Home > James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde

Having succeeded his grandfather as duke of Ormonde in 1688, he joined William of Orange, by whom he was made colonel of a regiment of horse-guards, which he commanded at the Battle of the Boyne. In 1691 he served on the continent under William, and after the accession of Queen Anne he became commander of the land forces co-operating with Sir George Rooke in Spain, where he fought in the Battle of Vigo Bay. Having been made a Privy CouncilThis article concerns the British Sovereign's Privy Council. See also Privy Council (disambiguation). Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council is a body of advisors to the British Sovereign. Formerly, the Council was a powerful institution, but is nowlor, Ormonde succeeded Rochester as viceroy of Ireland in 1703, a post which he held till 1707.

On the dismissal of the Duke of MarlboroughJohn Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough ( May 26, 1650 June 16, 1722), in full The Most Noble Captain-General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, Earl of Marlborough, Baron Churchill of Sandridge, Lord Churchill of Eyemouth, KG, PC (in addition to th in 1711, Ormonde was appointed captain-general in his place, and allowed himself to be made the tool of the ToryThe term Tory derives from the Tory Party the ancestor of the modern UK Conservative Party. To this day it is often used as a shortened alternative for Conservative. A similar usage for Tory exists in Canada to describe the Conservative Party. It was also ministry, whose policy was to carry on the warThe War of the Spanish Succession ( 1702 1713) was a European war; the North American portion of this war was Queen Anne's War. The war was fought over the European balance of power; the Spanish King Charles II had willed his kingdom to Philip V, a grands in the NetherlandsDutch redirects here. For other uses, see Dutch (disambiguation). The Netherlands ( Dutch: Nederland is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, a constitutional monarchy. It is located in northwestern Europe and borders the North Sea, Belgium while giving secret orders to Ormonde to take no active part in supporting their allies under Prince Eugene of SavoyFrancois-Eugene, Prince of Savoy-Carignan known as Prinz Eugen in German ( October 16, 1663- April 24, 1736) was a noted general. Born in Paris, and a prince of the House of Savoy, Eugene was the son of the Comte de Soissons, a French nobleman. It was rum.

Ormonde’s position as captain-general made him a personage of much importance in the crisis brought about by the death of Queen Anne. Though he had supported the Glorious RevolutionThe Glorious Revolution ( 1688- 1689) is an event in which the Stuart king James II (James VII of Scotland) was removed from his thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland, and replaced by William of the House of Orange and his wife and joint sovereign Mary of 1688, he had traditional Tory sympathies, and politically followed Lord Bolingbroke. During the last years of Queen Anne, Ormonde almost certainly had Jacobite leanings, and corresponded with James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick. He joined Bolingbroke and Oxford, however, in signing the proclamation of King George I, by whom he was nevertheless deprived of the captain-generalship.

In June 1715 he was impeached, and fled to France, where he for some time resided with Bolingbroke, and in 1716 his immense estates were confiscated to the crown by act of parliament, though by a subsequent act his brother, Charles Butler, earl of Arran, was enabled to repurchase them.

After taking part in the Jacobite rebellion of 1715, Ormonde settled in Spain, where he was in favour at court and enjoyed a pension from the crown. Towards the end of his life he resided much at Avignon, where he was seen in 1733 by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Ormonde died on 16 November 1745, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

With little of his grandfather’s ability, and inferior to him in elevation of character, Ormonde was nevertheless one of the great figures of his time. Handsome, dignified, magnanimous and open-handed, and free from the meanness, treachery and venality of many of his leading contemporaries, he enjoyed a popularity which, with greater stability of purpose, might have enabled him to exercise a more commanding influence over events.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. 1911 Britannica