Bartholomew Dillon

Bartholomew Dillon
Lord Chief Justice of Ireland
In office
15 January 1533 – 1533
Preceded byPatrick Bermingham
Succeeded byPatrick Finglas
Personal details
BornRiverston, County Meath
Died1533

Sir Bartholomew Dillon (died 1533) was a leading Irish judge of the sixteenth century who held the offices of Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer and Lord Justice of Ireland.

Birth and origins

Bartholomew was born at Riverston, County Meath, eldest son of Sir James Dillon and his wife Elizabeth Bathe.[1][2] His father was a Baron of the Exchequer.[3] His father's family was Old English and descended from Sir Henry Dillon who came to Ireland with Prince John in 1185.[4] His mother was a daughter of Bartholomew Bathe of Dollardstown Castle, Athy, County Kildare.

He leads the list of his brothers below as the eldest:

  1. Bartholomew (died 1533)[5]
  2. Gerald[6]
  3. Robert (died 1579), became Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas[7]
  4. Thomas, prior of St Peter of Trim[8]
  5. Edmund, prior of St. John's Priory, Trim, and prior of Lusk[9][10]

He had two sisters:

  1. Elizabeth, married a Cusack of Portrane[11]
  2. Thomasine, married John Delafield[12]
Family tree
Bartholomew Dillon with his two wives, his parents, and other selected relatives.[a]
Sir Richard
Dillon
of Proudston
fl. 1424		Jeanne
Wile
James
Dillon
of Riverston		Elizabeth
Bathe
Elizabeth
Barnewall		Bartholomew
Dillon
of Riverston
d. 1533
Chief Justice		Elinor
Plunkett		Robert
Dillon
of Newtown
d. 1579
Chief Justice
Thomas
Dillon
of Riverston		Anne
Luttrell		Lucas
Dillon
1530–1592
Chief Baron
Robert
Dillon
c. 1540 – 1597
Chief Justice		Catharine
Sarsfield
d. 1615		James
1st Earl
Roscommon
d. 1641
Legend
XXXSubject of
the article		XXXEarls of
Roscommon

Marriages and children

Dillon married twice. His first wife was Elizabeth Barnewall, only daughter of Thomas Barnewall of Irishtown, who was the second son of Thomas Barnewall, 7th Baron Trimleston.[14]

Bartholomew and Elizabeth had a son:

  1. Thomas (living in 1541), married Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Luttrell, and was father of Sir Robert Dillon[15]

—and two daughters:

  1. Anne, married Nicholas Kent of Davidstown[16]
  2. Ismay, married three times. First to John Fleming of Stephenstown, a grandson of James Fleming, 7th Baron Slane, and was the mother of Thomas Fleming, 10th Baron Slane.[17] Secondly to Richard Tath of Cookstown, and thirdly to Sir Thomas Barnewall, second son of John Barnewall, 3rd Baron Trimlestown and his eldest child by his second wife Margaret FitzLeones.

Dillon's younger brother Robert founded the branch of the family that would later hold the title Earl of Roscommon. By birth and marriage the Dillon brothers belonged to the small Anglo-Irish ruling class of the Pale.

Career

Dillon was an official at the Court of Exchequer (Ireland) by 1505 and became a Baron of the Exchequer in 1507. He was promoted Chief Baron in 1514 but removed after a year, for reasons unknown.[18] He was Deputy Treasurer of Ireland from 1516 to 1522, when he became a judge of the Court of King's Bench (Ireland). On 15 January 1533 he was made Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench for Ireland[19] but died suddenly soon after.[20]

According to Elrington Ball, at a time when the Irish ruling class were deeply split between supporters (the so-called Geraldines) and opponents of the 9th Earl of Kildare, Dillon was one of the most committed Geraldines, and spent much of his time in England defending the Earl of Kildare's interests.[21]

Notes and references

Notes

  1. ^ This family tree is based on the genealogies of the earls of Roscommon.[13] Also see the lists of siblings and children in the text.

Citations

  1. ^ Ball 1926, p. 191, line 11. "... was a son of James Dillon and Elizabeth Bathe;"
  2. ^ Lodge 1789, p. 142. "James the eldest son, became seated at Riverston, in the county of Meath, (his mother's inheritance) and marrying Elizabeth, daughter of Bartholomew Bath, of Dullardston, Esq., and widow of ____ Kerdisse, had five sons and two daughters, viz. Sir Bartholomew, his heir ..."
  3. ^ Ball 1926, p. 112, line 9. "Both James Dillon and his son, Sir Bartholomew Dillon, who succeeded him as baron of the Exchequer ..."
  4. ^ Webb 1878, p. 149, line 7. "... [Sir Henry Dillon] came to Ireland in 1185 as secretary to Prince John ..."
  5. ^ Lodge 1789, p. 142, line 29. "Sir Bartholomew, his heir;"
  6. ^ Lodge 1789, p. 142, line 30. "Gerald, who left posterity at Skryne and Balgieth;"
  7. ^ Lodge 1789, p. 142, line 31. "Sir Robert, of Newtown, near Trim, immediate ancestor to the Earl of Roscommon."
  8. ^ Lodge 1789, p. 142, line 32. "Thomas, prior of St Peter of Trim ."
  9. ^ Conwell 1873, p. 366. "Edmund, fourth brother of Sir Bartholomew Dillon, who was made chief Baron of the Exchequer in 1513, was prior of Newton."
  10. ^ Lodge 1789, p. 142, line 33. "Edmund, prior of Newtown and of the abbey of Lusk."
  11. ^ Lodge 1789, p. 142, line 34. "Elizabeth married to ____ Cusack of Portrane."
  12. ^ Lodge 1789, p. 142, line 35. "Thomasin to John Delafield."
  13. ^ Lodge 1789, pp. 139–142 (footnote). "We now return to Sir Richard Dillon ..."
  14. ^ Lodge 1789, p. 143, line 5. "He married first Elizabeth, only daughter of Thomas Barnewall, of Irishtown, second son of Robert, Lord Trimleston;"
  15. ^ Lodge 1789, p. 143, line 21. "Thomas Dillon, Esq., living in 1541, who succeeded at Riverston, married Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Luttrell ..."
  16. ^ Lodge 1789, p. 143. "Anne, married to Nicholas Kent, of David's-town, Esq."
  17. ^ Cokayne 1896, p. 158. "10. Thomas (Fleming) Baron Slane [I. [Ireland] ], cousin and h. [heir] male, being s. [son] and h. of James Fleming of Stephenstown by Ismay, da. [daughter] of Bartholomew Dillon ..."
  18. ^ Ball 1926, p. 191, line 13. " was appointed first baron of the Exchequer in 1507 and chief baron 1514; was superseded 1515;"
  19. ^ Smyth 1839, p. 83. "Sir Bartholomew Dillon, Knt., (ad placita nostra coram nobis tenenda,) — Bermingham deceased, — patent, Hoggeston, 15 Jan. 1532."
  20. ^ Ball 1926, p. 191, line 18. "... was appointed chief justice of the King's Bench 1533; died same year;"
  21. ^ Ball 1926, p. 191, line 17. "... appears in London acting on behalf of the Earl of Kildare 1526;"

Sources

  • Ball, Francis Elrington (1926). The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921. Vol. I (1st ed.). London: John Murray. OCLC 832154869. – 1221 to 1690
  • Cokayne, George Edward (1896). Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, or Dormant. Vol. VII (1st ed.). London: George Bell and Sons. OCLC 1180891114. – S to T (for Slane)
  • Conwell, Eugene Alfred (1873). "A Ramble Round Trim". The Journal of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland. 4th. 2 (2): 361–430.
  • Lodge, John (1789). Archdall, Mervyn (ed.). The Peerage of Ireland or, A Genealogical History of the Present Nobility of that Kingdom. Vol. IV. Dublin: James Moore. OCLC 264906028. – Viscounts
  • Smyth, Constantine (1839). Chronicle of the Law Officers of Ireland. London: Henry Butterworth. OCLC 1018312937.
  • Webb, Alfred (1878). "Dillon, Sir Henry". Compendium of Irish Biography. Dublin: M. H. Gill & Son. p. 149. OCLC 122693688.
Legal offices
Preceded by Chief Justice of Ireland
(Chief Justice of the King's Bench)
1533 		Succeeded by