O'Brien Butler, as he was generally known, was born in
Caherciveen,
County Kerry, the youngest child of Pierce Butler (c.1804–1873), a shopkeeper in the village, and Ellen Webb (c.1818–1876). There is no source for his correct surname. Baker's Dictionary indicates that his surname was Whitwell; when he registered at the
Royal College of Music in London, his name was noted as Thomas Whitwell-Butler. He does not seem to have been directly related to another O'Brien Butler family from Ireland who lost three brothers in
World War I. He does however claim heritage to Lady Margaret O'Brien in his collection
Seven Original Irish Melodies dedicating the first song 'Kincora; or the Lament for King Brian' to "My Great Mother Lady Margaret O'Brien, daughter of Donough O'Brien, Earl of Thomond." Before going to London he grew up in an environment steeped in traditional music. His musical education began in Italy, After around 1900 he mainly lived in Kilmashogue, in the mountains above Rathfarnham, Dublin, in a house he had called
Muirgheis. After settling in Dublin, O'Brien Butler tried to align himself with some of Ireland's leading cultural figures. The diary entries of
Lady Gregory indicate that in May 1900 he met with
W.B. Yeats and
George Moore in order to join the Celtic movement, although both were unimpressed by his talents. He did however find more support from the
Gaelic League, which promoted his opera Muirgheis in their publication
An Claidheanh Soluis. Butler died during World War I, when a German torpedo hit the passenger vessel
Lusitania on 7 May 1915 just off the southern Irish coast near Kinsale. Butler was on his way back from New York. Baker's Dictionary (1958 edition) claimed that he was on his way home from a concert performance of
Muirgheis in New York, while other sources suggest he was returning from making "tentative arrangements for the production of his opera the following year". A photograph of the composer from the
Cork Examiner, 11 May 1915, was reprinted in a 2004 documentary book. The
Evening Ledger newspaper reported on 8 April 1915 under a photo of a moustachioed O'Brien Butler in a fez that "He wrote the music for the first purely Irish opera which has been produced in this country". A friend of
Thomas MacDonagh, O'Brien Butler was working on a trio of operas in Irish with him when he died in the
Lusitania; MacDonagh died the next year, executed by a British Army firing squad after the
Easter Rising. ==Music==