 His father served in the Irish army and fought for the royalists under his uncle James Butler, Earl of Ormond, in the Irish Confederate Wars (1641–1648) and the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland (1649-1653) until he was forced into exile in 1651.He probably was born in Strabane, County Tyrone, Ulster, near the Dunnalong (or Donalong) estate, which was his father's share of the land granted to his grandfather Abercorn during the Plantation of Ulster.His uncle Claud had lived in the Castle of Strabane until his death in 1638.