Thomas Dillon, 4th Viscount

Alfred Webb

A Compendium of Irish Biography

1878

Dillon, Thomas, 4th Viscount, was born about 1614, and succeeded to his estates 15th March 1635-6. Bred a Catholic, at fifteen he became a Protestant, and subsequently took his seat in Parliament, and was raised to several offices of trust. Being on a mission to King Charles in February 1641-'2, he was, with Lord Taaffe, seized at Ware by order of the House of Commons. After some months' imprisonment, they escaped and joined the King at York. Upon Dillon's return to Ireland, he was made Lieutenant-General, and was appointed joint President of Connaught with Viscount Wilmot. On the 6th December 1646 he was received back into the Catholic Church by the Nuncio, Rinnuccini, at St. Mary's, Kilkenny, in presence of a vast concourse of people. He commanded one division of Ormond's army which was defeated before Dublin by the Parliamentary leader, General Jones, in 1649. Dillon's estates were confiscated by Cromwell, and he and his family lived in exile on the Continent until the Restoration. In 1663 most of his extensive landed property was restored, and several high offices in the state were conferred upon him. He died about 1672. The family appear to have had a house in Winetavern-street, Dublin, as his wife and one of his sons died there, and were buried in St. James's churchyard.

Sources

216. Lodge's Peerage of Ireland, Revised and Enlarged by Mervyn Archdall. 7 vols. Dublin, 1789.

Featured Books

An American widow’s account of her travels in Ireland in 1844–45 on the eve of the Great Famine:

Ireland’s Welcome to the Stranger

Sailing from New York, she set out to determine the condition of the Irish poor and discover why so many were emigrating to her home country.

Mrs Nicholson’s recollections of her tour among the peasantry are still revealing and gripping today.

The author returned to Ireland in 1847–49 to help with famine relief and recorded those experiences in the rather harrowing: Annals of the Famine in Ireland.

See more of our books »

The Ocean Plague: or, A Voyage to Quebec in an Irish Emigrant Vessel is based upon the diary of Robert Whyte who, in 1847, crossed the Atlantic from Dublin to Quebec in an Irish emigrant ship. His account of the journey provides invaluable eyewitness testimony to the trauma and tragedy that many emigrants had to face en route to their new lives in Canada and America. The book is also available in Kindle.

The Irish in America by John F. Maguire provides a substantial and invaluable account of the extreme difficulties faced by pioneer Irish immigrants in North America during the 19th Century. The book is also available in Kindle.

The Scotch-Irish in America tells the story of how the hardy breed of men and women, who in America came to be known as the ‘Scotch-Irish’, was forged in the north of Ireland during the seventeenth century. It relates the circumstances under which the great exodus to the New World began, the trials and tribulations faced by these tough American pioneers and the enduring influence they came to exert on the politics, education and religion of the country.

Show fewer titles