In 1677, Lord Galmoye took the degree of LL.D. at Oxford. Under
James II of England he was
Privy Councillor of Ireland, Lieutenant of the County of Kilkenny, and Colonel of the 2nd Regiment of Irish Horse. Serving as part of the
Jacobite Irish Army, he commanded a regiment at the
Boyne and served with distinction at
Aughrim. He was one of the signers of the
Treaty of Limerick. At the
Glorious Revolution, he might probably have secured his old estates of in Kilkenny and 5,000 in Wexford, if he had consented to give his allegiance to
William III of England instead of following
Sarsfield and James II into exile in France. Instead, the English Parliament
attainted him and declared his titles forfeit in 1697 by the statute
9 Will. 3. c. 4. In 1692 he was created Earl of
Newcastle in County Limerick in the
Jacobite peerage of Ireland. In France he was named Colonel of the 2nd Queen's Regiment of Irish Horse in the service of that country, and served with distinction in various battles of the War of the Spanish Succession, also becoming a Lieutenant-General in the Spanish army. He was at the siege of Roses in 1693, and in 1694 was a Brigadier attached to the army of Germany. He served in Italy and other parts of the Continent from 1701 to 1703, sharing all the fortunes of the Irish Brigade. He later served in the French army as a Lieutenant-General. He was created Brigadier of Cavalry in 1694. Lord Galmoy (as he spelt his name) died in Paris on 18 June 1740 and was buried at St Paul's there. O'Callaghan says: "The successive claimants of the title of Galmoy were officers in France down to the Revolution; in whose armies, as well as in others, various gentlemen have honourably represented a name, of which the illustrious General Lafayette is related to have said, in the war for the independence of the United States of America, that 'whenever he wanted anything well done, he got a Butler to do it.'" Notwithstanding the attainder, the viscountcy was assumed by his nephew,
James Butler of the
Irish Brigade in France, the son of the Viscount's brother, Richard Butler of Galmoye. ==See also==