Elizabeth Butler, Countess of Desmond
Elizabeth Butler, countess of Desmond and Lady Dingwall( c. 1585- 1628) was the only daughter of Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormond, or Black Tom, and his second wife, Elizabeth Sheffield.
Little is known about her early childhood but she did spend some time England near the court of Elizabeth I of England as her father was a key figure in Elizabethan politics.
As the tenth earl of Ormond had no surviving legitimate male heirs his earldom was supposed to transfer to his brother's( Sir Edmund Butler) eldest son in Cloghgrenan.
This succession, however, was jeopardised by the outbreak of rebellion in 1596 by Thomas' Cloghgrenan family.
Thus, in order to protect his earldom, Thomas instead arranged for Elizabeth to marry Edmund's youngest son, Theobald, her cousin, who was too young to be implicated in the plot.
They received official permission from the dying queen in Christmas 1602 and soon after her death, James I ennobled Theobald as the viscount of Tulleophelim.
Despite his title, Theobald was neither wealthy nor influential and he relied upon his uncle and father- in- law, Black Tom, who proved reluctant to help out the newlyweds.
Theobald blamed his wife and allegedly abused Elizabeth.
They remained childless and after Theobald's death in 1613 the earldom of Ormond passed to Black Tom's newly anointed preferred heir, Walter Butler, the future eleventh earl of Ormond.
Financially destitute, Elizabeth had to find another husband.
In the Autumn of 1614 she married Sir Richard Preston, Lord Dingwall a courtier from Scotland despite her father's disapproval.
Black Tom died soon after and he was succeeded by Walter Butler.
Preston, therefore, challenged this succession and on 3 October 1618 Elizabeth and her spouse were awarded more than half of the Ormond estate, including Kilkenny castle, although it was several years before they were able to take up residence there due to the obstruction of Walter's lawyers.
In July 1619, Preston and Elizabeth were ennobled as the earl and countess of Desmond.
Tensions between Elizabeth and her family members led to her departure from Ireland in August 1624 and she appears never to have returned.
She died on 10 October 1628 and was eventually buried in Westminster Abbey.
Her husband, Richard, drowned at sea on the way to her funeral.
Their surviving daughter, Elizabeth Preston, would later marry her cousin, James Butler, future twelfth earl and first duke of Ormond.
James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormond
James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormond (c. 1359 – 7 September 1405), was a noble in the Peerage of Ireland.
He acceded to the title in 1382 and built Gowran Castle three years later in 1385 close to the centre of Gowran, making it his usual residence, whence his common epithet,
"The Earl of Gowran".
James died in Gowran Castle in 1405 and is buried in St. Mary's Collegiate Church Gowran together with his father James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormond, his grandfather James Butler, 1st Earl of Ormond and his great great grandfather Edmund Butler, Earl of Carrick and 6th Chief Butler of Ireland.
James the 2nd Earl was usually called The Noble Earl, being a great-grandson, through his mother, Eleanor de Bohun, of King Edward I of England.
Anne Hankford
Anne Hankford( c. 1431 – 13 November 1485) was the first wife of Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond( c. 1426- 3 August 1515).
She was the great- grandmother of Anne Boleyn
Anne Welles, Countess of Ormond
Anne Butler, Countess of Ormond (née Welles; 1360 – 13 November 1397), was the first wife of Irish noble James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormond, and the mother of James Butler, 4th Earl of Ormond.
She was the first countess of Ormond to live at Kilkenny Castle, Ireland.
According to Frederick Tupper, Professor of English at the University of Vermont, she was commemorated as "Anelida, Queen of Armenia" in Geoffrey Chaucer's poem "Anelida and Arcite".
Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire
Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire( née Lady Elizabeth Howard; c. 1480 – 3 April 1538) was an English noblewoman, noted for being the mother of Anne Boleyn and as such the maternal grandmother of Elizabeth I of England.
The eldest daughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk and his first wife Elizabeth Tilney, she married Thomas Boleyn sometime in the later 15th century.
Elizabeth became Viscountess Rochford in 1525 when her husband was elevated to the peerage, subsequently becoming Countess of Ormond in 1527 and Countess of Wiltshire in 1529.
Anne Yeats
Anne Butler Yeats( 26 February 1919 – 4 July 2001) was an Irish painter, costume and stage designer.
Joan de Beauchamp, Countess of Ormond
Joan Beauchamp, Countess of Ormond( 1396 – 3 or 5 August 1430) was the first wife of James Butler, 4th Earl of Ormond, and the mother of his five children.
Their principal residence was Kilkenny Castle in Ireland.
James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond
James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond and 2nd Earl of Ossory( 149628 October 1546), known as The Lame, was the son of Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond and Margaret Fitzgerald, Countess of Ormond.
He was created, in 1535, Viscount Thurles, and was confirmed by Act of Parliament, 6 November 1541, in the Earldom of Ormond, as 9th Earl with the pre-eminence of the original earls.
His death by poisoning in London has remained an unsolved mystery to this day.
Elizabeth Darcy, Countess of Ormond
Elizabeth Butler ("nee" Darcy), Countess of Ormond (3 April 1332 – 24 March 1390) was the wife of Irish peer James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormond, and the mother of his six children, including James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormond.
Joan Fitzgerald, Countess of Ormond
Joan Fitzgerald, Countess of Ormond, Countess of Desmond( ca. 1509 or ca.
1514 – 2 January 1565) was an Irish noblewoman and heiress, a member of the Norman Fitzgerald family, who were also known as the" Geraldines".
She married three times.
Her first husband was James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond, who had been proposed as a bridegroom for Anne Boleyn in 1522 to settle a dispute over the title and estates of the Earldom of Ormond.
Her second husband was courtier Sir Francis Bryan.
Her third marriage to Gerald FitzGerald, 15th Earl of Desmond brought peace to Ireland for a few years until he broke his truce with her eldest son Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormond and warfare broke out between the rival Butler and Fitzgerald clans, who had been hereditary enemies for many generations.
Joan carried on an amicable correspondence with Queen Elizabeth I of England who recognised Joan's skill in diplomacy, and relied upon her to restore and keep the precarious peace in Munster.

Question: Where did Anne Welles, Countess Of Ormond's husband die?
Answer: Gowran