Thomas Dillon, 4th Viscount Dillon

Thomas Dillon, 4th Viscount Dillon PC (Ire) (1615–1673) held his title for 42 years that saw Strafford's administration, the Irish Rebellion of 1641, the Irish Confederate Wars and the Cromwellian Conquest of Ireland. He was a royalist and supported Strafford and Ormond. He sided with the Confederates for a while, but was a moderate who opposed Rinuccini, the papal nuncio. Lord Dillon fled the field of the Battle of Dungan's Hill (1647) and did not rescue Ormond at the Battle of Rathmines (1649). However, he defended Athlone successfully against Ireton in 1650.

Thomas Dillon
Viscount Dillon
Reign1630–1673
PredecessorTheobald, 3rd Viscount Dillon
SuccessorThomas, 5th Viscount Dillon
BornMarch 1615
Died1673
Spouse(s)Frances White
Issue
Thomas & others
FatherChristopher Dillon
MotherJane Dillon

Birth and origins

Thomas was born in March 1615[1][2][3][lower-alpha 1] in Ireland. He was the second son of Christopher Dillon and his wife Jane Dillon. His father was the eldest son and heir apparent of Theobald Dillon, 1st Viscount Dillon. Christopher predeceased his father and therefore never succeeded as viscount. He was a member of the landed gentry and known as Christopher Dillon of Ballylaghan in County Mayo. Thomas's mother was the eldest daughter of James Dillon, 1st Earl of Roscommon. His father's and his mother's family were branches of the same widespread Old English family, established in Ireland in 1185 when Sir Henry Dillon accompanied Prince John to Ireland.[4] His parents married in 1604 and had seven sons and five daughters.[5]

Family tree
Thomas Dillon with wife, parents, and other selected relatives.
Theobald
1st
Viscount

d. 1624
Eleanor
Tuite

d. 1638
Christopher
Dillon of
Ballylaghan

d. 1624
Janet
Dillon

m. 1604
Lucas
Dillon of
Loughglynn
James
Dillon

c. 1600 –
aft. 1669
Lucas
2nd
Viscount

1610–1629
Thomas
4th
Viscount

1615–1673
Frances
White

d. 1664
Theobald
Dillon
Robert
Dillon of
Loughglynn
Theobald
3rd
Viscount

1629–1630
Thomas
5th
Viscount

d. 1674
Lucas
6th
Viscount

d. 1682
Theobald
7th
Viscount

d. 1691
Jacobite
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
Legend
XXXThomas
Dillon
XXXViscounts
Dillon
This family tree is partly derived from the Dillon family tree pictured in La Tour du Pin.[6] Also see the lists of siblings and children in the text.

Viscount at 15

His father died on 28 February 1624 when Thomas was 8 years old.[15] His grandfather, the 1st Viscount, followed him into the grave two weeks later on 15 March 1624.[16] His elder brother Lucas succeeded his grandfather as the 2nd Viscount Dillon. Lucas stayed viscount for about five years and died in 1629,[17] leaving a three months old child, Theobald,[18] who became the 3rd Viscount and a ward of the King but lasted only about a year dying on 13 May 1630 in his infancy.[19] Thomas, being his uncle, succeeded as the 4th Viscount Dillon of Costello-Gallen. As he was 15 at the time, he entered immediately into the possession of the estate.[20] Lord Dillon, as he was now, in that same year converted to Protestantism and was received into the Church of Ireland.[21]

Marriage and children

In 1635 Lord Dillon married Frances White, daughter of Nicholas White, esquire, of Leixlip, a Protestant,[22][23] and granddaughter of Garret Moore, 1st Viscount Moore by her mother Ursula Moore.[24] She brought him a dowry of £3000. Her sister Mary White married Theobald Taaffe, the 2nd Viscount Taaffe (later 1st Earl of Carlingford), who thus became his brother-in-law.[25]

The couple had six sons and several daughters, who seem not to be known by name. The sons were:

  1. Charles (born 1636), became a general in French and Spanish service;[26]
  2. Christopher (died 1663), never married;[27]
  3. Rupert, died while being a page to Charles II, during his exile;[28]
  4. Thomas (died 1674), became the 5th Viscount;[29][30]
  5. Ormond, died young;[31]
  6. Nicholas, died young.[31]

Strafford's administration

Thomas Wentworth, Viscount Wentworth, later the 1st Earl of Strafford, was appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland by Charles I on 12 April 1632.[32] About 1636 Wentworth's sister Elizabeth married James Dillon, 3rd Earl of Roscommon, a first cousin on his mother's side.[33] In January 1640 Wentworth was raised to Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.[34] On 12 January 1640 Wentworth was created 1st Earl of Strafford.[35]

On 16 March 1640 Lord Dillon took his seat in the House of Lords of the Irish Parliament.[36] The purpose of the parliament was to raise subsidies for an Irish army for Charles I to fight the Scottish Covenanters. The Parliament sat until 31 March when it was prorogued to 1 June and Strafford, as he was now, left for England never to return. He was replaced in Ireland by his friend Christopher Wandesford as Lord Deputy. Parliament sat again from 1 to 17 June and was prorogued to 1 October.[37] When Parliament met again on 1 October, its mood had turned entirely against Strafford. The Commons sent a committee to England with a remonstrance that listed Strafford's excesses. Dillon together with Gormanston, Kilmallock and Muskerry were sent to London by the House of Lords to report grievances.[38] Sometime in 1640 before the 23 October Lord Dillon was appointed a member of the Irish Privy council.[39] Wandesford died on 3 December 1640 and was succeeded by Lord Leicester with the title of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Lord Leicester, however, never set foot on Irish soil.[40]

Irish wars

In October 1641 the Irish Rebellion broke out. In February 1642, the Irish Parliament sent Lord Dillon and his brother-in-law Lord Taaffe to England to submit grievances to Charles I. However, they were intercepted at Ware by order of the English House of Commons.[41] They escaped a few months later and met the King at York.[42] Upon Lord Dillon's return to Ireland, he was promoted Lieutenant-General.[43]

On 15 September 1643 the Cessation, a ceasefire for one year was signed between the royalists and the Confederation.[44] This cessation was renewed in September 1644.

In 1644 Lord Dillon was appointed joint President of Connaught together with Henry Wilmot, 2nd Viscount Wilmot,[45] who had inherited the his half of the presidency from his father, Charles Wilmot, 1st Viscount Wilmot in April 1644.[46] Dillon replaced Roger Jones, 1st Viscount Ranelagh, who had died in 1643.[47]

With the arrival of the papal nuncio, Giovanni Battista Rinuccini, in Ireland on 21 October 1645[48] Lord Dillon's Protestant religion caused him problems. He decided to convert back to Catholicism and on 6 December 1646 Lord Dillon was received back into the Roman Catholic Church by the Nuncio at St Mary's Church,[lower-alpha 2] Kilkenny.[49] He had left Athlone under the command of Captain MacGawly, who betrayed him and handed the town over to Owen Roe O'Neill. After his conversion the Confederate Council ordered O'Neill to give the town back to Lord Dillon, but O'Neill refused.[50]

In August 1647, the Confederate Leinster army under Thomas Preston was severely beaten in the Battle of Dungan's Hill by Parliamentarian troops under Michael Jones. At this occasion Lord Dillon commanded the Confederate cavalry, which fled in the early stages of the battle.[51][52]

Lord Dillon is mentioned several times in the Peace Treaty of 17 January 1649 between the Irish Confederates and Ormond, acting for Charles I, as "Thomas lord viscount Dillon of Costologh" (i.e. Costello-Gallen)". John Milton called him an "archrebel".[53]

In 1649 Lord Dillon took part in Ormond's unsuccessful Siege of Dublin. He blockaded the Northside of the town with 2500 men[54] and did not intervene, when General Michael Jones sallied in the south-east side of the town and defeated Ormond in the Battle of Rathmines on 2 August 1649.[55] After the battle Ormond and Dillon retreated northwards to Trim.[56] Some of his troops went to reinforce the garrison of Drogheda and were caught in the ensuing Siege of Drogheda by Cromwell, 3–11 September 1649.[57]

In 1650 Lord Dillon successfully defended Athlone against a Parliamentarian army under Henry Ireton, skilfully holding him off by protracted parleys until Ireton decided to leave and rather reinforce Hardress Waller at the siege of Limerick. However, too much time had been lost and the parliamentarians took neither of these towns in the campaign of 1650.[58] On 18 June 1651 Lord Dillon surrendered Athlone to Coote.[59]

Lord Dillon's estates were confiscated by the Cromwellian Settlement of 1652, and he and his family lived in exile on the continent until the Restoration.[60]

Restoration, later life, death, and timeline

In 1662 he resigned the presidency of Connaught to Charles II for a payment of money.[61] In 1663 most of his extensive lands were restored by the Act of Settlement 1662, and several high offices in the state were conferred upon him, including that of Custos Rotulorum of Westmeath. However Dudley Costello, who was from a family of Gaelic freeholders that had been cheated out of their land by the 1st Viscount, resisted by organising rapparee actions. He was eventually shot in a skirmish in eastern County Mayo in 1667.[62]

After 1669 Lord Dillon inherited an estate of 2,500 acres (10 km2) in County Mayo and County Roscommon from his uncle, Sir James Dillon, youngest son of the 1st Viscount.[63]

Lord Dillon died in 1673[64][65][66] and was succeeded by Thomas, his only surviving son, as the 5th Viscount.[30] When the 5th Viscount died childless, the title passed to his first cousin Lucas, the 6th Viscount, and thereafter to the Loughglynn branch of the family, which descended from the 1st Viscount through his second son, Lucas Dillon of Loughglynn.[67]

Most likely, Frances, his wife, outlived him and died in 1674, being buried in St. Mary's Chapel in Christ Church Cathedral.[68] However, John Lodge thought that Frances was the Lady Dillon who has been recorded as dying in 1664 in Dillon's house in Winetavern Street, Dublin, and was buried at St James's.[69]

Notes and references

  1. Thomas was born in 'March 1615' according to (Burke 1949)[1] but in 1614 according to (Webb 1878b).[2] Both are probably right as the year began on 25 March in the Julian Calendar and dates between 1 January and 25 March can be reported in several ways. Burke seems to adjust to a start of the year on 1 January, as most modern historians do, whereas Webb seems to report the year in strict OS. That interpretation also agrees with (Cokayne 1916)[3] who states that the 4th Viscount was 15 years old when he acceded to the honour.
  2. This is the old parish church in the centre of the town, not St Mary's Cathedral, built in the 19th century.
  1. Burke 1949, p. 603: "... [the 4th Viscount] b. March 1615" ..."
  2. Webb 1878b, p. 149, line 42: "... was born about 1614 ..."
  3. Cokayne 1916, p. 358, line 9: "1630 4.THOMAS ... uncle and h., being next br. to the 2nd Viscount and then aged 15."
  4. Webb 1878a, p. 149, line 7: "... [Sir Henry Dillon] came to Ireland in 1185 as secretary to Prince John ..."
  5. Burke 1832, p. 367: "CHRISTOPHER (Sir), of Bealalahin, in the county of Mayo, who m. in 1604, Lady Jane Dillon, eldest daughter of James, first Earl of Roscommon, and dying before his father, left seven sons and five daughters."
  6. La Tour du Pin 1913, pp. 14–15: "Note généalogique sur la Maison des Lords Dillon"
  7. Lodge 1789b, p. 185, line 19: "Lucas, the eldest son, and second Viscount Dillon, was 14 years and 6 months old when he succeeded his grandfather ..."
  8. Lodge 1789b, p. 185, line 11: "Theobald, the father of Lucas, the 6th Viscount;"
  9. Lodge 1789b, p. 185, line 12a: "James, who died without issue;"
  10. Lodge 1789b, p. 185, line 12b: "... as did John, who married the widow of ___ Bingham, esq.;"
  11. Lodge 1789b, p. 185, line 14a: "... Christopher, and Francis, died young;"
  12. Lodge 1789b, p. 185, line 14b: "... daughter Joan, married to John O'Madden, chief of his sept in the barony of Longford, in county of Galway ..."
  13. Lodge 1789b, p. 185, line 17: "... Elizabeth, and Mary, nuns of the Order of St. Clare; "
  14. Lodge 1789b, p. 185, line 18: "... Eleanora, and Mary, both died young."
  15. Cokayne 1916, p. 357, line 33: "Christopher was s. and h. ap. of the last Viscount but d. v.p., 28 Feb 1623/4."
  16. Debrett 1828, p. 748, line 9: "... and [the 1st Viscount] d. 15 March 1624 ..."
  17. Cokayne 1916, p. 358, line 2: "He [the 2nd Viscount] d. at Killenfagny, co. Westmeath, 13 Apr. and was bur. 14 Sept. 1629 in the Friary of Athlone."
  18. Lodge 1789b, p. 185, line 30: "Theobald, the third Viscount, at the death of his father ..."
  19. Cokayne 1916, p. 358, line 8: "He [the 3rd Viscount] d. an infant, 13 May 1630."
  20. Lodge 1789b, p. 185, line 33: "Thomas, the 4th Viscount, who being within age, viz. 15 years old at the accession to the honour ; K. Charles I by indenture, bearing date of 8 December same year [1630] demised and to farm set, the estates then very considerable ..."
  21. Henderson 1888, p. 86, right column: "... he [the 4th Viscount] declared himself a protestant."
  22. Cokayne 1916, p. 358, line 21: "He m., before 1636, Frances da. of Sir Nicholas WHITE of Leixlip, by Ursula, 1st da. of Garrett (MOORE) 1st VISCOUNT MOORE OF DROGHEDA.
  23. Burke1949, p. 603, left column, line 42: "... m. 1635, Frances, dau. of Nicholas White of Leixlip ..."
  24. Lodge 1789a, p. 100, line 10: "Daughter Ursula was married to Sir Nicholas White of Leixlip, in the county of Kildare ..."
  25. Cokayne 1913, p. 28, line 19: "He [Taaffe] m., 1stly, Mary, 1st da. of Sir Nicholas WHITE of Leixlip, co. Kildare, by Ursula, 1st da. of Garrett, 1st VISCOUNT MOORE OF DROGHEDA."
  26. Burke 1949, p. 603, left column, line 44: "Charles, Gen in the French and Spanish services, Gov. of Tournay, b. 1636, d.s.p., before his father."
  27. Lodge 1789b, p. 189, line 26: "Christopher who died in Winetavern-Street unmarried and was buried by his mother 20 June 1663."
  28. Burke 1949, p. 603, left column, line 46: "Rupert, page to CHARLES II, k. on service."
  29. Lodge 1789b, p. 189, line 36: "Thomas, the 5th Viscount Dillon married Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Sir John Bourke of Derymaclagtny in the county of Galway ... and his Lordship deceasing 1674, the honour devolved on Lucas Dillon, eldest son of Theobald, third son of Sir Christopher Dillon, eldest son of Theobald, the first Viscount."
  30. Burke 1949, p. 603, left column, line 47: "THOMAS, 5th Viscount. His only surviving son."
  31. Lodge 1789b, p. 189, line 34: "Ormond, and Nicholas, died young."
  32. Asch 2004, p. 146, right column, line 23: "Wentworth was appointed lord deputy on 12 January 1632 ..."
  33. Lodge 1789b, p. 164: "He [the 3rd Earl Roscommon] married Elizabeth, third and youngest daughter of Sir William Wentworth, of Wentworth-Woodhouse, in the county of York, Bart. sister to Thomas Earl of Strafford ..."
  34. Asch 2004, p. 152, left column, line 46: "In January 1640 Wentworth was elevated to the position of lord lieutenant of Ireland, which allowed him to govern the country during his absence through a deputy."
  35. Asch 2004, p. 152, left column, line 49: "... on 12 January 1640 he [Wentworth] was created an earl, taking the title of Strafford."
  36. Cokayne 1916, p. 358, line 12: "... having declared himself a Protestant, took his seat in the House of Lords [I.] 16 March 1639/40."
  37. Bagwell 1909a, p. 298: "Wandesford prorogued Parliament on June 17 to October 1."
  38. Bagwell 1909a, p. 303: "... deputed Gormanston, Dillon, and Kilmallock ... Muskerry ..."
  39. Lodge 1789b, p. 183, last line: "... and 23 October 1640 we find him a Lord of the Privy Council ..."
  40. McNeill 1911, p. 392: "... in 1643 he was compelled to resign the office without having set foot in Ireland."
  41. Warner 1768a, p. 130: "What the private instructions were that Lord DILLON was entrusted with are not particularly known; because ... when he and Lord TAAFE who accompanied him were got to Ware, their persons and papers were seized by order of the English House of Commons;"
  42. Webb 1878b, p. 149, line 48: "Being on a mission to King Charles in February 1641-'2, he was, with Lord Taaffe, seized at Ware by order of the House of Commons. After some months' imprisonment, they escaped and joined the King at York."
  43. Webb 1878b, p. 49, right column, line 53: "Upon Dillon's return to Ireland, he was made Lieutenant-General ..."
  44. Bagwell 1909b, p. 50: "... the terms of the cessation were agreed to on September 15 [1643] ..."
  45. Warner 1768b, p. 46: "Lord WILMOT and Lord DILLON made pretensions to this post, though neither of them had a twentieth part of the merit of Lord CLANRICARDE, and in order to satisfy them both, they were made joint Presidents of Connaught]."
  46. Firth 1900, p. 62, right column, line 12: "He also lost [8 Aug 1644] his joint presidency of Connaught to which he had been appointed in April 1644 succeeding his father in that office ..."
  47. Cokayne 1895, p. 324, line 18: "He [Roger Jones] d. while attending the king at Oxford, his burial being recorded 1 July 1643 ..."
  48. Coffey 1914, p. 152, line 16: "... landed at Kenmare October, 21st [1645]."
  49. Lodge 1789b, p. 187, line 12: "... where 6 December 1646, he was reconciled by the nuncio to the Church of Rome, according to the Roman Pontifical in St. Mary's Church before a vast concourse of people;"
  50. Coffey 1914, p. 191: "O'Neill still held Athlone, though ordered to give it back to Lord Costello by the Council"
  51. Lenihan 2004, p. 226, left column, line 10: "Dillon joined the Leinster confederate Catholic army and led the cavalry contingent at the catastrophic defeat at Dungan's Hill in August 1647."
  52. Meehan 1882, p. 311: "... wheronto is to be added the Lord Costologh's party of about 300 horse ..."
  53. Milton 1649, p. 263: "... a standing army of papists at the beck and command of Dillon, Muskerry, and other archrebels ..."
  54. Hayes-McCoy 1990, p. 206, line 30: "He left 2,500 men under Lord Dillon on the north side of the river Liffey ..."
  55. Lenihan 2004, p. 226, left column, line 26: "On 2 August a surprise attack overran Ormond's camp; at some point in the battle Ormond sent a message ordering Dillon to march south and attack the rear of the parliamentary army. Dillon refused, probably because it seemed to him to be too late to prevent a rout."
  56. D'Alton 1910, p. 303, line 24: "Lord Taaffe escaped across the Liffey and begged Lord Dillon to attack the enemy while disordered by their victory, but his men refused and were with difficulty persuaded to go, half to Trim and half to Drogheda to strengthen these garrisons. Ormond himself with the broken remains of his army made his way to Trim.
  57. Hayes-McCoy 1990, p. 212, line 1: "Lord Dillon, the royalist leader on the north bank, fell back, on hearing the news of Ormond's defeat, into Trim and Drogheda and many of his men perished at Cromwell's hands in the latter place in the following month."
  58. Warner 1768b, p. 228, line 8: "... IRETON, joining his army to SR C. COOTE's, advanced to Athlone in order to take in that garrison, but finding the bridge broken and the town on that side burned, COOTE was left to block it up and IRETON ... joined his army before Limerick."
  59. Henderson 1888, p. 87, left column, line 30: "He maintained Athlone till 18 June 1651, when articles of agreement were arranged between him and Sir Charles Coote."
  60. Webb 1878b, p. 150, left column, line 2: "... he and his family lived in exile on the continent until the Restoration."
  61. Henderson 1888, p. 87, left column: "In consideration of a sum of money he resigned in 1662 the presidency of Connaught to Charles II ..."
  62. Carte 1851, p. 256: "Costellogh ventured in the night to attack one of them, commanded by Captain Theobald Dillon, supposing them to be raw men, and easily frighted; but met with so warm a reception, that he was shot dead on the spot ..."
  63. Murtagh 2004, p. 211, left column: "Much of his [James Dillon's] estate seems eventually to have reverted to his nephew Thomas, fourth Viscount Dillon, who was presumably his heir."
  64. Cokayne 1916, p. 358, line 25: "He d. in 1673 or 1674.
  65. Burke1949, p. 603, left column, line 43: "... and d. 1672-3 ..."
  66. Webb 1878b, p. 150, line 7: "He died about 1672 ..."
  67. Debrett 1828, p. 748, line 11: "He [1st Viscount] had issue 8 sons and 11 das.; of the sons, Christopher, the eldest, who d. in his father's lifetime, was ancestor of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th viscounts and Lucas, the 2nd was ancestor of the present viscount."
  68. Cokayne 1916, p. 358, line 23: "She [Frances], who brought him £3000 fortune, d. 20 and was bur. 23 Dec 1674, in St. Mary's Chapel in Christchurch.
  69. Lodge 1789b, p. 189, line 16: "... who died in Winetavern-street and was buried in St. James's, 9 January 1664."
  70. Smyth 1839, p. xiii, line 18: "Charles I. . [Accession] 27 March, 1625"
  71. Burke 1866, p. 577, left column, line 3: "He [Strafford] suffered death with characteristic firmness on Tower Hill, 12 May 1641."
  72. Burke 1949, p. cclxvii, line 9: "… after the decapitation of CHARLES I at Whitehall, 30 Jan. 1649 ..."
  73. Seaward 2004, p. 127, right column: "… he sailed to England and on 29 May [1660] he entered London in triumph."
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Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by
Theobald Dillon
Viscount Dillon
1630-1673
Succeeded by
Thomas Dillon
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