Emile Joseph Dillon (21 March 1854 – 9 June 1933) was an Irish author, journalist and

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

Biography

He was born on 21 March 1854 in

Dublin, Ireland Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 cen ...

, the son of an Irish father and an English mother. Dillon initially trained for the priesthood; however, he abandoned all plans for a career in the church when he was 21, and immersed himself in the study of Oriental languages at the Collège de France in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. He later was awarded the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

by the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

, and obtained two further doctorates, in Oriental Languages and Literature from the

Catholic University of Leuven University of Leuven or University of Louvain (french: Université de Louvain, link=no; nl, Universiteit Leuven, link=no) may refer to: * Old University of Leuven (1425–1797) * State University of Leuven (1817–1835) * Catholic University of ...

, and in

Comparative Philology Comparative linguistics, or comparative-historical linguistics (formerly comparative philology) is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness. Genetic relatedness i ...

from the University of Kharkiv.Baylen, Joseph: ‘Dillon, Emile Joseph (1854–1933)’, in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, May 200
accessed 26 Oct 2009
/ref> He was Russian correspondent of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' from 1887 to 1914 and, for a short time, was professor of

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

Classical Armenian Classical Armenian (, in Eastern Armenian pronunciation: Grabar, Western Armenian: Krapar; meaning "literary anguage; also Old Armenian or Liturgical Armenian) is the oldest attested form of the Armenian language. It was first written down at ...

, and Comparative Philology at the University of Kharkiv. He was a friend and associate of the Russian statesman Sergei Witte, whom he accompanied in 1905 to the

peace conference A peace conference is a diplomatic meeting where representatives of certain states, armies, or other warring parties converge to end hostilities and sign a peace treaty. Significant international peace conferences in the past include the follo ...

Portsmouth, New Hampshire Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 census it had a population of 21,956. A historic seaport and popular summer tourist destination on the Piscataqua River bordering the state of Maine, Portsmou ...

which formally brought to an end the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

. He also reported the

Dreyfus trial The Dreyfus affair (french: affaire Dreyfus, ) was a political scandal that divided the French Third Republic from 1894 until its resolution in 1906. "L'Affaire", as it is known in French, has come to symbolise modern injustice in the Francop ...

of 1899, the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by ...

in 1900, and the Versailles peace conference in 1919. When working as a journalist, Dillon occasionally disguised himself in order to observe the action from closer quarters, as was the case when he was sent by ''The Daily Telegraph'' to report on the Turkish massacres of Armenians in 1894-1895. He sometimes used the pseudonym E.B.Lanin. He married his first wife, Yelena Maksimovna Bogachova, a widow, by whom he had four sons, in 1881. They divorced in 1913. His second wife was Kathleen Ireland, formerly of

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

, whom he married in 1914 and who survived him. In later life he made his home in Barcelona. He died of complications following a major surgical operation on 9 June 1933 in

Barcelona, Spain Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Legacy

An archive collection of papers of E.J. Dillon is held in the

National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS) ( gd, Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba, sco, Naitional Leebrar o Scotland) is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. As one of the largest libraries in the ...

(Acc.12382).

Bibliography

E.J. Dillon was a prolific writer in a variety of fields. Among his many publications are the following: * ''The Sceptics of the Old Testament: Job - Koheleth - Agur.'' London: Isbister & Co., 1895. * ''Maxim Gorky: His Life and Writings.'' London: Isbister & Co., 1902. * ''The Original Poem of Job.'' London: T. Fisher Unwin Ltd., 1905. * ''A Scrap of Paper: The Inner History of German Diplomacy and Her Scheme of World-Wide Conquest.'' London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1914. * ''From the Triple to the Quadruple Alliance: Why Italy Went to War.'' London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1915. * ''Ourselves and Germany.'' London: Chapman & Hall, 1916. * ''The Eclipse of Russia.'' London: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1918. * ''The Peace Conference.'' London: Hutchinson & Co.,1919. * ''Mexico on the Verge.'' London, Hutchinson & Co., 1921. * ''Russia Today and Yesterday: An Impartial View of Soviet Russia.'' London: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1929. * ''Leaves from Life.'' London: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1932. * ''Count Leo Tolstoy: A New Portrait.'' London: Hutchinson & Co., 1934. He also published English translations of various works by Leo Tolstoy.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dillon, E. J. 1854 births 1933 deaths Journalists from Dublin (city) Linguists from Ireland Writers from Dublin (city) The Daily Telegraph people