This officer served a short time with the French army in the reign of Louis XIV., and afterwards commanded a troop in the Duke of Monmouth's regiment of horse, which regiment was disbanded in 1678. In 1680 he raised a troop of horse for service at Tangier in Africa; this fortress being besieged by the forces of the Emperor of Morocco, he proceeded to that country immediately, and distinguished himself in action with the Moors. In 1683 his troop of horse was constituted Royal Dragoons; with which corps he continued to serve, and was engaged at the battle of Sedgemoor in 1685. In 1686 he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of Shrewsbury's Cuirassiers: and at the Revolution in 1688 he was promoted to the Colonelcy of the regiment; with which he served with distinction in Ireland and Flanders. Having become infirm from age and long service, he obtained the King's permission to dispose of his commission, in 1697, to the Earl of Arran; and from this period he led a retired life until his decease.
This nobleman descended from the illustrious family of Butler, so renowned in the past ages for the many valiant, and loyal persons it has produced. He was the second son of Thomas Butler Earl of Ossory, (a nobleman distinguished for deeds of valour, loyalty to his sovereign, and the mild and social virtues which rendered him an ornament to society,) and grandson of the celebrated James, _first_ Duke of Ormond. Having served under King William III. in Ireland and Flanders, where he evinced the same martial spirit and private virtues which had adorned his ancestors, he was elevated to the peerage of Ireland in January, 1693, by the titles of Baron of Cloghgrenan in the Queen's county, Viscount of Tullo in the county of Cutherlough, and EARL OF the islands of ARRAN in the county of Galway; he was also, at the same time, created an English peer by the title of Lord Butler, of Weston, in the county of Huntingdon. On the 16th of February, 1694, he was promoted to the colonelcy of a newly raised regiment of horse (which was disbanded at the peace of Ryswick), and in the summer of 1697 he purchased the colonelcy of the SIXTH HORSE, now Fifth Dragoon Guards. In March, 1703, he was promoted to the colonelcy of the Third Troop of Life Guards, which gave him the privilege of taking the court duty of gold stick in waiting to Queen Anne; in 1712 Her Majesty constituted him Master-General of the Ordnance in Ireland; and in the following year appointed him Governor of Dover Castle, and Deputy Warden of the Cinque Ports. Soon after the accession of King George I. his Lordship was elected Chancellor of the University of Oxford. After the impeachment of his brother, James, second Duke of Ormond, for high treason, the Earl of Arran quitted the army. In February, 1716, he was constituted Lord High Steward of Westminster: and in 1721 he was permitted, by an Act of Parliament, to purchase his brother's forfeited estates. He died on the 17th of December, 1758, at the advanced age of eighty-eight years.