Arthur Dillon, Count Dillon

Arthur Dillon, Count Dillon (1670–1733) was a Jacobite soldier from Ireland who served as Colonel of Dillon's Regiment in the Irish Brigade in French service. He fought in the Nine Years' War and in the War of the Spanish Succession.

Arthur Dillon
Born	1670 County Roscommon, Ireland
Died	7 February 1733 (aged 62–63) St Germain en Laye
Allegiance	Jacobites France
Service/branch	Jacobite Army French Army
Rank	Lieutenant général (French Army)
Battles/wars	Williamite War in Ireland; Nine Years' War (1688–97); War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14)
Relations	Theobald, 7th Viscount Dillon (father)

Birth and origins

Arthur was born in 1670 in County Roscommon in Ireland.[1] He was the third of the six sons of Theobald Dillon and his wife Mary Talbot.[2] His father was the 7th Viscount Dillon of Costello-Gallen[3] and supported James II in the Williamite war in Ireland. His father's family was Old English Irish and descended from Sir Henry Dillon who came to Ireland with Prince John in 1185.[4] Henry's mother was a daughter of Sir Henry Talbot of Templeogue. The Talbots also were Old English. Both his parents were Catholic.

Only three of the six brothers are known by name. Arthur appears below at the bottom of the list as the youngest of those three:

1. Robert, never married and predeceased his father;[5]
2. Henry (died 1713), became the 8th Viscount Dillon;[6] and
3. Arthur (1670–1733).

Family tree

Arthur Dillon with wife, parents, and other selected relatives. Theobald 1st Viscount d. 1624 Eleanor Tuite d. 1638 Christopher D. of Ballylaghan d. 1624 Lucas D. of Loughglynn James Dillon c. 1600 – aft. 1669 Lucas 2nd Viscount 1610–1629 Thomas 4th Viscount 1615–1673 Theobald Dillon Robert D. of Loughglynn Rose D. of Streamstown d. 1681 Theobald 3rd Viscount 1629–1630 Thomas 5th Viscount d. 1674 Lucas 6th Viscount d. 1682 Theobald 7th Viscount d. 1691 Jacobite Mary Talbot d. 1691 Henry 8th Viscount d. 1714 Frances Hamilton d. 1751 Arthur 1670–1733 French General Christina Sheldon 1684–1757 Richard 9th Viscount 1688–1737 Charles 10th Viscount 1701–1741 Henry 11th Viscount 1705–1787 Charlotte Lee d. 1794 Henrietta- Maria Phipps 1757–1782 Charles 12th Viscount 1745–1813 Marie Rogier d. 1833 Arthur 1750–1794 Legend XXX Arthur Dillon XXX Viscounts of Dillon This family tree is partly derived from the Dillon family tree pictured in La Tour du Pin.[7] Also see the lists of siblings and children in the text.

Early life

His father raised Dillon's Regiment in 1688, fought for James II of England in the Williamite War in Ireland, and was killed at the Battle of Aughrim 1691. In 1690 James II and Louis XIV agreed that an Irish Brigade of 5,400 men, including Dillon's Regiment, would be sent to France in exchange for 6 French regiments sent to Ireland with Lauzun. Dillon's Regiment was part of this Irish Brigade, which was led by Lord Mountcashel. Arthur, at the age of 20, was placed in command of the regiment and landed with it at Brest on 1 May 1690.[8][9]

His father fell at the Battle of Aughrim on 12 July 1691.[10] His mother was killed by a shell fired into the town during the Siege of Limerick on 7 September 1691.[11]

At that time France was in the middle of the Nine Years' War (1688–97) of which the Williamite War in Ireland had been a theatre. Dillon and his regiment were sent to Roussillon and Catalonia, another theatre of this war, where they fought the Spanish, among others at the siege of Roses under the Duc de Noailles, in 1693.[12] In 1695 the duc de Vendôme succeeded to Noailles. Vendôme besieged Barcelona, which was defended by its governor, the conde de la Corzana, and by Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt. The town surrendered on terms after a siege of 52 days on 10 August 1697.[13]

Marriage and children

The Nine Years' War ended in 1697 with the Treaty of Ryswick and three years of peace followed. Dillon found the time to marry. His chosen wife was Christina Sheldon, a maid-of-honour to Mary of Modena, queen consort of James II of England. Christina's parents were Ralph Sheldon of Ditchford, Worcestershire (1633–1723) and Elisabeth, heiress of Daniel Dunn of Garnish Hall in Essex. Dominic Sheldon, the Jacobite general, was her uncle. Her family was English and Catholic. She continued to serve Mary of Modena as lady-in-waiting at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.[14]

Their children included five sons:

1. Charles (1701–1741), became the 10th Viscount Dillon;[15]
2. Henry (1705–1787), became the 11th Viscount Dillon;[16]
3. James (died 1745), became Colonel of Dillon's Regiment and fell in the Battle of Fontenoy;[17]
4. Edward (1720–1747), succeeded his brother as Colonel of the Dillon Regiment and fell in the Battle of Lauffeld;[18] and
5. Arthur Richard (1721–1806), became a French archbishop.[19]

They also had daughters including:

1. Frances, became a Carmelite nun;[20]
2. Catharine (died 1753), became a Carmelite nun and died at St. Denis;[21]
3. Mary (died 1786), died at St Germain;[22]
4. Bridget (died 1785), married the Baron Blaisel, a Lieutenant-General in the French Army;[23][24] and
5. Laura (died 1741), married Lucius Cary, 6th Viscount Falkland, a Jacobite.[25]

War of the Spanish Succession

Main article: War of the Spanish Succession

The War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714) broke out after Charles II of Spain, the last Habsburg king of Spain, had died without heir. Dillon and his Regiment were sent to Northern Italy where France and its ally Savoy were trying to seize the duchy of Milan, which belonged to Spain. The French troops under the command of Marshal Nicolas Catinat fought the Austrians under Prince Eugene of Savoy. However, after losing the skirmish of Carpi on 9 July 1701, the command of the French troops in Italy was given to the duc de Villeroy under whom Catinat then served as second in command. Prince Eugene defeated Villeroy at Chiari on 1 September 1701.

Eugene's next move was to surprise Villeroy in his winter-quarters in Cremona in the night of 31 January to 1 February 1702. This action is also called the Battle of Cremona. Villeroy was taken prisoner, but the French were saved from defeat by Dillon's and Bourke's Irish regiments, who held the Po-gate and the bridge over the River Po against the Austrians, thus preventing Eugene from effecting his junction with the troops he had on the other side of the river.[26] Eventually, Eugene could not hold the town against its garrison and had to retreat.[27]

Villeroy was replaced with the duc de Vendôme, still opposing Eugene on the other side. Under Vendôme Dillon and his regiment fought in the battles of Santa-Vittoria on 26 July 1702, and Luzzara on 15 August 1702.[28] In 1703 Vendôme tried to effect a junction with the Bavarians, allied with the French against Austria, through the Tyrol and penetrated as far as Trent. Dillon took the town of Riva at the northern tip of Lake Garda.[29] However, on 13 August 1703 Marlborough and Eugene beat the French and Bavarians at Blenheim. Savoy switched side and Vendôme had to retreat. In 1704 Dillon, aged 34, was promoted to maréchal de camp.[30] On 16 August 1705 Vendôme repulsed Eugene at Cassano. Three Irish regiments, including Dillon's, played a key-role in stopping Eugene's attack.

On 23 May 1706 Marlborough beat Villeroy at Ramillies in the Spanish Netherlands. Thereupon, Louis XIV ordered Vendôme with a big part of the Armée d'Italie to Flanders to redress the situation there. Dillon and his regiment stayed behind in Northern Italy. Philippe II, Duke of Orléans replaced Vendôme in Italy, taking up his new position in July.

Together with Jacques Eléonor Rouxel de Grancey, comte de Médavy, Dillon defeated at the Battle of Castiglione on 8 September 1706 a unit of Hessians who had arrived too late from Germany to join the main body of Eugene's army. Their victory had no effect, because the day before the French lost the decisive Battle of Turin (7 September 1706) and had to evacuate northern Italy.

On 24 September 1706 Dillon was promoted to lieutenant général.[31] Under Marshal Tessé Dillon and his regiment participated in the successful defence of Toulon in the Siege of Toulon (1707). In 1707 Austria signed the Convention of Milan ending the war in Northern Italy.

in 1708 Dillon's regiment was transferred to the Moselle where Dillon served under Claude Louis Hector de Villars and James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick.

In 1709 he was transferred to the Dauphiné where he defended Briançon in August 1709. While in Grenoble Dillon had an affair with Claudine Guérin de Tencin who was at that time a nun at the convent of Montfleury at Corenc near Grenoble. She managed to leave her nunnery in 1712. In 1711 Dillon was created comte Dillon in France by Louis XIV.[32]

Transferred to the Rhine, comte Dillon captured Kaiserslautern in the campaign of 1713. The Peace of Utrecht ended the war. In the treaty France recognised the Hanoverian succession and ended its support for the Jacobites.[33]

Later life

Count Dillon was later appointed commander in the Dauphiné and governor of Toulon.[34]

He did not participate in the Jacobite rising of 1715.

The King he recognised as James III awarded him the Irish titles of Baron and Viscount on 1 February 1717 in Avignon.[35] James III seems to have neglected to give territorial designations for theses titles, but he probably intended to appoint Arthur in place of his nephew Richard who was in place in Ireland as the 9th Viscount Dillon of Costello-Gallen. In 1721 James III gave him Scottish titles by creating him Earl Dillon, also Viscount and Lord.[36]

He was also a grandfather of the French generals Arthur Dillon and Théobald Dillon. He was a cousin of Gerard Lally. He was a great-grandfather of the famous memoirist Henriette-Lucy, Marquise de La Tour du Pin Gouvernet, née Henriette-Lucy Dillon.

In 1730 he retired from active service, handing over the command of the regiment to Charles, his eldest son.[37]

Death, succession, and timeline

On 5 February 1733 N.S., Arthur Dillon, comte de Dillon, died at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.[38] His eldest son Charles, already colonel, now also succeeded to his father's titles: comte de Dillon in France and Earl of Dillon in the Jacobite peerage.

Timeline
As only the year but not the day of his birth is known, all ages could be a year younger.
Age	Date	Event
0	1670	Born in Ireland.
19	1689, 13 Feb	Accession of William and Mary, replacing King James II.[39]
20	1690, 1 May	Debarked at Brest with the regiment.[8]
21	1691, 12 Jul	Father fell at the Battle of Aughrim.[10]
21	1691	Mother killed during the Siege of Limerick.[11]
27	1697, 10 Aug	Fought at the Siege of Barcelona.[13]
34	1704	Made maréchal de camp.[30]
36	1706, 26 Sep	Made lieutenant-général.[31]
41	1711	Created "comte de Dillon" in France by Louis XIV.[32]
60	1730	Retired from active service and handed the regiment over to Charles, his eldest son.[37]
63	1733, 5 Feb N.S.	Died at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.[38][38]

Notes and references

1. Murtagh 2004, p. 199, right column, line 4: "... [Henry] was born in co. Roscommon."
2. Murtagh 2004, p. 199, right column, line 5: "... [Henry was] the third but second surviving of six sons of Theobald ..."
3. Burke 1949, p. 603, left column, line 59: "THEOBALD, 7th Viscount Dillon (refer to Sir Luke Dillon, 2nd son of 1st Viscount), Lt.-Col. in the Guards of JAMES II, reformed the Dillon regiment in 2 Bns. in 1688. His Lordship was outlawed in 1690."
4. Webb 1878a, p. 149, line 7: "... [Sir Henry Dillon] came to Ireland in 1185 as secretary to Prince John ..."
5. Burke 1949, p. 603, left column, line 65: "Robert d.v.p. unm."
6. Cokayne 1916, p. 360, line 12: "... Hon. Arthur Dillon, Lieut. Gen. in the french service (d. 5 Feb 1732/3) ...
7. La Tour du Pin 1913, pp. 14–15: "Note généalogique sur la Maison des Lords Dillon"
8. O'Callaghan 1854, p. 8, line 28: "... the Irish reached Brest, and were landed there, early in May."
9. Lynn 1999, p. 214, line 28: "On 17 March, a squadron ferried 6,000 French troops over to Ireland and brought back 6000 Irish recruits for French service; they arrived back in Brest on 1 May [1690]."
10. Boulger 1911, p. 243: "Lord Galway and Lord Dillon (Theobald) were killed."
11. Cokayne 1916, p. 359, line 24: "His widow was accidentally killed a few weeks later, 7 Sep. 1691, in Limerick, during the siege, by the explosion of a bomb."
12. Murtagh 2004, p. 199, right column, line 32: "... the taking of Roses (1693);"
13. Quincy 1726, p. 350: "Voilà de quelle manière s'éxecuta & se termina le fameux siege de Barcelonne, qui dura cinquante deux jours de tranchée ouverte. Il fit d'autant plus d'honneur à M. le Duc de Vendôme que tout le monde voyait des difficultés presque insurmontables dans cette grande entreprise."
14. Murtagh 2004, p. 200, left column, line 13: "Some time before 1701 he had married Christiana (Catherine) Sheldon (1684–1757), a lady-in-waiting to Queen Mary of Modena."
15. Debrett 1828, p. 748, line 26: "... father of CHARLES, 10th Viscount, who m. Frances, only child and h. of the 9th viscount, and d. without surviving issue, 1741;"
16. Debrett 1828, p. 748, line 29: "HENRY, 11th Viscount, who served in the French army as col. of Dillon's regiment, which command he resigned before the act of preventing British subjects from entering into foreign service ..."
17. Burke 1949, p. 603, left column, line 78: "James, Kt. of Malta, Col. of the Dillon Regt. fell at its head at Fontenoy, 30 April, 1745."
18. Burke 1949, p. 603, left column, line 80: "Edward, b. 1720, s. his brother in the command of Dillon's Regt. and was mortally wounded at Lauffeld, 1747."
19. Burke 1949, p. 603, left column, line 82: "Arthur, in Holy Orders, b. at St Germains in 1721, successively Bishop of Evreux, 1753, Archbishop of Toulouse, 1758, and Archbishop of Narbonne, in 1762, Cmdr. of the Order of the Holy Ghost 1776, Primate of the Gauls, and Pres. of the States of Languedoc; d. in London 5 July 1806 ..."
20. Lodge 1789, p. 196, line 1: "Daughter Frances, a Carmelite nun, died at Pontoise."
21. Lodge 1789, p. 196, line 2: "Catharine, also a Carmelite nun, died at St. Denis in 1753."
22. La Tour du Pin 1913, p. 15: "Mary Dillon, mourut à Saint-Germain-en-Laye en 1786."
23. Lodge 1789, p. 196, line 4: "Bridget, was married to the Baron Blaisel, a Lieut.-General in the service of France."
24. La Chesnaye des Bois 1863, p. 311, left column, line 29: "BLAISEL (DU) Seigneur de Belle-Isle, de la Neuville en Picardie ..."
25. La Tour du Pin 1913, p. 15, extreme right: "Laura Dillon, épousa LUCIUS CARY, LORD VISCOUNT FALKLAND, pair d'Ecosse. Elle mourut en 1741, laissant une fille unique LUCY."
26. O'Callaghan 1854, p. 215, line 11: "... acknowledged (as well as the enemy) that it was the obstinate courage of the Irish in defence of the Po gate that the preservation of Cremona was principally owing ..."
27. Quincy 1726, p. 628: "Ce fit de cette manière que le Prince Eugène manqua une entreprise si bien concertée, & qui avait eû de si favorables commencements. On en doit toute la gloire aux ... mais particulièrement au Régiment des Vaisseaux, aux deux Régimens Irlandois ..."
28. Jullien de Courcelles 1822, p. 288: "... et en 1702 à l'armée d'Italie, où il combattit à San-Vittoria et à Luzzara."
29. O'Callaghan 1854, p. 220"... by which he was able to reach and take the town of Riva ..."
30. Webb 1878b, p. 170, left column, line 32: "In 1704 he was made maréchal-de-camp ..."
31. Jullien de Courcelles 1822, p. 289, line 14: "Promu au grade de lieutenant-général des armées du roi, par pouvoir du 24 du même mois [Sep], il fut employé à l'armée de la frontière du Piémont, sous le maréchal de Tessé  ..."
32. La Chesnaye des Bois 1865, p. 892, line 12: "DILLON. ARTHUR DILLON, né en 1670, Lieutenant-Général & Colonel d'un Régiment Irlandais, mourut le 5 Février 1733. Il avait épousé Christiana Sheldon, mort le 5 Août 1757 ..."
33. Miller 1971, p. 147, line 8: "On 11 April 1713 the peace was signed at Utrecht: in return for the acknowledgement of his grandson as Philip V of Spain, Louis had had to recognize the Hanoverian and Protestant succession in England."
34. Mme de La Tour du Pin, Memoirs; Journal d'une femme de 50 ans, appendix III
35. Ruvigny 1904, p. 40, line 5: "HON. ARTHUR DILLON, Lieutenant-General of his Majesty's armies, was on 1st February 1717 created by King James II and VIII BARON of [___] and VISCOUNT of [?DILLON] [I.], with remainder to the heirs male of his body."
36. Ruvigny 1904, p. 40, line 8: "On 24th June 1721 he was further created, by the same King, an Earl and Peer of Parliament, as EARL OF [DILLON], VISCOUNT OF [___] and Lord of [___]."
37. O'Callaghan 1854, p. 48, line 36b: "In 1730, quitting the service, as he was then in his 60th year, resigned his regiment to his eldest son;"
38. O'Callaghan 1854, p. 48, line 38: "... died February 5th, at the Palace of St. Germain-en-Laye, aged 63 years."
39. Smyth 1839, p. xiii, line 21: "William and Mary . [Accession] 13 February, 1689"

• Boulger, Demetrius Charles (1911), The Battle of the Boyne, London: Martin Secker
• Burke, Bernard (1949), A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire (99th ed.), London: Burke's Peerage Ltd.
• Cokayne, George Edward (1916), Gibbs, Vicary (ed.), The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant, 4 (2nd ed.), London: St Catherine Press – Dacre to Dysart (for Dillon)
• Debrett, John (1828), Peerage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 2 (17th ed.), London: F. C. and J. Rivington – Scotland and Ireland (for Dillon)
• Jullien de Courcelles, Jean Baptiste Pierre (1822), Dictionnaire historique et biographique des généraux français (in French), 5, Paris: chez l'auteur – Coss to Exc (for Dillon)
• La Chesnaye des Bois, François Alexandre Aubert de (1863), Dictionnaire de la noblesse (in French), 3 (3 ed.), Paris: Schlesinger Frères – BER–BRA (for Blaisel)
• La Chesnaye des Bois, François Alexandre Aubert de (1865), Dictionnaire de la noblesse (in French), 6 (3 ed.), Paris: Schlesinger Frères – COE–DOU (for Dillon)
• La Tour du Pin, Henriette-Lucy, Marquise de (1913), Journal d'une femme de cinquante ans (in French), 1 (7th ed.), Paris: Librairie Chapelot
• Lodge, John (1789), The Peerage of Ireland, 4, Dublin: James Moore – Viscounts (for Dillon)
• Lynn, John A. (1999), The Wars of Louis XIV 1667–1714, Harlow, England: Longman
• Miller, Peggy (1971), James: Old Pretender, New York: St. Martin's Press, ISBN 9780049230569
• Murtagh, Harman (2004), "Dillon, Arthur, Jacobite, Earl Dillon (1670–1733 )", in Matthew, Colin; Harrison, Brian (eds.), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 16, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 199–200, ISBN 0-19-8613660
• O'Callaghan, John (1854), History of the Irish Brigade in the service of France, New York: P. O'Shea Publisher
• Quincy, Charles Sevin de (1726), Histoire militaire du règne de Louis le Grand (in French), 3, Paris: Denis Mariette - Note: 1694–1702 (Universidad Central de Madrid)
• Ruvigny, Melville Henry, Marquis de (1904), Jacobite Peerage Baronetage Knightage and Grants of Honour, Edinburgh: T C & E C Jack
• Smyth, Constantine (1839), Chronicle of the Law Officers of Ireland, London: Henry Butterworth (for Table of reigns)
• Webb, Alfred (1878a), "Dillon, Theobald, Viscount", Compendium of Irish Biography, Dublin: M. H. Gill & Son, p. 149
• Webb, Alfred (1878b), "Dillon, Arthur, Count", Compendium of Irish Biography, Dublin: M. H. Gill & Son, pp. 150

External links

• Genealogy of Lt.-Gen. Arthur Dillon, Comte Dillon on The Peerage website