Baron Dunboyne

Barony of Dunboyne
Blazon
  • Arms: Or a Chief indented Azure overall three Escallops in bend counterchanged.
  • Crests: Out of a Ducal Coronet Or a Plume of five Ostrich Feathers and issuant therefrom a Demi Falcon rising Argent.
  • Supporters: Dexter: a Lion guardant Argent; Sinister: a Horse Sable maned tailed and hoofed Or
Creation date11 Jun 1541; 485 years ago (11 Jun 1541)
CreationSecond
Created byKing Henry VIII
PeeragePeerage of Ireland
First holderEdmond Butler, 1st Baron Dunboyne
Present holderRichard Pierce Theobald Butler, 20th Baron Dunboyne
Heir apparentthe Hon. Caspian Fitzwalter Butler
StatusExtant
SeatArgos Hill House
MottoTIMOR DOMINI FONS VITAE
The fear of the Lord is the fountain of life

Baron Dunboyne was a title first held by the Butler dynasty some time after the Norman invasion of Ireland.

History

Dunboyne was part of the Lordship of Meath. The Petit family also had land holdings in Mullingar. In 1227, Ralph Petit became Bishop of Meath. In that capacity, he founded a priory of the Blessed Virgin in Mullingar and he endowed this establishment with the townland of Kilbraynan (or Kilbrena) in Dunboyne, along with the rectory of Dunboyne, its tithes and other ecclesiastical revenues. A century later, Thomas Butler, son of Theobald Butler, 4th Chief Butler of Ireland, married Sinolda, heiress of William le Petit. In 1324, Butler was created Baron Dunboyne by prescription. In this way, the Dunboyne properties and titles passed to the Butlers. In 1541, the barony was created by patent in the Peerage of Ireland. The barons are alternately numbered from the early 14th century by numbers ten greater than the number dating to the patent (e.g. the 28th/18th Baron Dunboyne died May 19, 2004). The first baron of this sequence in turn married the heiress to an earlier line of Barons Dunboyne.

The family seat is Argo Hill House, near Rotherfield, East Sussex.

Barons Dunboyne (1324)

Kiltinan Castle, Fethard, County Tipperary, was the seat of the barons until the Reformation in Ireland.

Barons Dunboyne (1541)

The heir apparent is the present holder's son Hon. Caspian Fitzwalter Butler.

Family tree

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ As a Roman Catholic bishop, when the 12th/22nd baron inherited the titles, he feared that his vows of celibacy would lead to the extinguishment of the titles altogether. Following the Pope's refusal to release him from his vows, he converted from Roman Catholicism to Anglicanism and married late in life in the hope of fathering an heir. Following the death of a son in infancy, it looked like the title would indeed become extinct. However, a distant relative of the 2nd/12th baron was found in County Clare who succeeded to the title. His ancestry is as follows: James Butler, 2nd/12th Baron Dunboyne married Margaret O'Brien. Their son,
    • Edward Butler married Elizabeth Dobbin. Their son,
      • James Butler married Janet Cantwell, daughter of Captain John Cantwell. Their son,
        • Edward Butler, was the father of
          • James Butler (died 1774) was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cashel
          • Michael Butler (died 15 Aug 1776) married Mary O'Leary. Their son:
            • James Butler (died 22 May 1784) married Bridget Sheehy, daughter of Bartholomew Sheehy. He lived at Cragnagowra, County Clare. Their son:
              • James Butler, 13th/23rd Baron Dunboyne (born 25 July 1780), was the great-great-great-grandson of the 2nd/12th baron and fifth cousin of the 12th/22nd baron. He married Eleanor, daughter of David O’Connell, on 17 August 1799.

References

  1. ↑ "Parish history". Archived from the original on 13 February 2015.
  2. ↑ Mosley, ed. Burke's Peerage 10th Edition 2003 Vol.1 p.1212
  3. ↑ "Knockelly castle Fethard". fehard.com. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  4. ↑ Burke's Peerage, p.1212
  5. ↑ Edmund Lodge, "The peerage of the British empire as at present existing.", London 1832, p145

Attribution