[2] Thomas's mother was the eldest daughter of Edmund Butler, 2nd Viscount Mountgarret and his wife Grizel FitzPatrick.
[3][4] Thomas was one of eleven siblings, two brothers and nine sisters, who are listed in his father's article, but he was the only surviving son.
While the Ormond title was secure, the lands were claimed by Richard Preston, 1st Earl of Desmond, who had married Elizabeth, Black Tom's only surviving child.
In 1619 after the beginning of his father's long imprisonment in the Fleet Prison in London, Thurles was summoned to England to answer charges of treason, specifically, of having garrisoned Kilkenny.
[27] Like his father, Thurles was a prominent Catholic and it seems likely that his refusal to conform to the established Anglican religion had angered King James I and may have been the true motive for his summons.