Margaret Magennis, Viscountess Iveagh (1673–1744), née Burke and also known as Margaret Butler, was the mother of John Butler, the 15th Earl of Ormond. She is remembered by the song A Lament for Kilcash.[1]

Birth and origins

Margaret was born in 1673 as the eldest child of William Burke and his wife Helen MacCarty.[2][a] Her father was the 7th Earl of Clanricarde. He had been married once before and Richard Burke, 8th Earl of Clanricarde and John Burke, 9th Earl of Clanricarde were her half-brothers from this marriage. Her mother was the eldest daughter of Donough MacCarty, 1st Earl of Clancarty. She also had been married once before, but that marriage had been childless.

Family tree

Margaret (red frame) with two of her three husbands, one notable child, parents and other notable relatives. Earls of Clanricarde with beige background, earl and duke of Ormond light cyan background.

Ulick
Burke
3rd Earl
Clanricarde
d. 1601		Thomas
Butler
Viscount
Thurles
d. 1619
Sir
William
Burke
d. 1625		Donough
1st Earl
Clancarty
1594–1665		Eleanor
Butler
1612–1682		James
Butler
1st Duke
Ormond
1610–1688
William
Burke
7th Earl
Clanricarde
d. 1687		Helen
MacCarty
d. 1722		Justin
Viscount
Mount-
cashel
d. 1694
Bryan
Magennis
5th
Vicount
Iveagh		Margaret
Burke
1673–1744		Thomas
Butler
of
Garryricken
d. 1738		Ulick
Burke
d. 1691		Honora
Burke
1674–1698
John
de jure
15th Earl
Ormond
d. 1766

First husband on the left, second on the right.

She heads the list of siblings below as the eldest:[a]

  1. Margaret (1673–1744), the subject of this article;
  2. William, who died childless in France;[3][a]
  3. Thomas (died 1688), who was killed at Buda, Hungary;[4][a][b]
  4. Ulick (1670–1691), who was created Viscount of Galway and fell at the Battle of Aughrim fighting for the Jacobites;[5][a]
  5. Honora (1674–1698), who married first Patrick Sarsfield and then the Duke of Berwick.[6][7][a]

She was raised as a Roman Catholic.

First marriage

Margaret married twice. She married firstly in 1689 Bryan Magennis, 5th Viscount Iveagh, from County Down in Ulster.[8] He supported King James II, was attainted and took Austrian service. He died in 1693. The marriage seems to have been childless.

Second marriage

In 1696 she married secondly Colonel Thomas Butler of Garryricken, also known as Thomas Butler of Kilcash,[9] the grandson of Richard Butler of Kilcash.[10] With him, she had eight children, three sons and five daughters:

  1. Richard Butler (died 1711), who died following a fall from his horse at Kilcash.[11]
  2. Walter Butler, who died of smallpox at the Royal Academy at Paris.[12]
  3. John Butler (died 1766), who became the 15th Earl of Ormond and inherited the estates of Richard Butler, 1st Earl of Arran.[13]
  4. Mary Butler, who married Bryan Cavanagh, of Borris, County Carlow.[14]
  5. Honora Butler (died 1730), who married Valentine, Lord Kenmare, in November 1720.[15]
  6. Hellen Butler, who married firstly Mr Esmond, and secondly, Richard Butler of Westcourt.[16]
  7. Margaret Butler (died 1743), who married George Matthew of Thurles, afterward of Thomastown.[17]
  8. Catharine Butler, who became the third wife of James Mandeville, of Ballydyne.[18]

Death

She died on 19 July 1744 in Kilcash Castle.[10] She is buried in the Butler Mausoleum at Kilcash. She is also remembered by the Irish song A Lament for Kilcash,[1] written much later, in the 19th century, to her memory.

Notes and references

  1. ^ a b c d e f Lodge by error ignores Clanricarde's second marriage to Helen MacCarty and lists all the children as born by Lettice Shirley, his first wife.
  2. ^ There is some error here as the siege of Buda was in 1686.
  1. ^ a b Mangan 1850, p. 197: "A LAMENT FOR KILCASH"
  2. ^ Lodge 1789, p. 138, line 27: "Margaret, born in 1673 and married first in 1689 to Bryan Viscount Magennis, of Iveagh who dying in 1692, she remarried in 1696 with Thomas Butler of Kilcash in the co. of Tipperary, Esq.; where she died his widow, 19 July 1744."
  3. ^ Lodge 1789a, p. 138, line 26: "William died in his minority in France."
  4. ^ Lodge 1789a, p. 138, line 11: "Thomas, who was killed in 1688 at the siege of Buda, in Hungary, then possessed by the Turks ..."
  5. ^ Lodge 1789a, p. 138, line 13: "Ulick, created by privy seal, dated at Whitehall, 9 May, and by patent 2 June 1687, baron of Tyaquin in the co. of Galway, and Viscount of Galway; was a nobleman of true courage and endowed with many good qualities; he commanded a regiment of foot in K. James's army; and in that station was killed at Aghrim, 12 July 1691, being not full 22 years old."
  6. ^ Burke 2005, p. 21: "Honora de Burgh was born c. 1675 at Portumna Castle co. Galway."
  7. ^ Lodge 1789a, p. 138, line 32: "Lady Honora (first married to Patrick Sarsfield, Earl of Lucan, who was killed in the battle of Landen, 29 July 1693, by whom she had one son who died without issue in Flanders, and secondly was married in the chapel of the Castle of St Germains, near Paris, in 1695, to James Fitz-James, Duke of Berwick, Marshal, Duke and Peer of France, eldest natural son of James II. by Arabella, sister to John Churchill Duke of Marlborough, one of the greatest generals in Europe, who was killed at the siege of Philipsburgh, 12 June 1734, leaving issue by her (who died at Pezenas, a city of Languedoc, in 1698), James-Francis ..."
  8. ^ Cokayne 1893, p. 200, line 11: "He [Bryan] m. in 1689 Margaret, da. of William (DE BURGH), 7th EARL OF CLANRICARDE [I.] ... "
  9. ^ Debrett 1838, p. 523: "Thomas of Kilcash m. Margaret, eldest daughter of William, earl of Clanricarde and widow of Bryant Magennis, viscount Iveagh and d. 1738 ...."
  10. ^ a b Cokayne 1893, p. 200, line 16: "His [Bryan Magennis] widow, who was b. 1673, m. in 1696 Thomas BUTLER of Kilcash, co. Tipperary, and d. there (a widow) 19 July 1744."
  11. ^ Lodge 1789b, p. 42, line 27: "Richard, killed by a fall from his horse at Kilcash, in 1711."
  12. ^ Lodge 1789b, p. 42, line 29: "Walter, who died, unmarried, of smallpox at the royal Academy at Paris."
  13. ^ Lodge 1789b, p. 42, line 31: "John Butler of Kilcash, Esq., who succeeded to the estates of the Earl of Arran, and married in April 1763 the daughter of ..."
  14. ^ Lodge 1789b, p. 42, line 38: "Daughter Mary, married to Bryan Cavenagh, of Borras in the county of Carlow, Esq. who left her a widow 22 April 1741 ..."
  15. ^ Lodge 1789b, p. 42, line 41: "Honora, in November 1720, to Valentine, Lord Kenmare, and died of the smallpox in 1730, having two sons ... "
  16. ^ Lodge 1789b, p. 43, line 6: "Hellen, first to Mr Esmond, brother to Sir Lawrence and John Esmond, Barts., who died 17 December 1736, by the accidental discharge of his gun when fowling; and secondly to Richard Butler of Westcourt, as before observed."
  17. ^ Lodge 1789b, p. 43, line 10: "Margaret to George Matthew of Thurles, afterwards of Thomastown, Esq.; and died 30 July 1743, leaving one daughter, who died in 1752."
  18. ^ Lodge 1789b, p. 43, line 13: "Catherine, became the third wife of James Mandeville, of Ballydyne in Tipperary, Esq.; and had no issue."

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