He sat in the Irish House of Lords as Earl of Arran and in the English one as Baron Butler of Weston.

When William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford was accused of treason during the Popish Plot, Arran braved the anti-Catholic hysteria and voted not guilty.

[4] Richard's mother was a second cousin once removed of his father as she was the granddaughter of Black Tom, the 10th Earl of Ormond.

[7] On 13 May 1662 he was created Baron Butler of Cloughgrennan, Viscount Tullogh and Earl of Arran (having purchased the Aran Islands) in the Peerage of Ireland, with a special remainder to his younger brother John, should his own male line fail.

Richard and Dorothy had four children: On 27 August 1673, as a reward for his bravery in the sea fights against the Dutch in the Third Anglo-Dutch War, Arran was also created Baron Butler of Weston in the Peerage of England.

[15] In 1680, when the Catholic William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford was tried for high treason in the bogus Popish Plot, Arran was one of 31 peers who voted not guilty.