Carey Dillon, 5th Earl of Roscommon

Carey or Cary Dillon, 5th Earl of Roscommon, PC (Ire) (1627–1689) was an Irish nobleman and professional soldier of the seventeenth century. He held several Court offices under King Charles II and his successor King James II. After the Glorious Revolution he joined the Williamite opposition to James and was in consequence attainted as a traitor by James II's Irish Parliament in that same year. In August 1689 he fought at the Siege of Carrickfergus shortly before his death in November.

Carey Dillon
Earl of Roscommon
Reign	1649–1689
Predecessor	Wentworth, 4th Earl Roscommon
Successor	Robert, 6th Earl Roscommon
Born	1627
Died	1689
Spouse(s)	Katherine Werden
Detail Issue Catherine, Anne, & Robert
Father	Robert, 2nd Earl Roscommon
Mother	Anne Strode
Religion	Catholic

In his younger days he was a friend of Samuel Pepys, who in his celebrated Diary followed with interest Dillon's abortive courtship of their mutual friend, the noted beauty Frances Butler. The couple did not marry.

Background

Carey was born in 1627,[1] a younger son of Robert Dillon (died 1642) by his third wife Anne Strode. His father was the 2nd Earl of Roscommon. His family was Old English and descended from Sir Henry Dillon who came to Ireland with Prince John in 1185.[2] His family held substantial lands in Meath, Westmeath, Longford and Roscommon. Carey's mother was a daughter of Sir William Stroude of Somerset and Mary Southcote, and widow of Henry Folliott, 1st Baron Folliott.[3] She died about 1650.

As a younger son with his livelihood to earn, in the war-torn Ireland of the 1640s and 1650s, a military career was an obvious choice for him: he was made a captain by the age of seventeen. Although Samuel Pepys in the Great Diary always called him "Colonel Dillon" he was apparently only a lieutenant until 1684, when he became a major, and subsequently a colonel.

His father in the 1630s had been a staunch supporter of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, the formidable and virtually all-powerful Lord Deputy of Ireland, as was his half-brother James Dillon, 3rd Earl of Roscommon, and a family tie between the Dillons and the Wentworths was created when James married Strafford's sister Elizabeth.[4] During the English Civil War, both Dillon brothers were staunch Royalists: James, who died in 1649, was posthumously listed in the Act for the Settlement of Ireland 1652 as one of the leaders of the Royalist cause in Ireland who were excluded from pardon, and thus liable to forfeiture of their estates.

Family tree

Carey Dillon with wife, parents, and other selected relatives. James 1st Earl d. 1641 Eleanor Barnewall d. 1628 Margaret Barry Robert 2nd Earl d. 1642 Anne Strode James 3rd Earl c. 1605 – 1649 Elizabeth Wentworth; Carey 5th Earl 1627–1689 Katherine Werden Frances Boyle Wentworth 4th Earl 1637–1685 Isabella Boynton; Robert 6th Earl d. 1715 Robert 7th Earl d. 1721 Angel Ingoldsby; Robert 8th Earl d. 1746 unmarried Legend XXX Carey Dillon XXX Earls of Roscommon This family tree is partly derived from the Roscommon pedigree in Cokayne.[5] Also see the lists of siblings and children in the text.

In Pepys's Diary

Portrait of Samuel Pepys by J. Hayls. Pepys was a friend of Carey Dillon in the 1660s.

Pepys evidently liked "Colonel Dillon", whom he seems to have first met in 1660, and called him "a very merry and witty companion".[6]

In the early 1660s one of Pepys's closest friends was a young clergyman called Daniel Butler (nicknamed "Monsieur l'Impertinent", apparently because he never stopped talking), who was probably, like Dillon, an Irishman.[7][8] and shortly afterwards went to Ireland, apparently at Dillon's urging. Pepys admired both of Butler's sisters, especially Frances (nicknamed "la belle Boteler"), whom he thought one of the greatest beauties in London. Dillon courted Frances, and matters proceeded as far as an engagement, but this was broken off in 1662, apparently after a violent quarrel between Dillon and Frances's brother "Monsieur l'Impertinent", who complained of Dillon's "knavery" to him.[9] In the summer of 1668 Dillon apparently renewed his proposal of marriage – Pepys saw him and Frances riding in a carriage together – but it seems that Frances declined his offer. It is not known whether Frances ever married.[10]

Howard Duel

Following the Restoration of Charles II, Dillon entered politics, sitting in the Irish House of Commons as MP for Banagher in the Parliament of 1661–1666.[11]

His career was almost ruined in 1662 when he acted as second to Colonel Thomas Howard (a younger brother of Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Carlisle) in his notorious duel with Henry Jermyn, 1st Baron Dover (Howard and Dover being rivals for the affections of the notoriously promiscuous Anna Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury). Howard left Lord Dover for dead, and Dillon killed Dover's second, Giles Rawlings.[12] Dillon and Howard fled from London, but later returned to stand trial. As was usual in affairs of honour, they were both acquitted, as killing a man in a duel, although counted as murder in law, was then generally regarded as being expected of a man who wished to preserve his honour.[13]

Political career

This check to his career was temporary, and after 1670 his rise in Irish public life was rapid. He was sworn a member of the Privy Council of Ireland in 1673, and also became Master of the Irish Mint, Commissary-General of the Horse of Ireland, Surveyor-General for Customs and Excise in Ireland, and a Governor of the Royal Hospital Kilmainham.[14] In 1685, on the death of his nephew, the poet Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon, he succeeded as the 5th Earl of Roscommon.[15] The following year Lord Roscommon, as he was now, clashed bitterly with Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell,[16] the rising Roman Catholic Royal favourite. Tyrconnell, as Lieutenant-General of the Irish Army, had removed all the Protestant officers of the regiment stationed at Kilkenny. Roscommon, with it seems considerable justification, challenged his legal right to do so, and when the matter came before the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord Clarendon, Roscommon called Tyrconnell a liar to his face: this was a shrewd blow, since Tyrconnell had the unfortunate nickname "Lying Dick Talbot".[17][18] The "Kilkenny affair" caused something of a furore in Ireland, but did not damage Tyrconnell's standing at the English Court.

Marriage and children

He married Katherine Werden (died 1683), daughter of John Werden (died 1646) of Chester and Katherine Dutton, daughter of Edward Dutton, and sister of Lieutenant-General Robert Werden.

The couple had a son:

1. Robert (died 1715), who succeeded him as the 6th Earl of Roscommon,[19] and is said still to have been a young child when his father died.

—and two daughters:

1. Anne, who married Sir Thomas Nugent in about 1675; and
2. Catherine (died 1674), who married Hugh Montgomery, 2nd Earl of Mount Alexander.

The sisters were so many years older than their brother that it is possible they were children of an earlier marriage. If so, their mother must have died before 1660, since it is clear from the Diary of Samuel Pepys that Dillon was free to marry between 1660 and 1668.

The Williamite

Carey's nephew, Wentworth, 4th Earl of Roscommon

Having served the Stuart dynasty with notable loyalty both during the Civil War and after the Restoration, Lord Roscommon, like many of the Irish Protestant ruling class, changed sides after the downfall and flight to France of James II in 1688. Roscommon and the majority of his fellow peers were opposed to James's pro-Catholic policy, and were appalled at the mishandling of the economy by Tyrconnel, the Lord Deputy of Ireland, with whom Roscommon had a bitter personal feud as well. When James in 1689 attempted to reconquer England by occupying Ireland, Roscommon offered his services to King William III of England. He was commissioned to raise troops on William's behalf.[20] He was attainted for treason by the Patriot Parliament, held in Dublin from 7 May to 20 July 1689. He was present at the Siege of Carrickfergus in August 1689, the crucial first step in William's campaign to wrest control of Ireland from James II.

Death and timeline

He left Ireland and died on 25 November 1689 in Chester.[21]

Timeline
Age	Date	Event
0	1627, Jun	Born.[1]
13	1641, 12 May	Strafford beheaded.[22]
21	1649, 30 Jan	King Charles I beheaded.[23]
22	1649, Oct	Became heir presumptive as his nephew Wentworth succeeded as the 4th Lord Roscommon.[24]
33	1661, 19 Apr	Returned MP for Banagher.[11]
35	1662, 19 Aug	Acted as a second to Col. Thomas Howard in his duel with Jermyn and killed Jermyn's second.[12]
46	1673	Invested as a Irish private councillor.
56	1684, 20 Jan	Succeeded his nephew Wentworth as the 5th Earl of Roscommon.[15]
57	1685, 6 Feb	Accession of King James II, replacing King Charles II.[25]
62	1689, 25 Nov	Died in Chester.[21]

Notes and references

1. Cokayne 1895, p. 412, line 5: "He was bap. 1 July 1627."
2. Webb 1878, p. 149, line 7: "... [Sir Henry Dillon] came to Ireland in 1185 as secretary to Prince John ..."
3. Burke 1866, p. 172, right column, line 28: "and 3rdly, Anne, dau. of Sir William Stroud, and widow of Lord Folliott, by whom he had a son CARY, who s. as 5th earl."
4. Wedgwood 1961, p. 324: "Charles appointed Lord Dillon to take Wandesford's place, but he was unacceptable to Parliament because his son was married to Strafford's sister."
5. Cokayne 1895, p. 414.
6. Pepys 1893, p. 217: "Aug. 8, 1660. We found them very pretty, and Coll. Dillon there, a very merry and witty companion ..."
7. Bryant 1947, p. 54: "Lesser friends were young Butler – 'Monsieur l'impertinent' as Pepys christened the gay chatterbox of an Irishman – son of an ancient but ruined royalist house;"
8. Bryant, Arthur Samuel Pepys - the Man in the Making Reprint Society London 1952 p. 65. Bryant believed that Butler was an impoverished member of the Butler dynasty,
9. Pepys 1893, p. 403: "31 December 1662. Among others he tells me how the difference comes between his fair cozen Butler and Colonell Dillon, upon his opening letters of her brother's from Ireland, complaining of his knavery and forging others to the contrary; and so they are long ago quite broke off."
10. Pepys 1896, p. 109: "... I seeing Frances the other day in a coach with Cary Dillon ..."
11. House of Commons 1878, p. 622: "1661 - 19 April Hon. Carey Dillon Dublin Banagher Borough"
12. Pepys 1893, p. 292: "Aug. 19, 1662 ... the duell between Mr Jermyn, nephew to my Lord St. Albans and Colonel Gill Rawlins, the latter of whom is killed and the first mortally wounded, as it is thought. They fought against Captain Thomas Howard, my Lord Carlisle's brother and another unknown [Carey];"
13. Fleming 1999, p. 7: "This ritualised conflict was based on the assumption that a gentleman had to be prepared to defend his honor at all times. Inherited from the days of chivalry, in the sixteenth century duelling became popular among European aristocrats ..."
14. Pepys's Diary Companion p. 92
15. Burke 1866, p. 172, right column, line 55: "... but dying s. p. 20 January, 1684, the honours reverted to his uncle (see Robert, 2nd earl), CARY, 5th earl ..."
16. Burke 1949, p. 1957, right column, line 58: "Richard ... who by Patent, dated 20 June, 1685, was created Baron of Talbot's town, Viscount of Baltinglas, and Earl of Tyrconnell, with remainder in tail-male for his nephews;"
17. Kenyon 1958, p. 136: "He [Tyrconnell] had removed all the Protestant officers from a regiment in Kilkenny, only to have his power to do so questioned by the influential Earl of Roscommon ..."
18. Bagwell 1916, p. 160, line 12: "He told Lord Roscommon to admit only Roman Catholics into Ormonde's regiment."
19. Burke 1866, p. 172, right column, line 64: "... a son ROBERT, 6th earl;"
20. Murray 1912, p. 110, Note 1: "William appointed him [3rd Earl of Drogheda] and the Earl of Roscommon colonels to raise men."
21. Cokayne 1895, p. 412, line 12: "He d. at Chester 25 Nov. 1689."
22. Burke 1866, p. 577, left column, line 3: "He [Strafford] suffered death with characteristic firmness on Tower Hill, 12 May 1641."
23. Burke 1949, p. [cclxvii, line9]: "after the decapitation of CHARLES I at Whitehall, 30 Jan. 1649 ..."
24. Cokayne 1895, p. 411, line 29: "He d. at the house of Bishop Bramhall, Limerick, of a fall down a great pair of stairs."
25. Smyth 1839, p. xiii, line 20: "James II. . [Accession] 6 February, 1685"

• Bagwell, Richard (1916), Ireland under the Stuarts and under the Interregnum, 3, London: Longmans, Green, and Co. – 1660 to 1690
• Bryant, Arthur (1947), Samuel Pepys – The Man in the Making, London: Collins
• Burke, Bernard (1866), A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire (New ed.), London: Harrison (for Dillon of Roscommon)
• Burke, Bernard (1949), A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire (99th ed.), London: Burke's Peerage Ltd. (for Charles I)
• Cokayne, George Edward (1895), The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant, 6 (1st ed.), London: George Bell and Sons – N to R (for Roscommon)
• Fleming, Thomas (1999), Duel – Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr and the future of America, New York: Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-01736-3 (for the duel)
• House of Commons (1878), "Members of Parliament", Parliamentary Papers, London: H. M. Stationery Office, 62 (for MP)
• Kenyon, John Philipps (1958), Robert Spencer Earl of Sunderland (1641–1702), Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press Publishers, ISBN 083718150X
• Murray, Rev. Robert H., ed. (1912), The Journal of John Stevens Containing a Brief Account of the War in Ireland 1689–1691, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Pepys, Samuel (1893), Wheatley, Henry Benjamin (ed.), The Diary of Samuel Pepys, 2, London: George Bell & Sons - 1 April 1661 to 31 December 1661 (for the duel)
• Pepys, Samuel (1896), Wheatley, Henry Benjamin (ed.), The Diary of Samuel Pepys, 8, London: George Bell and Sons – 1 May 1668 to 31 May 1669 (for Frances Butler)
• Smyth, Constantine (1839), Chronicle of the Law Officers of Ireland, London: Henry Butterworth (for Table of reigns)
• Webb, Alfred (1878), "Dillon, Theobald, Viscount", Compendium of Irish Biography, Dublin: M. H. Gill & Son, p. 149
• Wedgwood, Cicely Veronica (1961), Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford 1593–1641. A Revaluation, London: Jonathan Cape

External links

• Genealogy of Carey Dillon 5th Earl of Roscommon on The Peerage website