Henry Dillon, 11th Viscount Dillon (1705–1787) was an Irish peer and a soldier in French service. He was the colonel proprietor of Dillon's Regiment, an Irish regiment of foot in French service, in 1741–1744 and again in 1747–1767. In the War of the Polish Succession (1733–1735), he fought at the sieges of Kehl and Philippsburg. In the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748), he was present at the Battle of Dettingen in 1743, on the French side, while King George II was present on the English side.
He then resigned from the colonelcy, left France and married the rich English heiress Charlotte Lee, daughter of George Lee, 2nd Earl of Lichfield, acquiring lands in Oxfordshire, England, in addition to his Irish lands. During his second term as colonel he was absent and the regiment was led by hired soldiers.
Birth and origins
Henry was born in 1705, most likely at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France, where the Jacobite court was. He was the second son of Arthur Dillon and his wife Christina Sheldon. His father, Arthur, had been born in 1670 in Ireland, a younger son of the 7th Viscount Dillon. Arthur had fought for the Jacobites in the Williamite War and had gone to France as the colonel of Dillon's Regiment with Mountcashel's Irish Brigade in April 1690 when Irish troops were sent to France in exchange for French troops sent to Ireland under Antoine Nompar de Caumont, duc de Lauzun. His father's family was Old English and descended from Sir Henry Dillon, who came to Ireland with Prince John in 1185.
Henry's mother was a daughter of Ralph Sheldon, an English Catholic and an equerry to James II. Dominic Sheldon, the Jacobite general, was her uncle. She served as maid of honour to Queen Mary of Modena, James II's second wife. Both parents were thus Jacobites and Catholics. Henry had four brothers and three sisters, who are listed in his father's article. His elder brother Charles played an important role in his life as he would precede him in the viscountcy and in the colonelcy.
Early life
While a child, Henry lived with his mother at the court in exile of James Francis Edward (the old pretender) at the Château-Vieux de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. James II had died in 1701. King Louis XIV of France recognised James Francis Edward as the rightful king of England and Ireland (as James III) and of Scotland (as James VIII). Dillon's Regiment, led by Henry's father, fought for France in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714). Louis XIV made Henry's father lieutenant-general in 1706 and comte de Dillon in 1711. However, in 1713 Louis XIV 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 Lorraine, then to Avignon, a papal territory at the time, and finally to the Papal States in Italy. James Francis Edward's mother, the dowager queen, however, stayed behind at Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
In 1714 Henry's uncle the 8th Viscount Dillon died in Dublin, Ireland. This uncle's father, Theobald Dillon, 7th Viscount Dillon, had been attainted as Jacobite in 1691 but had been pardoned and Henry, the 8th Viscount, had obtained the reversal of the attainder in 1693. He therefore had recovered his title and lands. The 8th viscount was succeeded by his son Richard as the 9th viscount.
In 1716 Henry, aged 11, was made an ensign to the colonel, his father, in the regiment.
The dowager queen, Mary of Modena, died at the Château de Saint-Germain in 1718. Henry and his parents were, however, allowed to stay in the castle. His mother lived in the castle until at least 1738.
In 1722 James Francis Edward, who now resided at the Palazzo del Re in Rome, created Henry's father Earl of Dillon.
In 1730 Henry's elder brother Charles took over as colonel of Dillon's Regiment as their father retired. Henry, aged 25, was promoted captain. In 1733 his father died at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Charles, already colonel, now also succeeded in his father's titles, becoming the 2nd Count Dillon in France and the 2nd Earl of Dillon in the Jacobite peerage.
In the War of the Polish Succession (1733–1735), Dillon's Regiment was part of Louis XV's Rhine army, commanded until his sudden death by James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick, an illegitimate son of James, Duke of York, later James II. Henry fought under his elder brother Charles at the sieges of Kehl (1733) and Philippsburg (1734) where Berwick was beheaded by a cannonball.
In 1737 Richard, the 9th Viscount, died in Ireland and Charles, already comte and earl, succeeded as the 10th viscount in the Irish peerage (see family tree).
