Theobald Dillon, 7th Viscount Dillon

Theobald was born probably at Loughglynn, his parents' habitual residence. He was a son of Robert Dillon and his wife Rose Dillon. His father, Captain Robert Dillon of Loughglynn,[1] was a member of the landed gentry. He was son and heir of Lucas Dillon of Loughglynn, who had been the second son of Theobald Dillon, 1st Viscount Dillon.[2] At the time of Theobald's birth, the Dillons of Loughglynn were a cadet branch of the Viscounts Dillon. Theobald's mother was a daughter of John Dillon of Streamstown.[3]

Dillon married Mary, daughter of Sir Henry Talbot of Templeogue, Co. Dublin, and of Mount Talbot in County Roscommon, a brother-in-law of Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell. Theobald and Mary mainly lived at Kilmore, County Roscommon.[9]

Their children included:

1. Robert, who was unmarried and predeceased his father;[10]
2. Henry (died 1713), who became the 8th Viscount Dillon; and
3. Arthur (1670–1733), who became a general in French service.[11][12]

In the 1680s Theobald was lieutenant-colonel in Clanricarde's Regiment of Guards of the Irish Army.[13]

In 1683 Lucas Dillon, 6th Viscount Dillon died childless at Kilfaughny, County Westmeath, despite having married twice.[14] He was the last of the senior branch descended from Christopher Dillon of Ballylaghan. Theobald, his second cousin, was the next heir male of the 1st Viscount. Theobald inherited the title and the estate, becoming the 7th Viscount Dillon.

In 1688 Lord Dillon, as he was now, raised two regiments for James II, one commanded by his eldest son, Henry Dillon, the other by his second son, Arthur Dillon.[15] Both fought in the Williamite war in Ireland, but the second, Arthur Dillon's was sent to France with the Irish Brigade in April 1690 in exchange against the Lauzon's French Expeditionary Force.[16]

Lord Dillon was a Roman Catholic member in the Irish House of Lords of the Patriot Parliament of 1689. On 11 May 1691 he was attainted.[17]

Lord Dillon fell at the Battle of Aughrim on 12 July 1691.[18] His widow was killed accidentally by the explosion of a bomb during the Siege of Limerick on 7 September 1691.[19] As he had been attainted, his title and his lands were forfeit. However, in 1694 his son Henry managed to obtain a reversal of the attainder and succeeded to title and lands.[20]

• Burke, Bernard (1949), A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire (99th ed.), London: Burke's Peerage Ltd.
• Boulger, Demetrius Charles (1911), The Battle of the Boyne, London: Martin Secker
• Cokayne, George Edward (1916), Gibbs, Vicary (ed.), The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant, 4 (2nd ed.), London: St Catherine Press – Dacre to Dysart (for Dillon)
• D'Alton, John (1855), Illustrations, historical and genealogical, of King James's Irish army list, 1689, Dublin: Published by the author
• La Tour du Pin, Henriette-Lucy, Marquise de (1913), Journal d'une femme de cinquante ans (in French), 1 (7th ed.), Paris: Librairie Chapelot
• Lodge, John (1789), The Peerage of Ireland, 4, Dublin: James Moore – Viscounts (for Dillon)
• Smyth, Constantine (1839), Chronicle of the Law Officers of Ireland, London: Henry Butterworth (for Table of reigns)

• Genealogy of Theobald Dillon, 7th Viscount Dillon of Costello-Gallin on The Peerage website