Butler (Lanesborough)
Family title
Lanesborough, Earl of
Estate(s)
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Butler (Lanesborough, Earl of) | "Miss Butler" of Belturbet, is listed as owning land in Leitrim in the 1870s. The Butler family were Earls of Lanesborough and held extensive property in counties Cavan and Fermanagh. They were connected through marriage to other families who owned land in Leitrim, notably the La Touche family. Robert Herbert Butler, 3rd Earl of Lanesborough, had married Elizabeth, daughter of David La Touche, in 1781. Mary Butler, the daughter of the 2nd Earl had married into the Ponsonby family, Earls of Bessborough. At the time of Griffiths Valuation in the 1850s Captain Humphrey Butler was among the principal lessors in the parish of Abbeylara, barony of Granard. In the 1870s, Miss Butler, with an address in London, was the owner of over 400 acres in County Longford. |
| Butler (Lanesborough) | Stephen Butler of Belturbet, county Cavan, died in 1662. His grandson Theophilus Butler represented county Cavan in Parliament and was raised to the peerage as Baron of Newtown-Butler in 1715. He was succeeded in 1723 by his brother Brinsley Butler, 2nd Baron, created Viscount Lanesborough in 1728. At the time of Griffith’s Valuation (1857) the 5th Earl of Lanesborough held an estate in the county Cavan parishes of Castleterra, Drumlane, Annagh, Urney and Annaghgelliff, which amounted to 7,946 acres in 1878 in addition to the 6,606 acres he owned in county Fermanagh. In the mid-1850s the grandson of the 1st Viscount’s fourth son, Captain Humphrey Butler of the Royal Navy, held lands in the parishes of Annagh and Drumlane, county Cavan. Humphrey Butler is also recorded as one of the principal lessors in the parish of Kilnamanagh, barony of Frenchpark, county Roscommon, at the time of Griffith's Valuation. At the same time Captain Humphrey Butler was among the principal lessors in the parish of Abbeylara, barony of Granard, Ccounty Longford. In the 1870s the representatives of Humphrey Butler, with an address at Shedfield Lodge, Farnham, England, owned over 600 acres in county Roscommon and 795 acres in county Fermanagh. In 1877 the trustees of Humphrey Butler's marriage to Eliza Margaret Tewart were offering over 600 acres for sale in the barony of Frenchpark. The Irish Times reported that the bidding was considered insufficient and the sale adjourned. In 1878, Miss Butler of England owned 971 acres in county Cavan and 432 acres in county Longford. |
| Marlay | The Marlays descend from a merchant of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The grandparents of Charles Brinsley Marlay were George Marlay and Lady Catherine Butler daughter of Brinsley, Earl of Lanesborough and his wife Lady Jane Rochfort, only daughter of Robert Ist Earl of Belvedere. Through this family connection Charles B Marlay inherited the Belvedere estate in Co Westmeath and assumed the name of Rochfort in 1867. In Griffith’s Valuation he is recorded as resident at Belvedere and a lessor in at least ten parishes, including in Ardnurcher, Ballymore, Castlelost and Kilkenny West. When C. B. Marlay died in 1912 the estate was inherited by his distant cousin, Colonel Charles Howard Bury (1881-1963), a keen mountaineer, who led the 1921 Mount Everest Expedition. Griffith’s Valuation records Louisa Catherine Marlay, the mother of Charles Brinsley Marley, holding three townlands in the parish of Lavey, county Cavan. In 1878, C. B. Marlay of Mullingar and England owned estates in counties Westmeath (9,059 acres), Cavan (1,688 acres), Louth (3,067 acres), Limerick (453 acres) and King’s County (38 acres). |
| Townsend (Honington Hall) | Frederick Townsend (1822-1905) was a botanist and MP for Stratford-on-Avon. He inherited Honington Hall, Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire, on the death of his uncle in 1873. In 1863, he married Mary Elizabeth, only child of the Reverend Robert Butler of Kilkenny. The Reverend Butler was a great grandson of Brinsley Butler, 1st Viscount Lanesborough. A lease in the Cavan County Archives would suggest Frederick had an interest in lands in county Cavan, including Sugarloaf house, from the time of his marriage. However, he is not listed in Hussey de Burgh or the return of owners of one acre. |
| Berry (Wardenstown) | Richard Berry of Wardenstown, county Westmeath, married Alice daughter of Thomas Smyth of Drumcree, county Westmeath, and had a daughter Mary, his heir. In 1726, Mary Berry married Humphrey Butler, who in 1756 was created 1st Earl of Lanesborough. Their son Brinsley became the 2nd Earl. The 2nd Earl married Jane daughter of Robert Rochfort, !st Earl of Belvedere and one of their daughters married George Marlay. Wardenstown was later in the possession of the Vandeleur family. |