Dillon (No. 3.) family genealogy

Barons of Drumrany

As members of this family intermarried with that of Purcell of Esker, the Arms of the Dillon-Purcell family are here impaled:

Arms: Quarterly, 1st and 4th argent, on a bend over two bars, wavy, gules, three black boars’ heads, proper, armed and tongued, argent, for Purcell; 2nd, argent, within a border, ermine, a lion rampant, gules, bearing in his dexter paw a ducal coronet, or, debruised by a bar, azure, for Dillon (as given in Lodge’s Peerage, for the Dillons of Drumrany); 3rd, gules, a fesse, chequy, azure and argent, between three mullets, argent, for Lindsey. Crests: A cubit arm, gules, the band holding a sword erect, thereon a dove, volitant, proper, for Purcell. 2nd, a demi-lion, rampant, gules, issuing out of a ducal coronet, or, holding in his dexter paw a like coronet, or, for Dillon. Motto: “Dum Spiro, Spero.”

This noble family, according to “Dillon” (No. 1) pedigree, in Vol. I., and to Lodge (see Lodge’s Peerage, Vol. IV., p. 135), is said to derive its origin from Lochan or Logan Delune, or Delion (a descendant of one of the Monarchs of Ireland), who married the daughter of the Duke of Aquitaine, and, on her father’s death, became Prince and Sovereign of Aquitaine.[1] This principality continued in his posterity until King Henry II. married Eleanora, daughter and heir to William, Duke of Aquitaine, and, about A.D. 1172, by his superior power, obtained Aquitaine: upon which event he brought over to England the two male descendants of Lochan Delion, viz.: Sir Henry Delion and Thomas, infants.[2]

The said Henry Delion (now Dillon), in 1185, was sent into Ireland, and King John granted to him there MacCarron’s territory with part of Annaly and other vast possessions, to hold Per Baroniam in Capite, by the service of sixty Knights’ fees.[3] He was then honoured with Knighthood, and by this tenure (which was attended by a kind of sovereignty) he and his heirs were entitled to have summons to Parliament like the ancient Barons of England, who held their baronies by the same tenure. He built his mansion-house, with a Church, in Drumrany, also a Castle in Dunimony; and several abbeys (as those of Athlone, Holy Island, etc.), and other Churches and Castles. He was progenitor to all who bear the name of Dillon: a name of great note in the counties of Meath, Westmeath, Longford, Roscommon, Mayo, and other parts of Ireland, where, and in many foreign countries, they have flourished in the highest departments of Church[4] and State.

Family traditions when genuine are entitled to the greatest weight; they are usually based upon truth while erroneous in details, and their very errors often serve to authenticate the story, as they show it is not the concoction of a mere pedigree-maker putting together scraps and fragments of annals and chronicles, and then dubbing it a family tradition, as is too often the case, and is indeed here instanced by the silly tale of Lochan Dilune. The rest of the story appears, at the first glance, equally absurd. No such events ever did, or could have happened in Aquitaine. For Henry acquired the province in the year 1152, and before he was King of England, and it was a perfectly peaceful acquisition; in history there is no trace of war or strife of any kind on the occasion, and there is no trace of such a name as Dillon, Delion, Deloune, or anything like it in all Aquitaine. If, however, we turn to the history of another of the numberless provinces at that period annexed to the English Crown—to Brittany, we shall find the tale told us substantially true, and the error to lie in the substitution of Aquitaine for Brittany, and that in the latter, the name of De Leon, or De Liuns, according to the orthography of the English Chronicler (see Benedict of Peterborough passim), was already ancient and well known. We shall find in the Breton annals and records, how the Barons and Seigneurs of Brittany rose in arms against Henry II., when under pretext of the marriage of his son Geoffrey with Constance—the Constance of poetic fame—heiress of the Duchy, he virtually annexed it; how the De Leons were the principal leaders of the revolt; how, overpowered and crushed by the might of the English King, they at last submitted, swore fealty, and gave hostages. We are not expressly told that some of the hostages were of their kin, nor of their ultimate fate, unless, perhaps, that Adam de Leon, the Crusader who died at the siege of Acre, in the retinue of Richard Cœur de Lion, was one of them (see Roger de Hoveden, Bouquet, V. 13). Nor are we told that any of them were carried beyond the seas, and finally planted in Ireland, the last of the King’s acquisitions, at a safe distance from their ancient home, but we may quite reasonably trust a family tradition to that effect, which is so well supported by history, and whose genuineness is in fact authenticated by the very error of locality, which proves it is not the concoction of a genealogist.

Dom Labineau (History of Brittany, p. 106) tells us that “The House of the Viscounts De Leon was illustrious from the tenth century. Even, Lord of that country—the terror of the Normans—built the town which was called after him, Liz u-Even—that is, the Court or Fort of Even. Ekuara, Viscount De Leon after him, was the father of Guihomar. The latter, in the year 1021, held the rank of Viscount De Leon (Chartulary of Kemperlé and of Rennes, pp. 98 and 130). At that time, in Brittany and Normandy, it was the highest title conferred—the style of Count being reserved for members of the sovereign house—and to it was annexed a kind of palatine jurisdiction, extending over a large territory. He was succeeded by Marvan, Viscount de Leon. His successor was Guihomar II., Viscount de Leon, who gave to God and St. Melanie, and to the Monks thereof, for ever, the Church of St. Mary of Morlaix, together with other benefits. He was slain by treachery in the year 1103 (see Charters of Daoullas, Lob. Preuves, p. 128; and Breton Chron. of Nantes, Bouq. xii. p. 557). Harvey, Viscount De Leon, was his son and successor. He was a very valiant knight, says the Chronicler, and fought in many famous battles in England and in other places, and lost an eye in the wars (Guilelm. Armoric. Bouq. xii.).

Guihomar III., Viscount De Leon, his son and successor, was, says Robert de Mont, “one who feared not God nor man.” He it was who took such a leading part in the Breton resistance to K. Henry II., as has been already mentioned. On his final overthrow, in 1178, he and his wife Nobilia departed on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem (see Robert De Mont, Bouq. xiii., p. 310). In 1173, he together with his wife Nobilia and his sons, urged by the warnings of God, founded an abbey in honour of Blessed Mary, at Daoullas, and for the maintenance of its Canons, and for the remission of their sins, they bestowed, in the presence of the Bishop of Guimper, various gifts. (See Daoullas Charters, Lobin, Preuves, p. 128.)

Guihomar’s successors continued, for many generations, to take a prominent part in the History of Brittany; but, towards the close of the thirteenth century, the last of the elder line being encumbered with heavy debts, sold the Viscountship and the palatine jurisdiction attached to it, to Jean le Roux, the then reigning Duke, and they remained thenceforth annexed to the Duchy. The representation of the family devolved upon the De Leons, Seigneurs de Chateau-neuf, and, in the fourteenth century, it passed by a female heir to the great house of De Rohan, who in the year 1406 carried on a great suit with the De Vitré’s for the rank of premier Peer of Brittany, in right of the “Sirerie” of Leon.

Since then, the De Rohans style themselves Princes De Leon (see Ibid. Preuves, p. 458. From Rolls in the Castles of Nantes). It is noteworthy that the armorial bearing of De Leon is a Lion, and that a cadet of the House, Seigneurs de Hacqueville, give a Lion rampant, within a bordure, charged with annulets—the very coat, with a fesse substituted for the annulets, borne by Dillon of Drumrany.

The junior branches of this family were numerous: among them being the Earls of Roscommon, Viscounts Dillon, Lords Clonbrock.

The further history of this family is given in detail by Lodge down to the year 1743, of which the following is a short summary, concluding with the further pedigree of the family[5] down to the year 1887.

The aforesaid Sir Henry Dillon was buried in a Franciscan Abbey of his own founding, in Athlone, and left issue three sons—1. Sir Thomas, his heir; 2. Sir Robert, to whom he gave the Seigniory of Dunimony; 3. John, an ecclesiastic; and a daughter.

1. Sir Henry, Lord of Drumrany.

2. Sir Thomas: his son.

3. Henry: his son.

4. Sir Henry: his second son; was living at Drumrany, temp. 1 Edward III., who granted to him by Patent the custody of the manor of Kilkenny West, forfeited by Hugh de Lacy.

5. Robert: his son.

6. Gerald: his second son; m. a dau. of the House of Desmond. Had four sons and two daughters, namely—1. Sir Maurice, his heir; 2. Henry, a Priest; 3. Sir James, ancestor of the Earls of Roscommon, and the Barons of Clonbrock; 4. John; 5. Catherine; 6. Anne.

7. Sir Maurice: eldest son of Gerald; m. Lady Anne Fitzgerald, of the House of Desmond.

8. Thomas: his son; m. Jane, daughter of Sir Robert Dillon, Irish Attomey-Genl. to King Henry VIII.

9. Edmund:[6] his son; m., first, Ann, dau. of the Baron of Mullingar, and by her had Gerald, his heir, and other children; married secondly, a dau. of Sir C. Plunket, and by her had one son, Gerald of Dunimoney, ancestor to the Viscounts Dillon.

10. Gerald: Lord of Drumrany; third son of Edmond, by his first marriage.

11. Sir Thomas: his second son; was knighted; m. Rose, dau. of Thomas Dillon, Esq., and sister to the first Viscount Dillon.

12. Gerald, Lord of Drumrany: second son of Sir Thomas.

13. James: his second son; represented the county of Roscommon in the Parliament of King Charles the First, and was Captain of an independent troop, but was killed in 1649 or 1650, in his 34th year.

14. Richard: his fourth son; was the last who bore the title of Lord of Drumrany: his estates being confiscated by Cromwell. Richard’s mother, daughter of W. Davis, Esq., son of Sir John Davis, Knight Marshal of Connaught, Escheator and Receiver-General of that province, obtained from Cromwell’s Commissioners, in 1652 (in lieu of her dower) to her and her heirs male, 3,572 acres, part of her deceased husband’s estate in the county of Roscommon, as Transplantation Lands; but by his death, and during the minority and absence of her two elder sons, in France and in Rome (where they died), and by the indolence of William, her third son, who d. unmarried, no care was taken of the transplanted estate, and the whole of which (save a small pittance[7] assigned by her to the said Richard) was lost. The said Richard mar., first, Rose, a dau. of — Dillon, of Dunimoney, and by her had—1. William (a Dominican Friar, who afterwards resided in London by the name of Dominick, and, although civiliter mortuus, was Lord Baron of Drumrany, by the said ancient tenure Cap. per Baroniam, this branch of the family never suffering any attainder); 2. Christopher, also an Ecclesiastic; 3. James, a Colonel in the Army of King James II., in whose service he (the said James Dillon) lost his life. And the above said Richard mar., secondly, Margaret, dau. of — O’Molloy, of Ughterheere, and by her had three surviving sons, namely— 1. Gerald; 2. Thomas, who mar. Mabel Dillon, widow of A. Robinson, but left no issue; 3. William, who m. a dau. of the said A. Robinson, and by her had an only son, Thomas.[8]

15. Gerald Dillon, Esq.: eldest son of Richard by his second wife; studied the law in the Inns of Court; was seated at Dillon’s Grove, and married, first, Catherine, daughter of James Nugent, of Dysert, Westmeath, Esq., by whom he had no surviving issue. He married, secondly, Honora, daughter of Pierce Aylward, of Ballynegar. He was living after 1743, and by the said Honora (who died in that year) had—1. Richard; 2. Aylward; 3. Mary; 4. Margaret. So far Lodge’s Peerage (Vol. IV., page 173) which says that this particular branch of Drumrany is totally extinct, or fallen to decay. But this is correct as to the male line only; in the female line it is represented by the families of O’Connor, of Milton, Roscommon, and of Purcell, of Esker, Kilkenny, as we shall now see. The sons of the said Gerald, dying without surviving issue, Mary and Margaret became co-heirs, both of whom married and had issue. As in this family, in virtue of its feudal tenure, the female, in default of male issue, inherited the Barony of Drumrany; consequently Mary and Margaret Dillon’s respective issue became co-heirs and co-representatives of the aforesaid Barons of Drumrany. The said Mary Dillon mar. in 1749, Thomas O’Connor,[9] of Milton, Roscommon, whose son and heir, Roderick, conformed to the (late) Established Church and took the Oath of Supremacy in 1760, and in conformity with the Penal Laws then in force in Ireland, became, as Protestant next of kin, possessed of the whole property of Dillon’s Grove, the Catholic co-heir being disinherited.[10] Margaret Dillon,[11] the second dau., and co-heir, mar. her first cousin, Thomas Dillon, of Kilbane, Queen’s County, Esq., the nephew of Gerard Dillon, of Dillon’s Grove, and had two daughters. The eldest, Arabella Dillon, m. Pierce, son of Redmund Purcell,[12] of Doonane, Queen’s Co. The issue of this marriage was three daughters (who all died s.p.) and one son, Patrick R., who became co-representative of the Dillons of Drumrany.

16. Patrick Richard[13] Purcell, of Doonane, only son of Arabella Dillon and Pierce Purcell, as above mentioned, left Ireland in his youth and went to the West Indies, circa A.D. 1802, where he acquired and inherited several estates; he afterwards settled in England, at Cranford, in Middlesex, where he died in 1836. He married in 1813, Celia-Catherine, only daughter and heiress of Thomas Joseph, grandson of — Lyndsey, of Turin,[14] Mayo, by his wife Bridget[15] Maria Purcell, and had:

17. Richard-Lyndsey Purcell,[16] barrister-at-law: his heir; he mar. Mary-Elizabeth, dau. of John Peter Rasch, of Merton, Surrey, in 1858, and d. 1886, s.p. 2. Henry-Dillon, who mar. Julia Berkeley, daughter of John Berkeley, of Grenada West Indies, and died without issue in 1862; 3. Edmund-Sheridan, who mar. Jane, dau. of Sir Francis Desanges, London, and has a son, Edmund Desanges (barrister-at-law), and a dau. Jane-Alice-Frances, both living and unmarried;[17] 4. Redmond-Percy; 5. Arthur-Dillon, a priest, and Canon of Westminster, England; 6. Maria-Isabella, who mar. Professor Hermann Müller, of Würzburg, Bavaria, a Deputy, in 1848, of the German Reichstag; 7. Celia-Catherine, died in 1874; 8. Agnes-Josephine, a Franciscan nun; 9. Emily-Mary-Dillon; 10. Alice Dillon, a Franciscan nun.

Notes

[1] Aquitaine: The history of these events, says Lodge, may be found in the records of Aquitaine, now in the Tower of London, and in ancient MSS. in Cotton and Lambeth Libraries.

[2] Infants: The above account of the origin of this family is based on tradition only. The assertion, however, is disputed.

[3] Fees: That large tract of land was called, after its Lord, “Dillons’ Country,” and so continued until the reign of King Henry VIII.

[4] Church: Thomas Dillon, son of Sir Thomas, was Bishop of Ossory; Thomas, son of Robert, Lord of Drumrany, was Bishop of Kildare; Edmund, his brother, was Abbot of St. Thomas, near Dublin. They lived in the 14th century. Arthur Dillon, brother of the 10th Viscount, was Archbishop of Toulouse; he was a distinguished prelate; died in London, in 1806, and was interred in Old St. Pancras’ Church-yard. The following distinguished themselves in the State and in the Army: Sir Robert Dillon was (in Ireland) Attorney-General to Henry VIII.; and Justice of the Queen’s Bench and Privy Councillor in Queen Mary’s reign. Sir Lucas, his son, was a lawyer of note, and Chief Baron of the Exchequer, in 1572. The first four Earls of Roscommon; the 4th, a poet, was buried in Westminster Abbey, in 1684; the 4th Viscount Dillon. Arthur Dillon was Marshal de Camp and Governor of Toulon, in France, in 1705, he commanded an Irish Regiment when he was only 20 years of age. Arthur Dillon, a son of the 11th Viscount, was Governor of Tobago, West Indies, and was the last Colonel commanding the famous “Dillon’s Regiment;” he was guillotined in 1794, and his Regiment was disbanded. Maria, the granddaughter of the 11th Viscount, m. His Serene Highness the Duke de Croy Dulmen, in 1821.

[5] Family: According to evidences in the Record Office, Dublin, and testamentary and other documents in possession of the family.

[6] Edmund: In some Genealogies of the Family, it seems to be overlooked that this Edmond was twice married, the issue of the first marriage being Maurice and Thomas—both Priests; Gerald, his heir, lord of Drumrany; Robert, a Colonel; John, an eminent lawyer, father of Sir Lucas Dillon; Lucas, Jane, and Mary. The issue of the second marriage was Gerald of Dunimoney, ancestor of the Viscounts Dillon.— See Lodge’s Peerage Vol. IV., p. 171, note.

[7] Pittance: Namely, “Dillon’s Grove,” Roscommon.

[8] Thomas: This Thomas m. Margaret, second dau. of Gerald Dillon, of Dillon’s Grove, as we shall presently see. He was the last male descendant of the Dillons of Drumrany, leaving surviving issue.

[9] O’Connor: See Burke’s “Landed Gentry” for Great Britain and Ireland.

[10] Disinherited: The particulars of this disinheritance are to be found in the Record Office, Dublin.

[11] Dillon: Margaret Dillon remained a Catholic; thereby forfeiting her property, the moiety of Dillon’s Grove.

[12] Purcell: Redmond was a descendant of Edmund Purcell, one of the “Papist Proprietors,” in the county Kilkenny, whose estates were confiscated by Cromwell; he was of Esker Castle, county Kilkenny; his heir Redmond, of Listow, co. Mayo, leaving no issue, the issue of Patrick Purcell, of Kilbane, became the heir of the Purcells of Esker.

[13] Richard: He was, in 1821, present at the death of his mother, Mabel Purcell, at Carlow; she was buried at Clough, alongside her husband, Pierce Purcell, who died in 1777.

[14] Turin: A branch of the family of the Lindsays, of which the Earl of Crawford and Belcarres is the head.

[15] Bridget: This Bridget mar., secondly, Thomas Robertson, Esq., of Perthshire, and had issue: James-Burton, Doctor in Philosophy and late Professor at the Catholic University, Dublin, d.; John (d.), Captain in the E. I. Army, who had issue by his wife, Marian, dau. of — Ness, Esq.; Fanny (d.), a nun; and Celia, who is mar. to Henry Hunter, Esq., architect, of Hobartown, Tasmania, and has issue; Marian m., secondly, J. Loughnan, Esq., and has issue.

[16] Purcell: By the intermarriage of the Purcells of Esker, with the Dillons of Drumrany, this family has had to suffer from the consequences of three confiscations: the possessions of the said Dillons and of the Purcells having been respectively confiscated in 1652, 1653, and 1691; and what remained to the Dillons, as Transplantation Land, having, owing to the Penal Laws, been forfeited in comparatively modern times, viz., about one hundred years ago. This family is, also, almost the only Catholic Representative of the ancient families of the Dillons and Purcells, who flourished for several centuries, and built and endowed many Churches and Abbeys in various parts of Ireland: until, owing to their fidelity to their religion, to their King and country, they lost their estates, and had to seek an asylum in France, Spain, Austria, and the West Indies, in which countries down to the present day, there are many families— some still distinguished—bearing those names.

[17] Sir F. Desanges, of Aston House, Oxon., and London, was a member of a noble French family, who, with so many other émigrés, left France during the Revolution, and took refuge in England. He was High Sheriff of Oxfordshire; he was also Sheriff of London, and a Magistrate in the county of Middlesex.