He was the second son of John Butler, 17th Earl of Ormonde, and his wife Frances Susan Elizabeth Wandesford.

He sat subsequently for the Irish county constituency of County Kilkenny and was member of the UK House of Commons from 1801, until he succeeded to the peerage, as 19th Earl of Ormonde, in 1820, on the death of his elder brother, Walter, the 18th Earl and 1st Marquess of Ormonde in the Irish peerage (the latter title becoming extinct upon his death).

The Chilcote Estate, comprising 1,320 acres generating £2,200 annually, was sold to a Mr Robinson of Kingston, Surrey, for £87,000.

The adjacent Cottage Park Farm, comprising 281 acres, was sold to a solicitor, Mr Cookney of Holborn (acting on behalf the brewer H. Worthington Esq).

They had five sons and five daughters:[4] In 1827, the London residence of Lord and Lady Ormonde was recorded as being 14 Weymouth Street, Westminster.