James was born about 1496 in Ireland,[4][5] the eldest son of Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond and his wife Margaret FitzGerald.

As a young man Butler went with Henry VIII to France and was wounded in a leg at the siege of Thérouanne in 1513, hence his sobriquet the Lame or Bocach.

In early 1522, it was proposed by King Henry VIII that he marry his cousin Anne Boleyn, who was the great-granddaughter of Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond.

James and Joan had seven sons:[12] One of the heirs general to the Ormond inheritance was Thomas Boleyn, whose mother was a Butler.

As the king wanted the titles of Ormond and Wiltshire for Thomas Boleyn, he induced Piers Butler's father and his coheirs to resign their claims on 18 February 1528.

[25] Ormond himself demanded an inquiry into claims that St Leger had planned his murder, and the matter was thought to merit a Privy Council investigation; the Council found in favour of St Leger and he and Ormond were ordered to work together amicably in future.

His host at the dinner, John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, though he could be notably ruthless towards his enemies, had no motive for the crime, as he had no quarrel with Ormond.

A recent historian remarks that it would be an extraordinary coincidence if St Leger had no part in the sudden and convenient removal of his main Irish opponent.