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The Most Honourable
The Marquess of Ormonde
The Most Honourable The Marquess of Ormonde
Member of Parliament; for County Kilkenny
	In office; 1801–1820
Member of Parliament; for County Kilkenny
	In office; 1796–1801
Member of Parliament; for Kilkenny City
	In office; 1796–1796
Personal details
Born	15 July 1774
Died	18 May 1838 (aged 63)
Political party	Pittite (from 1815); Whigs (1796–1815)
Education	Eton College
Military service
Allegiance	United Kingdom; Kingdom of Ireland
Branch/service	British Army
Years of service	British Army (1790–1802); Militia (1806–1838)
Rank	Colonel
Unit	14th Dragoons; (1790–1802); KilKenny Militia; (1806–1838)

James Wandesford Butler, 1st Marquess of Ormonde, KP (15 July 1774 – 18 May 1838) was an Irish nobleman and politician. He was the second son of John Butler, 17th Earl of Ormonde and Frances Susan Elizabeth Wandesford. He was born at Kilkenny castle on 15 July 1774.

Butler was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Kilkenny City in the Irish House of Commons in 1796 (he never took his seat and resigned after 3 months) and served then for County Kilkenny until the Act of Union in 1801. He sat subsequently for the Irish county constituency of County Kilkenny and was member of the UK House of Commons from 1801, until he succeeded to the peerage, as 19th Earl of Ormonde, in 1820, on the death of his elder brother, Walter, the 18th Earl and 1st Marquess of Ormonde in the Irish peerage (the latter title becoming extinct upon his death). He was a well-known advocate for the Irish people with his first speech at Westminster condemning the Irish Window tax and defending the right of Irish landowners.

Following his brother's death, James inherited some £450,000 in debts. As a result, The Ormonde Estates in Derbyshire were sold at auction on Thursday 27 November 1824. The Sutton Hall Estate, including the Manor House, some 5,500 acres of land (which included coal mines), generated some £5,800 in rents alone, and was sold for £216,000 to the Manchester Spinner John Arkwright Esq. The Chilcote Estate, comprising 1,320 acres generating £2,200 annually, was sold to a Mr Robinson of Kingston, Surrey, for £87,000. The adjacent Cottage Park Farm, comprising 281 acres, was sold to a solicitor, Mr Cookney of Holborn (acting on behalf the brewer H. Worthington Esq). The sales generated £450,000.^[2]

Having joined the fashionable society in London,^[3] he became a companion of the Prince Regent. Subsequently, at the Prince's coronation as George IV, he was created a Peer of the United Kingdom, as Baron Ormonde, of Llanthony, in the county of Monmouth and in 1825, Marquess of Ormonde.

Marriage and children

He married Grace Louisa Staples, daughter of Rt. Hon. John Staples and Hon. Henrietta Molesworth (daughter of Richard Molesworth, 3rd Viscount Molesworth), on 12 October 1807. They had five sons and five daughters:^[4]

John Butler, 2nd Marquess of Ormonde (1808–1854), who married Frances Jane (d. 26 Aug. 1903), daughter of Gen. Hon. Sir Edward Paget, GCB
Lord Walter Wandesford Butler (1814–1861), Army officer
Captain Lord James Wandesford Butler (1815–1893), who married Lady Rachel Evelyn Russell, daughter of the 6th Duke of Bedford
Louisa Grace Butler (1816–1896), married Thomas Fortescue, 1st Baron Clermont
Lord Richard Molesworth Butler (1818–1838)
Lieut Lord Charles Wandesford Butler (1820–1857)
Lady Harriet Eleanor Butler (died 28 Sept 1885), married Robert Fowler, 1st son of Rt Rev Robert Fowler DD, Bishop of Ossory, Ferns and Leighlin
Anne Butler (died 1849), married John Wynne, of Hazlewood House, Sligo
Lady Elizabeth Butler (died 1892)
Lady Mary Charlotte Butler (died 1840)

In 1827, the London residence of Lord and Lady Ormonde was recorded as being 14 Weymouth Street, Westminster.^[5]

Elevation to Marquessate

Lord Ormonde's grandson, James Butler, 3rd Marquess of Ormonde is recorded as having written to the then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Benjamin Disraeli, regarding the restoration of the Dukedom of Ormonde in October 1868. Ormonde claimed that his grandfather, the 19th Earl of Ormond, had been advised by Lord Liverpool to apply for the restoration of the Dukedom, and that Lord Liverpool had advised him that in order to achieve this, he would first need to apply to be elevated from the rank of Earl to Marquess. An application was duly made, and James, 19th Earl of Ormond was granted the title Marquess of Ormonde in 1825. The 3rd Marquess believed that Lord Liverpool's loss of the Office of Prime Minister in 1827 frustrated this plan, and the 1st Marquess took no further action towards applying for the restoration of the Dukedom.^[6]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d BUTLER, Hon. James Wandesford (1774–1838), of Kilkenny Castle, co. Kilkenny, Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1820-1832, ed. D.R. Fisher, 2009, Available from Cambridge University Press
^ Leicester Chronicle, ‘Sale of the Ormonde Estates’, Sat 27 November 1824, page 4.
^ "History of Kilkenny Castle". Archived from the original on 2 March 2010. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
^ Burke's Peerage 61st Edition. London: Harrison and Sons. 1899. p. 1269.
^ The Morning Post, Monday 18 June 1827, page 2.
^ Disraeli, B., Gunn, J. A. W., Wiebe, M. G. (1982). Benjamin Disraeli Letters. United Kingdom: University of Toronto Press, p. 388

Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922, edited by B. M. Walker (Royal Irish Academy 1978)
Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages ^{[self-published source]} ^{[better source needed]}
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "K" (part 2)

Parliament of Ireland
Preceded by Hon. John Wandesford Butler James Wemys	Member of Parliament for Kilkenny City 1796 With: James Wemys	Succeeded by James Wemys Bryan Kavanagh
Preceded by William Brabazon Ponsonby Hon. John Wandesford Butler	Member of Parliament for County Kilkenny 1796–1801 With: William Brabazon Ponsonby	Parliament of Ireland abolished
Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency	Member of Parliament for County Kilkenny 1801–1820 With: William Ponsonby 1801–1806 Hon. George Ponsonby 1806 Hon. Frederick Ponsonby 1806–1820	Succeeded by Hon. Frederick Ponsonby Charles Clarke
Honorary titles
New title	Lord Lieutenant of Kilkenny 1831–1838	Succeeded by Viscount Duncannon
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Baron Ormonde 1821–1838	Succeeded by John Butler
Peerage of Ireland
New creation	Marquess of Ormonde 1825–1838	Succeeded by John Butler
Preceded by Walter Butler	Earl of Ormonde Earl of Ossory 1820–1838	Succeeded by John Butler