Arthur Dillon

1670
County Roscommon, Ireland

5 February 1733 (aged 62–63)
Château-vieux de Saint-Germain-en-Laye

Lieutenant général (French Army)

Williamite War in Ireland; Nine Years' War (1688–97); War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14)

Theobald, 7th Viscount Dillon (father)

Early life[edit]

In 1688 his father raised two regiments for James II, one commanded by his son Henry, the other by his son Arthur, the subject of this article.[10] In 1690 James II and Louis XIV agreed that an Irish Brigade of 5,400 men would be sent to France in exchange for six French regiments sent to Ireland with Lauzun. Arthur Dillon's Regiment was part of this Irish Brigade, which was led by Lord Mountcashel. Arthur, aged 20, landed with it at Brest on 1 May 1690.[11][12]


Both his parents were killed in the Williamite war. His father fell at the Battle of Aughrim on 12 July 1691,[13] whereas his mother was killed during the second Siege of Limerick by a shell fired into the town on 7 September 1691.[14]


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 same war, where they fought the Spanish, among others at the siege of Roses under the Duc de Noailles, in 1693.[15] 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.[16]

Later life[edit]

Count Dillon was later appointed commander in the Dauphiné and governor of Toulon.[52]


As a French General, Dillon was not allowed to participate in the Jacobite rising of 1715. Returning from Scotland following the failure of the rising, James Francis Edward found himself not welcome in Lorraine anymore and established himself at Avignon on 2 April 1716.[53] On 1 February 1717 he appointed Dillon his plenipotentiary to the French court in Paris.[54] In this role Dillon, together with Georg Heinrich von Görtz, and Carl Gyllenborg tried to convince Charles XII of Sweden to help the Jacobites to invade England. Dillon organised funds to support the project.[55]


In 1718 Dillon was ordered to command a French contingent sent to Italy during the War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718–1720). He was replaced as agent in Paris initially by James Murray and later by Daniel O'Brien.[56]


James Francis Edward, whom Dillon recognised as King James III, awarded him the Irish titles of Baron and Viscount on 1 February 1717 in Avignon.[57] James III neglected to specify territorial designations for these titles. In 1721 James III gave him Scottish titles by creating him Earl Dillon, also Viscount and Lord.[58] In 1722 he was made a (Jacobite) Knight of the Thistle.[59]


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.[60]