Lawrence Ormond Butler (1812-1856)- The adventurous life of the son of an Irish convict in NSW: Lawrence Ormond Butler- Ch. 6: Name of Ormond and its significance

The significance of the middle name of 'Ormond'

There is one striking piece of evidence relating to all three of Laurence Butler Senior’s offspring that should be noted. Each of them named a child Ormond. Walter Butler’s youngest son was named Ormond Tasman Butler; Lawrence Butler Junior’s eldest son was named George Henry Ormonde Butler, and sister Mary Ann Butler’s youngest son was named Ormond Campbell Macdougall.

Lawrence Junior himself was only known as Lawrence Ormond Butler from about 1839 onwards.

Lawrence Jnr was not baptised with the middle name of Ormond. And in all the newspaper records and court records and his marriage record to Catherine, up until 1838 when he was asking about being released from jail in a letter to his solicitor, not once was he named Ormond. Something changed by early 1839 when he went to Melbourne, and the question is, why? Was it to puff up his consequence in Melbourne, or was it to disguise his appalling employment record in Sydney so he could get a job? There was another convict named Lawrence Butler in VDL but he didn't arrive until 1840. So, the reason remains a mystery.

The children's father, Laurence, died when they were very young, so Laurence Snr wasn't around to tell them of his Irish background, and their mother Ann was English and illiterate, so she would not have known the consequence of the name. However, they learnt about the Irish Butlers of Ormond somewhere.

In February 1839, Lawrence put in this advertisement into the 'Commercial Journal and Advertiser' [Sydney], the first time he used the name:

As the requested reply was to be left at this newspaper office, he must have left for Melbourne by then, for what reason we do not know. He had been in jail in 1838 waiting to be released, probably related to breaking his employment contracts again which may be the reason for his 'new' start as he was probably unemployable in Sydney. He had been living with brother Walter at the Plough Inn.

But this article was in the newspapers a few months prior, and may be the key:

Is this how the siblings learned about the Ormond Butlers of Ireland? And was their thinking, as many do even today (despite YDNA results in the Butler Surname Project proving otherwise), that the Butlers of Ireland all descended from the same ancestor? But from that point, he was always referred to, and known as Lawrence Ormond Butler.

Lawrence's eldest son was baptised just George Henry Butler however, he appears to have adopted his father's addition of the middle name of Ormond at some point, and passed down the tradition. George Henry Ormonde Butler’s two sons Arthur Ormonde and Ernest Ormonde and each of their nine children, both male and female, were given the middle name of Ormonde.

George Henry’s house in Hurstville Sydney was surrounded by streets named Butler Street, Butler Lane and Ormonde Parade.

Lawrence Butler's daughter by his second wife, Fanny, named her son Percy Ormond.

Even Lawrence's siblings took on the name.

Walter Butler’s youngest son was named Ormond Tasman Butler, who in turn named a child Arthur Ormond.

And sister Mary Ann Macdougall named her youngest son Ormond Campbell Macdougall.

Lawrence's descendants added the 'e' to Ormond to become Ormonde. Traditionally, the added 'e' came into the Kilkenny line with the two Dukes of Ormonde in the Stuart era, maybe because the Dukedom was an English awarded title whereas the earldom of Ormond was an ancient Irish title named after the ancient Irish kingdom of Ormond that did not get extinguished when the 2nd Duke of Ormonde was attainted, exiled and lost his title of Duke of Ormonde. His cousin's heirs assumed the original Irish title of Earl of Ormond.

Walter Butler’s grandsons from his relationship with Eliza Dwyer, informed their children that they were descendants of the Kilkenny Butlers.

For three currency children born on the opposite side of the world from Ireland, and with no remaining connections with their Irish forbears, the discovery of the significance of the name Ormond and its connection to the history of the Butlers of Ireland (through the Earls of Ormond line dating back to the 14^th Century and the Chief Butlers of Ireland preceding it back to the 12^th Century), would have been a revelation. We will never know if Laurence had informed his eldest child, Walter, who was old enough to understand the significance. All three children, in their adult years, obviously, perfectly understood the possible significance of the name Ormond to their family history and were proud of the fact, enough to incorporate the name into their offspring, and in Lawrence's case, to himself. Whether it was just a case of wishful thinking, we also will never know. Due to shame of their convict heritage for Laurence's children as well as the following generations, they would have grabbed onto this far more desirable ancestry.

It is this same heritage that I am convinced helped Laurence Butler Senior gain his important and influential connections in the Colony, and his acceptance as an Irish Catholic convict emancipist living in a society of English Protestant emancipists and ‘exclusives’.

This Butler heritage, which is a magnificent one, is too complex and vast to cover in this blog, however, the following chapters provide a brief synopsis of this powerful and historic family.

To read about the ancestry of Lawrence Butler Junior, see Chapter 23 of his father Laurence Butler Senior's blog which explores Laurence's genealogical links with County Wexford Ireland:
http://butlerfamilyhistoryaustralia.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/laurence-butler-ch-23-possible-birth.html

Thursday, 20 September 2012

Lawrence Ormond Butler- Ch. 6: Name of Ormond and its significance