{40} Edward III Descents for Mary Butler, Wife of Ralph Standish Howard of Glossop

Ballyragget Castle, co. Kilkenny 

When Lord George Howard, the eldest son of the 6th Duke of Norfolk & his mistress-turned-duchess Jane Bickerton, made out his will in December 1720, he made his younger brother Lord Frederick Henry Howard his immediate heir to his estates, chiefly Holmes Hall in Rotherham, Yorkshire, and the manor of Glossop in Derbyshire. But should Lord Frederick die without male heirs, Glossop was to be held in trust for Lord George's nephew and godson, George Howard Standish, then fifteen years old. Lord George also left his nephew-godson a bequest of £1,000. Lord George had arranged the marriage of his sister Lady Philippa Howard to Ralph Standish, and seems to have viewed her and her family as his natural heirs. Their 36-year-old younger brother Lord Frederick Henry Howard was childless, and as his wife was about age forty in 1720, was likely to remain so. Lord George insured that his sister Lady Philippa Standish, who had suffered heavy financial loss due to her husband's involvement in the Jacobite uprising five years previous, would be secure in her later years by leaving her a rent charge of £200 a year, which she would start receiving after their brother Lord Frederick's death. Lord George also made the provision in his will that should his nephew-godson Lord George Howard Standish die without heirs male, Glossop should go to his elder brother Ralph Standish, provided that he assumed the surname and arms of Howard.

Lord George Howard died in March 1721, three months after making his will, and Lord Frederick Henry Howard duly succeeded to the estates. George Howard Standish died in May 1726, only aged 21. So when Lord Frederick died the following year in March 1727, childless, just as Lord George had thought he would, Glossop went to Ralph, the only surviving son of Lady Philippa Standish. Ralph, already heir to his father's ancestral home of Standish Hall in Lancashire, now assumed the Howard coat of arms in lieu of that of Standish, and added the surname Howard. The new lord of the manor of Glossop, Ralph Standish Howard, was age 25 when he inherited, and two years later in 1729 commissioned the building of a proper manor house in Glossop, which came to be known as Royle Hall.

Butlers of Ormonde coat of arms.
The Mountgarret Butlers differenced with a
crescent in the middle. I'm
uncertain whether the Butlers
of Ballyragget further differenced

It's not clear why Ralph turned to Ireland to find a wife, but the lady he settled on, Mary Butler of Ballyragget, was Catholic like himself, and her family would've been well-known to his own. Ballyragget Castle in county Kilkenny had been the favourite residence of Margaret (Fitzgerald), Countess of Ormonde, the wife of Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormonde, in the 16th-century, and she insured that it went to their second (and her favourite) son Richard Butler, later created 1st Viscount Mountgarret. The exploits of Countess Margaret was the stuff of local legend in Ballyragget, so when the 4th Viscount Mountgarret earmarked the castle and manor to be the inheritance of his younger son, Hon. Edward Butler, it was a mark of special favour.

Hon. Edward Butler of Ballyragget Castle was not only a staunch Catholic, he could claim descent through his mother (the 4th Viscount Mountgarret's third wife) from the 16th-century English Catholic family the Barons Vaux of Harrowden (see Line A below). Hon. Edward Butler eagerly joined the cause of James II when that deposed monarch landed in Ireland in 1689, and was made a senior officer in the Jacobite Irish Army, where he would come to know Major-General Thomas Maxwell, one of the commanding officers, and Maxwell's stepson Lord George Howard. After the Jacobite defeat at the Battle of Boyne in 1690, Hon. Edward Butler, suffered forfeiture of his estates, and died the following year.

His eldest son and heir George Butler had fought alongside him, but was able in the ensuing years to gain back Ballyragget Castle and his father's other estates. George Butler no doubt welcomed Ralph Standish Howard, the heir of Lord George Howsrd, to Ireland in 1730, and had no qualms giving the young man the hand of his eldest daughter Mary Butler. The young couple had a son, Ralph, who died young, then sadly, Ralph Standish Howard died of smallpox at Ballyragget in April 1735. He was only aged 33, and his wife Mary gave birth to his son and heir Edward six months later. Sadly that son also died in infancy, in March 1737. Ralph's father, the elder Ralph Standish, now had no male heir to inherit Standish Hall. Royle Hall in Glossop, meanwhile, reverted, per the terms of Lord George Howard's 1720 will, to Ralph Standish Howard's first cousin, Edward, 9th Duke of Norfolk, and the family's dream of a Standish-Howard line of descendants came to naught.

MARY BUTLER, b. c.1710, d. unknown, bur. unknown, elder dau. of George Butler of Ballyragget Castle, co. Kilkenny (c.1675-1752, descended from Edward III - see Generation A13 below) & Hon. Catherine King (c.1682-1762, descended from Edward I); m. 4 June 1730 Ballyragget, RALPH STANDISH HOWARD of Royle Hall, Glossop, Derbyshire, b. Standish Hall, Lancashire, bap. March 1702 St Wilfrid Church, Standish, d. Apr. 1735 Ballyragget Castle, bur. unknown, 3rd but est surviving son and heir of Ralph Standish of Standish Hall & Lady Philippa Howard.

Issue of Mary (Butler) & Ralph Standish Howard:

1) RALPH HOWARD, d. in infancy

2) EDWARD STANDISH HOWARD of Royle Hall, Glossop, b. (posthumous) 22 Oct. 1735 Ballyragged Castle; d. in infancy, bur. 13 Mar. 1737 St Wilfrid Church, Standish.

Mary Butler has three lines of descent from Edward III, as follows. Her father George Butler is ancestor to the current Baron Vaux of Harrowden (see Burke's Peerage, 107th Edition 2003, p. 3982).

Edward III had two sons A1 & C1 (see below)
A1) John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (1340-1399) m. 3) Katherine Roet (c.1350-1403), and had
A2) Lady Joan Beaufort (c.1377-1440) m. 2) Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland (1364-1425), and had
A3) Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury (c.1398-1460) m. Lady Alice Montagu (1406-1462, descended from Edward I), and had
A4) Lady Alice Neville (c.1434-aft.1503) m. Henry, 5th Lord Fitzhugh (1429-1472), and had
A5) Elizabeth Fitzhugh (1462-bef.1507) m. 1) Sir William Parr of Kendal (1434-1483), and had a dau A6 & a son B6 (see below)
A6) Anne Parr (c.1482-aft.1513) m. Sir Thomas Cheney of Irthlingborough (by 1449-1514), and had

3rd Baron Vaux - see
Generation A8

A7) Elizabeth Cheney (c.1504-1556) m. Thomas, 2nd Baron Vaux of Harrowden (1509-1556, descended from Edward I), and had
A8) William, 3rd Baron Vaux of Harrowden (1535-1595) m. 2) Mary Tresham (see B9 below), and had
A9) George Vaux of Irthlingborough (1564-1594) m. Elizabeth Roper (d. aft.1625), and had
A10) Mary Vaux (c.1587-by 1612) m. Sir George Simeon of Baldwin Brightwell (c.1584-1664), and had
A11) Elizabeth Simeon (c.1610-1673) m. 2) Edmund Butler, 4th Viscount Mountgarret (c.1599-1679, descended from Edward I), and had
A12) Hon. Edward Butler of Ballyragget Castle (1638-1691) m. Elizabeth Mathew (see C11 below), and had
A13) George Butler of Ballyragget Castle (c.1675-1752) m. Hon. Catherine King (c.1682-1762, descended from Edward I), and had
A14) Mary Butler (b. c.1710) m. Ralph Standish Howard of Glossop

B6) William, 1st Baron Parr of Horton (c.1480-1546) m. Mary Salisbury (1484-1555), and had

Mary (née Tresham), Lady Vaux
- see Generation B9

B7) Anne Parr (c.1507-by 1540) m. Sir Thomas Tresham of Rushton Hall (by 1500-1559), and had
B8) John Tresham, Heir of Rushton Hall (c.1525-1546) m. Eleanor Catesby (d. 1546), and had
B9) Mary Tresham (b. c.1545) m. William, 3rd Baron Vaux of Harrowden (see A8 above)

C1) Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York (1341-1402) m. 1) Infanta Isabel of Castile (1355-1392), and had
C2) Lady Constance Plantagenet of York (c.1375-1416) = Edmund Holland, 4th Earl of Kent (1382-1408, descended from Edward I), and had
C3) Eleanor Holland, illegit. (b. c.1406) m. James Tuchet, 5th Lord Audley (c.1398-1459), and had
C4) Sir Humphrey Audley of Middleton (c.1435-1471) m. Elizabeth Courtenay (c.1435-1493, descended from Edward I), and had
C5) Elizabeth Audley (d. by 1530) m. John Sydenham of Brimpton (c.1468-1542), and had
C6) Sir John Sydenham of Brimpton (by 1493-1557) m. Ursula Brydges (d. 1576), and had

Elizabeth (née Poyntz), wife of
Capt. Mathew - see Generation C9

C7) Anne Sydenham m. Alexander Sydenham of Luxborough (d. 1584), and had
C8) Elizabeth Sydenham (1562-1595) m. Sir John Poyntz of Iron Acton (c.1560-1633, descended from Edward I), and had
C9) Elizabeth Poyntz (d. 1673) m. 2) Capt. George Mathew of Thurles Castle (1581-1636), and had
C10) George Mathew of Thomastown Castle (c.1625-1689) m. Eleanor Butler (descended from Edward I), and had
C11) Elizabeth Mathew (b. c.1647) m. Hon. Edward Butler of Ballyragget Castle (see A12 above)

My next blogpost will look at the Edward I descent of Arabella Alleyn, wife of Lord George Howard, and the Edward IV descent of her first husband Francis Thompson of Humbleton.

Cheers,                ------Brad