Thomas was born in March 1615[b] 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.[5] His parents married in 1604 and had seven sons and five daughters.[6]
Thomas listed among his brothers
He appears below among his brothers as the second son:
Lucas (1610–1629), who was the 2nd Viscount Dillon[7]
His father died on 28 February 1624 when Thomas was eight 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. This 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 became a ward and the estate was seized by the King, who sold the wardship to Thomas's uncle Lucas Dillon of Loughglynn.[20] (see Family tree) and to Charles Wilmot, 1st Viscount Wilmot.[21] Lord Dillon, as he was now, in that same year converted to Protestantism and was received into the Church of Ireland.[22]
Marriage and children
In 1635 Lord Dillon, aged about 20, married Frances White, daughter of Nicholas White, esquire, of Leixlip, a Protestant,[23][24] and granddaughter of Garret Moore, 1st Viscount Moore by her mother Ursula Moore.[25] She brought him a dowry of £3000 (about £600,000 in 2023[26]). Her sister Mary married Theobald Taaffe, the 2nd Viscount Taaffe (later 1st Earl of Carlingford), who thus became his brother-in-law.[27]
Lucas and Frances had six sons and several daughters, who seem not to be known by name. The sons were:
Charles (born 1636), became a general in French and Spanish service;[28]
Lord Strafford, as he now was, summoned an Irish Parliament in 1640. This was the second Irish parliament of King Charles I. On 16 March of that year, Lord Dillon took his seat in the House of Lords,[38] which comprised all Irish peers and had a Catholic majority. The purpose of the parliament was to raise subsidies for an Irish army of 9000[39] for Charles I to fight the Scots in the Bishops' Wars. The Parliament unanimously voted four subsidies of £45,000.[40] On 31 March 1640 parliament was prorogued until the first week of June.[41][42]
On 3 April 1640 Strafford left Ireland,[43] called elsewhere by the King, having appointed Christopher Wandesford as Lord Deputy.[c] Wandesford opened the second parliamentary session on 1 June 1640.[45][46] News from England was that the Short Parliament had refused subsidies to the King.[47] The Irish MPs regretted having voted for subsidies and wanted to change how they would be evaluated and collected.[48] After two weeks of inconclusive discussions, Wandesford prorogued parliament on 17 June.[49]
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.[50] Sometime in 1640 before the 23 October Lord Dillon was appointed a member of the Irish Privy council.[51] 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.[52]
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.[53] They escaped a few months later and met the King at York.[54] Upon Lord Dillon's return to Ireland, he was promoted Lieutenant-General.[55]
On 15 September 1643 the Cessation, a ceasefire for one year was signed between the royalists and the Confederation.[56] This cessation was renewed in September 1644.
With the arrival of the papal nuncio, Giovanni Battista Rinuccini, in Ireland on 21 October 1645[60] 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,[d] Kilkenny.[61] 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.[62]
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. On this occasion Lord Dillon commanded the Confederate cavalry, which fled in the early stages of the battle.[63][64]
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".[65] He was one of the 12 commissioners of trust.[66][67]
In 1649 Lord Dillon took part in Ormond's unsuccessful Siege of Dublin. He blockaded the Northside of the town with 2500 men[68] 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.[69] After the battle Ormond and Dillon retreated northwards to Trim.[70] 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.[71]
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.[72] On 18 June 1651 Lord Dillon surrendered Athlone to Coote.[73]
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.[74]
Restoration, later life, death, and timeline
In 1662 he resigned the presidency of Connaught to Charles II for a payment of money.[75] 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, Dubhaltach Caoch Mac Coisdealbhaigh, who was descended from a family of the Gaelic nobility of Ireland 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.[76]
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.[77]
Lord Dillon died in 1673[78][79][80] and was succeeded by Thomas, his only surviving son, as the 5th Viscount.[32] 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.[81]
Most likely, Frances, his wife, outlived him and died in 1674, being buried in St. Mary's Chapel in Christ Church Cathedral.[82] 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.[83]
Died[78][79] and was succeeded by his son, also called Thomas Dillon, as the 5th Viscount
Notes and references
Notes
^This family tree is partly derived from the Dillon family tree pictured in La Tour du Pin.[1] Also see the lists of siblings and children in the text.
^Thomas is said to have been born in 'March 1615'[2] but also 'in 1614'.[3] Both are probably right as Ireland (like England) at the time used the Julian Calendar with a start of year on 25 March. Dates between 1 January and 25 March can be either adjusted to a start of the year on 1 January, as most modern historians do, or be reported in strict OS. That interpretation also agrees with Cokayne, who states that the 4th Viscount succeeded his father at the age of 15.[4]
^Strafford had been elevated from Lord Deputy to Lord Lieutenant[44] and therefore could now appoint a deputy under him.
^This is the old parish church in the centre of the town, not St Mary's Cathedral, built in the 19th century.
^Cokayne 1916, p. 358, line 9. "1630 4.Thomas ... uncle and h. [heir], being next br. [brother] to the 2nd Viscount and then aged 15."
^Webb 1878a, p. 149, line 7. "... [Sir Henry Dillon] came to Ireland in 1185 as secretary to Prince John ..."
^Burke & Burke 1915, p. 645, right column, line 79. "Christopher (Sir), of Bealalahin, Mayo, m. [married] Nov. 1604, Lady Jane Dillon, eldest daughter of James, 1st Earl of Roscommon; and d.v.p. 28 Feb. 1624, leaving issue: [7 sons and 5 daughters listed]."
^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 ..."
^ abCokayne 1916, p. 357, line 33. "Christopher was s. [son] and h. ap. [heir apparent] of the last Viscount but d. v.p. [predeceased his father], 28 Feb 1623/4."
^ abCokayne 1916, p. 358, line 2. "He [the 2nd Viscount] d. [died] at Killenfagny, co. Westmeath, 13 Apr. and was bur. [buried] 14 Sept. 1629 in the Friary of Athlone."
^ abLodge 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 ... to Lucas Dillon of Lough-Glyn "
^Murphy 2009, paragraph 1. "The ward of his estate was granted to his uncle Sir Lucas Dillon and Lord Wilmot ..."
^ abCokayne 1916, p. 358, line 21. "He m. [married], before 1636, Frances da. [daughter] of Sir Nicholas White of Leixlip, by Ursula, 1st da. of Garrett (Moore) 1st Viscount Moore of Drogheda.
^Cokayne 1913, p. 28, line 19. "He [Taaffe] m. [married], 1stly, Mary, 1st da. [daughter] of Sir Nicholas White of Leixlip, co. Kildare, by Ursula, 1st da. of Garrett, 1st Viscount Moore of Drogheda."
^ abBurke 1949, p. 603, left column, line 44. "Charles, Gen in the French and Spanish services, Gov. of Tournay, b. [born] 1636, d.s.p. [died without issue], before his father."
^Lodge 1789b, p. 189, line 26. "Christopher who died in Winetavern-Street unmarried and was buried by his mother 20 June 1663."
^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."
^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 ..."
^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."
^Wedgwood 1961, p. 291, line 12. "... Christopher Wandesford, now Lord Deputy, opened the second session of Parliament in June."
^Gardiner 1904, p. 120. "... the refusal of the House of Commons to support him."
^Wedgwood 1961, p. 291. "... protests about the subsidies — so vociferously voted three months before. The Commons were resolved first to reorganize the basis of assessment and undo the work ..."
^McNeill 1911, p. 392. "... in 1643 he [Leicester] was compelled to resign the office without having set foot in Ireland."
^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;"
^ abWebb 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."
^ abBagwell 1909b, p. 50. "... the terms of the cessation were agreed to on September 15 [1643] ..."
^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]."
^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 ..."
^Cokayne 1895, p. 324, line 18. "He [Roger Jones] d. [died] while attending the king at Oxford, his burial being recorded 1 July 1643 ..."
^ abLodge 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;"
^Coffey 1914, p. 191. "O'Neill still held Athlone, though ordered to give it back to Lord Costello by the Council"
^ abLenihan 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."
^Meehan 1882, p. 311. "... wheronto is to be added the Lord Costologh's party of about 300 horse ..."
^Milton 1649, p. 263. "... a standing army of papists at the beck and command of Dillon, Muskerry, and other archrebels ..."
^Bagwell 1909b, p. 175, note. "The Commissioners of Trust were Viscounts Dillon and Muskerry, Lord Athenry, Alexander MacDonnell, Sirs Lucas Dillon, Nicholas Plunket, and Richard Barnewall, Geoffrey Browne, Donough O'Callaghan, Turlagh O'Neill, Miles O'Reilly, and Gerald Fennell Esquires."
^Godwin 1827, p. 138. "... it recognized a body of twelve commissioners with the Lords Dillon of Costello and Muskerry at their head ..."
^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."
^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.
^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."
^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."
^ abHenderson 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."
^Henderson 1888, p. 87, left column. "In consideration of a sum of money he resigned in 1662 the presidency of Connaught to Charles II ..."
^ abCarte 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 ..."
^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."
^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."
^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.
^Lodge 1789b, p. 189, line 16. "... who died in Winetavern-street and was buried in St. James's, 9 January 1664."
^Warner 1768a, p. 6. "... the twenty-third October [1641] ... seized all the towns, castles, and houses belonging to the Protestants which they had force enough to possess;"
^Fryde et al. 1986, p. 169, line 4. "1643, 13 Nov. / 21 Jan. 1644 / James Butler, 1st m. [marquess] of Ormond, L.L. [Lord Lieutenant] (appd by K. Charles I)"