Bernard Dillon (1888–1941) was an Irish
jockey. Born at
Caherina in
Tralee
Tralee ( ; ga, Trá Lí, ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the Lee River') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in Count ...
, he joined his older brother Joe in 1901, both of them being apprentice jockeys at the famous Druids Lodge training establishment in Wiltshire
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. Victory on
Lemberg in the 1910
Epsom Derby was his most famous achievement,
although he also rode winners in the 1,000 Guineas (Flair, 1906 and Electra, 1909), Lincoln (Uninsured, 1904), Cambridgeshire (Hacklers Pride, 1905), Eclipse Stakes (Lally, 1907 and dead heated on Lemberg in 1910), Coronation Cup (Pretty Polly, 1906) and the Grand Prix de Paris (Spearmint, 1906).
Dillon became the third husband of the Music Hall star
Marie Lloyd
Matilda Alice Victoria Wood (12 February 1870 – 7 October 1922), professionally known as Marie Lloyd (), was an English music hall singer, comedian and musical theatre actress. She was best known for her performances of songs such as " T ...
. They met in 1910 and caused a scandal when, travelling together as "Mr. and Mrs. Dillon" in 1913, she was refused entry to the United States for "
moral turpitude".
Alec Hurley, Lloyd's true husband at the time, died two months later, and Dillon and Lloyd were married at the British Consulate in
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...
, on 21 February 1914.
During World War I, Dillon served in the transport lines at Belton Park,
Grantham
Grantham () is a market and industrial town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road. It lies some 23 miles (37 km) south of the Lincoln and ...
, the
Machine Gun Corps
The Machine Gun Corps (MGC) was a corps of the British Army, formed in October 1915 in response to the need for more effective use of machine guns on the Western Front in the First World War. The Heavy Branch of the MGC was the first to use tanks ...
training depot. He was not a good soldier, and was often in trouble. However, Marie Lloyd would travel to Grantham to upbraid any officer who had punished her husband. These officers would often go missing when she arrived.
After the war, Dillon began drinking heavily and abusing Lloyd, so that she began drinking as her own escape. In 1920 they separated, but Lloyd continued to slide downhill until she collapsed on stage in October 1922, dying three days later.
He was portrayed by actor
Tom Payne in the 2007
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
.
Bernard Dillon, nicknamed as "Ben" in the horseracing community, died in London in May 1941.