Walter Butler, 16th Earl of Ormonde and 9th Earl of Ossory (de jure; 10 June 1703 – 2 June 1783), succeeded his first cousin as de jure Earl of Ormonde but did not assume the honours.

Ancestry

• Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond
• Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles
  Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles
  Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles was the son of Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond and the Honorable Helen Butler. He resided at Thurles Castle, Thurles, County Tipperary...
  
  , eldest son of the 11th Earl who predeceased his father.

• James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde
  James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde
  James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde PC was an Irish statesman and soldier. He was the second of the Kilcash branch of the family to inherit the earldom. He was the friend of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, who appointeed him commander of the Cavalier forces in Ireland. From 1641 to 1647, he...
  
  , eldest son of Viscount Thurles.

• Thomas Butler, 6th Earl of Ossory
  Thomas Butler, 6th Earl of Ossory
  Vice-Admiral Thomas Butler, 6th Earl of Ossory, KG, PC, PC was the eldest son of the James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde and Lady Elizabeth Preston, and an Irish politician born at Kilkenny Castle.-Life and career:...
  
  , eldest son of the 1st Duke who predeceased his father.

• James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde
  James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde
  James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde KG KT was an Irish statesman and soldier. He was the third of the Kilcash branch of the family to inherit the earldom of Ormonde...
  
  , grandson of the 1st Duke.
• Charles Butler, 1st Earl of Arran
  Charles Butler, 1st Earl of Arran
  Lieutenant-General Charles Butler, 1st Earl of Arran , de jure 3rd Duke of Ormonde was an Irish peer. His uncle Richard was the 1st Earl of Arran of the first creation. The titles were re-created for Charles in 1693. He was younger son of the 6th Earl of Ossory and Emilia von Nassau...
  
  , grandson of the 1st Duke, brother of the 2nd Duke.

• Richard Butler of Kilcash
  Richard Butler of Kilcash
  Richard Butler of Kilcash was the second son of Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles and the grandson of Walter Butler of Kilcash who inherited the earldom of Ormond from his uncle. While his father resided at Thurles Castle, Thurles, County Tipperary, Richard occupied the family estate of Kilcash...
  
  , the youngest son of Viscount Thurles, brother of the 1st Duke.

• Walter Butler of Garryricken, eldest son of Richard, great-grandson of the 11 Earl. Garryricken is a townland
  Townland
  A townland or bally is a small geographical division of land used in Ireland. The townland system is of Gaelic origin—most townlands are believed to pre-date the Norman invasion and most have names derived from the Irish language...
  
   in the barony
  Barony (Ireland)
  In Ireland, a barony is a historical subdivision of a county. They were created, like the counties, in the centuries after the Norman invasion, and were analogous to the hundreds into which the counties of England were divided. In early use they were also called cantreds...
  
   of Knocktopher
  Knocktopher
  Knocktopher is a village in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is situated on the M9 between the villages of Stoneyford to the north, and Ballyhale to the south....
  
  , County Kilkenny
  County Kilkenny
  County Kilkenny is a county in Ireland. It is part of the South-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the city of Kilkenny. The territory of the county was the core part of the ancient Irish Kingdom of Osraige which in turn was the core of the Diocese of...
  
  .

• Thomas Butler of Garryricken (Colonel)
  Thomas Butler of Garryricken (Colonel)
  Thomas Butler of Kilcash was the son of Walter Butler of Garryricken and Lady Mary Plunket, only daughter of Christopher, 2nd Earl of Fingall. He succeeded to the estates of his grandfather - Richard Butler of Kilcash...
  
  , eldest son of Walter.

• John Butler, 15th Earl of Ormonde
  John Butler, 15th Earl of Ormonde
  John Butler, 15th Earl of Ormonde and 8th Earl of Ossory was born before 1744 and died on 24 June 1766. He was the son of Thomas Butler of Garryricken and Lady Margaret Burke who was the daughter of William Burke, the Earl of Clanricarde...
  
  , son of Colonel Thomas, great-grand-nephew of the 1st Duke.

• John Butler of Garryricken, second son of Walter and brother of Colonel Thomas, grand-nephew of the 1st Duke.

• Walter Butler, 16th Earl of Ormonde, son of John, great-great-great-grandson of the 11th Earl and the first cousin of the 15th Earl.

Marriage and issue

He married Ellen (Eleanor) Morris, eldest daughter of Nicholas Morris of the Court, County Dublin, on 19 December 1732. They had a son and two daughters:

• John Butler, 17th Earl of Ormonde
  John Butler, 17th Earl of Ormonde
  John Butler, 17th Earl of Ormonde and 10th Earl of Ossory was an Irish peer and Member of Parliament . He represented Gowran between 1776 and 1783, and Kilkenny City between 1783 and 1792...
  
   (1740–1795), married with Frances Susan Elizabeth Wandesford (also known as Anne). on 26 February 1769. She was the daughter and heiress of John Wandesford, 1st Earl of Wandesford the 5th Viscount Castlecomer
  Viscount Castlecomer
  Viscount Castlecomer was a title in the Peerage of Ireland created on 15 March 1707, along with the title Baron Wandesford, for Sir Christopher Wandesford, Bt. His father, Christopher Wandesford, had been created a baronet of Kirklington, Yorkshire on 5 August 1662 in the Baronetage of England. The...
  
   (later created Earl of Wandesford). When the Earl of Wandesford died in 1784, his titles became extinct, but his estates devolved on John Butler, (in right of Lady Anne).
• the elder daughter married Cavanagh, of Borris, County Carlow,
• the younger daughter married another Cavanagh of the same family,

Career

Following his inheritance of the estates, Walter decided to move into Kilkenny Castle

Kilkenny Castle

Kilkenny Castle is a castle in Kilkenny, Ireland built in 1195 by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke to control a fording-point of the River Nore and the junction of several routeways...

 which was in a very dilapidated state. His son, John, had married the heiress Anne Wandesford of Castlecomer, and Walter and John spent much of his inheritance on the castle. They re-routed the old approach road away from the castle, built a new road, and then landscaped and planted the Castle Park and the road much as it is today. They built the beautiful stables and courtyards across this road and finally Walter moved to his newly-built dower house, Butler House beyond those stables. After his father's death, John Butler reclaimed the title of seventeenth Earl of Ormonde. This was confirmed in 1791. The Butlers rapidly re-established their position and prestige. They always had large areas of land in counties Kilkenny

County Kilkenny

County Kilkenny is a county in Ireland. It is part of the South-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the city of Kilkenny. The territory of the county was the core part of the ancient Irish Kingdom of Osraige which in turn was the core of the Diocese of...

 and Tipperary

County Tipperary

County Tipperary is a county of Ireland. It is located in the province of Munster and is named after the town of Tipperary. The area of the county does not have a single local authority; local government is split between two authorities. In North Tipperary, part of the Mid-West Region, local...

, and now were able to become the largest landowners in the south-east.