Margaret Magennis, Viscountess Iveagh


Margaret Magennis, Viscountess Iveagh , née Burke and also known as Margaret Butler, was the mother of John Butler, the de jure 15th Earl of Ormond. She is remembered by the song A Lament for Kilcash. In terms of Gaelic nomenclature, she would have been known by her maiden name, regardless of whom she married: hence Maighréad de Búrca – "Margaret Burke".

Birth and origins

Margaret was born in 1673 as the eldest daughter of William Burke and his second wife Helen MacCarty. Her father was the 7th Earl of Clanricarde. The Burkes were an Old English family. Margaret's mother was her father's second wife and the eldest daughter of Donough MacCarty, 1st Earl of Clancarty. The MacCartys were a Gaelic family. Both parents were Roman Catholic. They married in 1696.
Her father's first wife was Lettice, daughter of Henry Shirley, an English baronet, and a Protestant. Margaret had half-siblings from her father's first marriage. Her mother also had been married before, but that marriage was childless.


She appears below among her full siblings as the second child:
  1. Ulick, created Viscount of Galway and slain at the Battle of Aughrim fighting for the Jacobites;
  2. Margaret, the subject of this article;
  3. William, died childless in France; and
  4. Honora, who married first Patrick Sarsfield and then the Duke of Berwick.
Her half-brothers from her father's first marriage were:
  1. Richard, became the 8th Earl of Clanricarde;
  2. John, became the 9th Earl of Clanricarde. and
  3. Thomas, killed at the Siege of Buda, Hungary;

    First marriage

Margaret married twice. She married first in 1689 Bryan Magennis, 5th Viscount Iveagh, from County Down in Ulster. He supported King James II, was attainted and took Austrian service. He died in 1693. The marriage seems to have been childless.
She seems to have fled to Limerick at the end of the Williamite War, at least she is mentioned among the people that were allowed to leave Galway for Limerick when Lord Dillon surrendered the town to Ginkel on 26 July 1691.

Second marriage and children

In 1696 she married secondly Colonel Thomas Butler of Garryricken, also known as Thomas Butler of Kilcash, the grandson of Richard Butler of Kilcash.
With him, she had eight children, three sons and five daughters:
  1. Richard Butler, who died following a fall from his horse at Kilcash.
  2. Walter Butler, who died of smallpox at the Royal Academy at Paris.
  3. John Butler, who became the 15th Earl of Ormond and inherited the estates of Richard Butler, 1st Earl of Arran.
  4. Mary Butler, who married Bryan Cavanagh, of Borris, County Carlow.
  5. Honora Butler, who married Valentine, Lord Kenmare, in November 1720.
  6. Hellen Butler, who married firstly Mr Esmond, and secondly, Richard Butler of Westcourt.
  7. Margaret Butler, who married George Matthew of Thurles, afterward of Thomastown. and
  8. Catharine Butler, who became the third wife of James Mandeville, of Ballydine.

    Death

She died on 19 July 1744 at Kilcash Castle. She is buried in the Butler Mausoleum at Kilcash. She is also remembered by the Irish song A Lament for Kilcash, written much later, in the 19th century, to her memory.