Allegiance JacobitesFrance | Name Arthur Count | |
Service/branch Jacobite ArmyFrench Army Rank Lieutenant general (French Army) Battles/wars Died 1733, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France Parents Theobald Dillon, 7th Viscount Dillon Children Henry Dillon, 11th Viscount Dillon Grandchildren Charles Dillon, 12th Viscount Dillon Battles and wars | ||
Arthur Dillon, Count Dillon (1670 in the county of Roscommon – 7 February 1733 at St Germain en Laye) was a Jacobite soldier from Ireland who served in the French army.
Contents
Career
He was a younger son of Theobald, 7th Viscount Dillon who established Dillon's Regiment in 1688 and fought for James II of England in the Williamite War in Ireland, and was killed at the Battle of Aughrim 1691. In 1690 it was agreed that an Irish Brigade of 5,400 men, including Dillon's Regiment, would be sent to France in exchange for 6 French regiments. Arthur was placed in command of the regiment and landed with it at Brest on 1 May 1690.
Dillon's Regiment saw active service as a part of the French army during the Nine Years' War (1688-97) and the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14). Arthur was promoted to marechal de camp aged 34 and lieutenant general at only 36. He fought with success in the campaigns of Louis-Joseph de Vendome in Spain and of Francois de Neufville de Villeroy in Italy, served under Claude Louis Hector de Villars (1708) and James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick (1709). He defended Briancon in August 1709 and in 1713 he captured Kaiserslautern. He was later appointed commander in Dauphine and governor of Toulon.
Titles
In 1711 Arthur was created "Comte Dillon" in France by Louis XIV; and was awarded the Irish title "Earl of Dillon" in 1721 by the monarch he recognised as James III (see Jacobite Peerage).
Family
He married Catherine Sheldon, the daughter of an English Jacobite family, and a maid-of-honour to Mary of Modena, queen consort of James II of England. Catherine's parents were Ralph Sheldon of Ditchford, Worcs (1633–1723) and Elisabeth, heiress of Daniel Dunn of Garnish Hall in Essex. Their children included:
He was also a grandfather of the French generals Arthur Dillon and Theobald 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, nee Henriette-Lucy Dillon.
He also had an affair in 1709 with Claudine Guerin de Tencin while she was still a nun. She managed to leave her nunnery in 1712 and in 1717 gave birth to the philosopher d'Alembert.