Charles Dillon, 10th Viscount Dillon

Charles Dillon, 10th Viscount Dillon (1701–1741), was an Irish peer and colonel-proprietor of Dillon's Regiment.

Birth and origins

Charles was born in 1701, most likely at the Jacobite Court at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, in France. He was the eldest of the five sons of Arthur Dillon and his wife Christina Sheldon. His father was born in 1670 in Ireland, fought for the Jacobites in the Williamite War and had gone to France as the colonel of Dillon's Regiment with the Irish Brigade in April 1690 when Irish troops were sent to France in exchange for French troops sent to Ireland with Lauzun. His father was a younger son of the 7th Viscount Dillon. His father's family was Old English Irish and descended from Sir Henry Dillon who came to Ireland with Prince John in 1185. Charles's mother was a daughter of Ralph Sheldon. Dominic Sheldon, the English Catholic Jacobite, was her uncle. She was a maid of honour and to Queen Mary of Modena, wife of James II. Both parents were thus Jacobites and Catholics. They had five sons and several daughters.

Charles heads the list of his brothers below as the eldest son.

1. Charles (1701–1741), the subject of this article;
2. Henry (1705–1787), who became the 11th Viscount Dillon;
3. James (died 1745), who was Colonel of the Dillon regiment and fell in the Battle of Fontenoy;
4. Edward (1720–1747), who succeeded his brother as Colonel of the Dillon Regiment and fell in the Battle of Lauffeld; and
5. Arthur Richard (1721–1806), who became a French archbishop;

He also had sisters including:

1. Frances, who became a Carmelite nun and died at the Carmel of Pontoise;
2. Catharine (died 1753), who also became a Carmelite, died at St. Denis;
3. Mary (died 1786), who died at St Germain;
4. Bridget (died 1785) who married the Baron Blaisel, a Lieutenant-General in the French Army. and
5. Laura (died 1741), who married Lucius Cary, 6th Viscount Falkland.

Early life and career

While Charles was a child, he lived with his mother at the Jacobite court at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye where James II of England died on 16 September 1701 N.S., the year of Charles's birth. James II was succeeded by James Francis Edward, whom Louis XIV immediately recognised as the rightful heir to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland. Dillon's Regiment, led by Charles's father, fought for France in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714). Louis XIV made Charles's father lieutenant-general in 1706 and comte de Dillon in 1711. However, in 1713 France signed the Peace of Utrecht, recognising the Hanoverian succession and ending its support for the Jacobites. James Francis Edward had to leave France and went to the Duchy of Lorraine, then to Avignon, and finally to Italy. His mother, Mary of Modena, stayed behind at St Germains where she died in 1718.

On 13 January 1714 Charles's uncle the 8th Viscount Dillon died in Ireland. This uncle had been attainted as Jacobite in 1690 but had been pardoned and had obtained the reversal of the attainder in 1693. He was succeeded by his son Richard as the 9th Viscount Dillon, to whom Charles would succeed later as the 10th Viscount.

On 10 November 1718 Charles was made a captain in the regiment. In 1722 James Francis Edward Stuart (the old pretender), who now resided in Rome, created his father Earl of Dillon.

In 1730 his father retired from active service and on 1 May 1730 Charles became colonel of Dillon's Regiment. On 5 February 1733 N.S., Charles's father died at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Charles, already colonel, now also succeeded in his father's titles: comte de Dillon in France and 2nd Earl of Dillon in the Jacobite peerage.

During the War of the Polish Succession (1733–1735), Charles, comte de Dillon, as he was now, and his younger brother Henry fought under Marshal Berwick, the commander of Louis XV's Rhine army, at the Siege of Kehl and then at the Siege of Philippsburg where Berwick was beheaded by a chance cannon ball on 12 June 1734.

Marriage, later life and death

On 16 January 1735 Charles, comte de Dillon, married his Irish cousin, Frances Dillon, daughter of Richard Dillon, the 9th Viscount. In 1736 he went to Ireland to take possession of some land that was part of her dowry. His wife must have come with him or joined him later. They never returned to France. In 1737 Richard, the 9th Viscount, his father-in-law, died and Charles, already comte and earl, now succeeded as the 10th Viscount in the Irish peerage. As his wife was Richard's only heiress Charles, Viscount Dillon, as he now was, also inherited the land.

They had an only son:

• Charles Dillon (1738–1739), who died young.

His wife died on 17 January 1739 in London. He died on 24 Octtober 1641, also in London. As his only son had predeceased him, he was succeeded by his younger brother Henry as the 11th Viscount, and also as colonel-proprietor of Dillon's Regiment.