kindle.

The Scotch-Irish in America tells the story of how the hardy breed of men and women, who in America came to be known as the ‘Scotch-Irish’, was forged in the north of Ireland during the seventeenth century. It relates the circumstances under which the great exodus to the New World began, the trials and tribulations faced by these tough American pioneers and the enduring influence they came to exert on the politics, education and religion of the country.

Show fewer titles