Théobald Dillon
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Biography
Théobald Dillon (1745, Dublin – 1792, near Lille) was count of Dillon and an Irish-born general in the French army.He was the grandson of Arthur Dillon, the nephew of the bishop Arthur Richard Dillon and the cousin of general Arthur Dillon (who also had a brother named Theobald).
He entered Dillon's Regiment as a cadet in 1761, gradually rose to be lieutenant-colonel (1780), took part in the Capture of Grenada (1779) and the siege of Savannah in 1779, was appointed a knight of St. Louis in 1781, was authorised to wear the Order of Cincinnatus in 1785, and was awarded a pension of 1,500 francs in 1786. He became brigadier-general in 1791.
On 29 April 1792, following the loss of a skirmish with Austrian forces, Dillon was murdered by his own troops outside the city of Lille.The troops apparently believed that their defeat by the Austrians was the result of a conspiracy on the part of Dillon, whom they called a "traitor and aristocrat."