Richard Butler of Kilcash (1615–1701) was an Irish soldier and landowner, the third son of Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles and brother of James, 1st Duke of Ormonde. He sided with the Irish Confederacy at the Irish Rebellion of 1641. He scouted the enemy on the morning of the Battle of Cloughleagh. His descendants succeeded to the earldom of Ormond when the senior branch of the family failed in 1758. Birth and origins Richard was born in 1615 in southern Ireland. He was the third son of Thomas Butler and his wife Elizabeth Pointz. His father, who was styled Viscount Thurles, was the eldest son and heir apparent of Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond, called "Walter of the rosary beads". His father's family, the Butler dynasty, was Old English and descended from Theobald Walter, who had been appointed Chief Butler of Ireland by King Henry II in 1177. Richard's mother, Lady Thurles, was an English Catholic, a daughter of Sir John Pointz (died 1633) of Iron Acton in Gloucestershire and his second wife Elizabeth Sydenham (died 1595). Richard was one of seven siblings, three brothers and four sisters, who are listed in his father's article. To a certain degree Richard lived in the shade of his eldest brother, James, who would become Duke, General, and Lord Lieutenant. Early life His eldest brother, James, was born in 1610 in Clerkenwell, London, but his parents returned to Ireland soon after and Richard was born there after the death of his great grand-uncle Black Tom, the 10th Earl, in 1614. In 1619 his father perished on his way from Ireland to England in a shipwreck near the Skerries off the coast of Anglesey. On 24 February 1633, his grandfather died. His brother James succeeded to the earldom as the 12th Earl of Ormond and he was given the lands and the castle of Kilcash as an appanage becoming Richard Butler of Kilcash. Marriage and children In 1636, Kilcash, as he now was, married Frances Tuchet (or Touchet; died 1688), youngest daughter of the ill-famed Mervyn Tuchet, 2nd Earl of Castlehaven. This marriage made him the brother-in-law of James, the 3rd Earl of Castlehaven, his future military ally. Richard and Frances had two sons: Walter (died 1700), known as Walter Butler of Garryricken, married Mary Plunkett, only daughter of Christopher Plunkett, 2nd Earl of Fingall John (died 1714), married Catharine, daughter of James Aylmer,