George Butler was born at 21 Park Lane, London, the home of his paternal grandmother the Dowager Marchioness of Ormonde. In 1899 his parents, then known as Lord and Lady Arthur Butler, acquired a lease of a London Townhouse of their own at 7 Portman Square. In 1901 Lord and Lady Arthur purchased a medium-sized Country Manor with 170 acres at
Gennings Park in Kent. George completed his school at Harrow, before enrolling at the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. He joined the 1st Life Guards and saw active service during the First World War, during which he was wounded. He retired from the British Army in 1920, but retained the Rank of Major in the Reserve of Officers. As a boy he, along with his parents, were present
Kilkenny Castle during the visit of
King Edward VII and
Queen Alexandra in 1904.
Inheritance and Estates Upon the death of his uncle,
James Butler, 3rd Marquess of Ormonde, George's father Lord Arthur became the 4th Marquess of Ormonde. As the oldest son and heir to the family titles, George became entitled to use the courtesy title
Earl of Ossory, which he was known by until his father's death in 1943. Under the terms of the 3rd Marquess' Will, Lord Ossory inherited a life interest in the family seat of
Kilkenny Castle and several other estates traditionally owned by the Marquess of Ormonde. This was made in an attempt to avoid burdening the Estate with death duties for both the 3rd and 4th Marquesses. His father, the 4th Marquess, was supported by the independent wealth of his American wife,
Ellen Stager. The family's English estates were sold in the early 1920's to pay off the death duties payable on the estates following the death of Ossory's Uncle; some £160,000 in taxes, charges and administration fees were payable by the estate, which was valued at approximately £400,000 to £450,000. In addition to the significant costs charged on the estate after the Third Marquess' death, George was also required to make substantial annual outlays from the estate income to his aunt and uncles. Under the terms of their marriage settlement, The Third Marquess' widow
Elizabeth, Dowager Marchioness of Ormonde was entitled to a life annuity of £3,000 from the Ormonde Estates. Under the terms of his will, the Third Marquess of Ormonde had provided for additional annuities of £3,000 to George's father
Arthur Butler, 4th Marquess of Ormonde for life, and £275 to
Lord Theobald Butler, which would also be payable to Lord Theobald's wife during her lifetime if she outlived her husband.
Ireland The bulk of the landed estates of the Butlers of Ormonde had been sold in 1903 under the Wyndham Land Acts. When Lord Ossory inherited the life-tenancy of the Ormonde Settled Estates Trust in 1919, the family's Irish Landholding had been reduced to 95 acres in and around Kilkenny Castle, 491 acres at Dunmore Park, 900 acres at Garryricken, and some 5,630 acres of woodland (mostly used for forestry and shooting) at the family's
shooting lodge at Ballyknockane, Tipperary. In March of 1921 the 239-acre
Garryricken House estate, and an adjoining 277-acre estate which had already been divided into 14 separate lots were sold at the behest of Lord Ossory and his Uncle's Executors.
Kilkenny Castle The last member of the family to live there, Lord Ossory (as he was known at the time) and his family left
Kilkenny Castle in 1935 and resided in London. The contents of the castle were sold in 1935 and the castle was left neglected. The Ormonde Estates had been in gradual financial decline since the late 1800s; whilst income had been as high as approximately £45,000 in the 1890s, this had fallen to approximately £9,000 in 1930. A number of family charges also drained the falling income of the estate; between 1919 and 1927, this averaged between £2,500 and £4,500. The cost of maintaining Kilkenny Castle also put a strain on finances; in 1904 this amount was some £4,400, but this had fallen to £2,166 in the 1920s, and approximately £1,200 in the early 1930s. Lord Ossory's (as the 5th Marquess of Ormonde was then known) decision to vacate the Castle in the mid-1930s reflects the family's difficults in maintaining such a large house.
1922 Siege of Kilkenny Castle During the broader slide towards civil war in spring 1922, Kilkenny Castle was briefly occupied by anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army (“Irregular”) forces before being retaken by Pro-Treaty (“Free State”) troops whilst Lord and Lady Ossory were in residence. On 28 April 1922, Irregulars seized key buildings in Kilkenny and by the morning of 2 May a detachment of twenty-two had entered the castle courtyard and ordered Lord Ossory and his household to evacuate. Ossory refused, sheltering with his staff inside the castle while Free State reinforcements—some two hundred soldiers transported from Dublin and supported by an armoured car—began isolating and bombarding the anti-Treaty positions. Sporadic sniper fire and exchanges around high points such as St Canice’s tower continued through 2–3 May until the armoured car breached the main gate on the evening of 3 May, precipitating the surrender of the Irregulars. Remarkably, no fatalities were recorded, though property damage within the castle was later estimated at nearly £1,000. In his diary Ossory recalled his decision to remain—to prevent looting and destruction—and noted the unusually cordial treatment of the captured Irregulars, who were released on 5 May and entertained by local officers before dispersing to other anti-Treaty units. ==Marriage and descendants==