James Butler, 1st  Duke of Ormond, was a prominent member of an ancient, and illustrious Anglo-Irish family, to whose annals, he contributed some of their brightest pages.

Greatest of all the Cavaliers he earned the distinction of being specially exempted in Cromwell’s Act for the Settlement of Ireland, from pardon of life or estate.

An ardent supporter of the ill-fated House of Stuart, he lived an honourable life, earning the respect of all parties and creeds.

This history of his life by one of the finest exponents of Modern Irish History, shows Ormond as a model of behaviour in word and deed, for the Irishman of yesterday, today and tomorrow.