Henry Dillon, 13th Viscount Dillon
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Henry Augustus Dillon-Lee, 13th Viscount Dillon (1777–1832), was an Irish politician, soldier and writer. Despite being a Protestant, he supported Catholic emancipation in Ireland and wrote on the topic. He sat as MP for
Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-o ...
in England in the last
parliament of Great Britain The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union 1707, Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a ...
and the first
parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...
. In the second parliament of the United Kingdom he sat for
County Mayo County Mayo (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, County Mayo, Mayo, now ge ...
in Ireland. Through his daughter
Henrietta Henrietta may refer to: * Henrietta (given name), a feminine given name, derived from the male name Henry Places * Henrietta Island in the Arctic Ocean * Henrietta, Mauritius * Henrietta, Tasmania, a locality in Australia United States * Hen ...
, he was ancestor to Clementine Hozier (the wife of
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...
) and to the
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. He was the colonel of a regiment and wrote on military subjects. He wrote fiction publishing two historical novels.


Birth and origins

Henry Augustus was born on 28 October 1777 at
Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
, then the capital of the
Austrian Netherlands The Austrian Netherlands was the territory of the Burgundian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire between 1714 and 1797. The period began with the acquisition by the Austrian Habsburg monarchy of the former Spanish Netherlands under the Treaty of Ras ...
. He was the eldest son of Charles Dillon-Lee and his first wife Henrietta Maria Phipps. His father was the 12th Viscount Dillon, who had in 1767 conformed to the established religion. Henry Augustus's mother was the daughter of Constantine John Phipps, 1st Baron Mulgrave. Her family was
Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...
. Thus both parents were Protestants and part of the
Protestant Ascendancy The Protestant Ascendancy (also known as the Ascendancy) was the sociopolitical and economical domination of Ireland between the 17th and early 20th centuries by a small Anglicanism, Anglican ruling class, whose members consisted of landowners, ...
in Ireland. They had married in 1776 at Brussels. Henry Augustus had one sister, Frances Charlotte.


Early life

Henry Augustus's mother died in 1782 when he was four. In 1787 his father remarried to Marie Rogier of
Mechelen Mechelen (; ; historically known as ''Mechlin'' in EnglishMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical context. T ...
, who was an actress in Brussels and had been his mistress before he married Henry's mother. Henry Augustus had three half-siblings, a brother and two sisters, who were born from his father's second marriage. Henry Augustus was brought up by his uncle
Constantine Phipps, 2nd Baron Mulgrave Captain Constantine John Phipps, 2nd Baron Mulgrave (30 May 1744 – 10 October 1792) was a Royal Navy officer, explorer and politician. He served during the Seven Years' War and the American War of Independence, seeing action in a number ...
. In 1794, when Dillon-Lee (i.e. Henry Augustus) was 17, he was made the colonel of a regiment in the newly created Catholic Irish Brigade, an unlikely employment for a Protestant, that was due to his family's military connection to the Irish Brigade. This Catholic Irish Brigade lasted four years, being dissolved in 1798. On 21 October 1795 Dillon-Lee immatriculated at
Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...
. In 1799, aged 22, he contested and won a by-election caused by the death of Richard Hopkins MP for Harwich Borough, County Essex. This was during the 18th and last
parliament of Great Britain The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union 1707, Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a ...
, summoned in 1796 to meet at Westminster on 12 July 1796. It continued without a general election as the 1st Parliament of the United Kingdom, 1801–1802. He sat therefore until 29 June 1802 when parliament was dissolved. In the general election of 1802 he was elected for one of the two seats for
County Mayo County Mayo (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, County Mayo, Mayo, now ge ...
in the
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of the United Kingdom. In 1805 he raised a new regiment in Ireland, called the Duke of York's Irish or the 101st Regiment of Foot. He owned the regiment and hired out its services to the British army under a letter of service.


Marriage and children

In February 1807 at Castlemacgarrett, Dillon-Lee married Henrietta Browne, sister of Dominick, 1st Baron Oranmore and Browne, daughter of Dominick-Geoffrey Browne, by Margaret, daughter of George Browne, 4th son of the 1st Earl of Altamont. The marriage took place at Browne ancestral Castle MacGarrett near
Claremorris Claremorris (; ) is a town in County Mayo in the west of Ireland, at the junction of the N17 and the N60 national routes. As of the 2017, it was the fastest growing town in the county, having seen a 31% increase in population between 2006 and ...
, County Mayo, Ireland. The Brownes of Mayo were an Anglo-Irish, Protestant family. Henrietta's niece was married to George A. Lawrence, author of ''Guy Livingstone''. Henry Augustus and Henrietta had ten children: #
Henrietta Maria Henrietta Maria of France (French language, French: ''Henriette Marie''; 25 November 1609 – 10 September 1669) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England, List of Scottish royal consorts, Scotland and Ireland from her marriage to K ...
(1807–1896), married
Edward Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley of Alderley Edward John Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley of Alderley, (13 November 180216 June 1869), known as The Lord Eddisbury between 1848 and 1850, was a British politician. He served as Postmaster General between 1860 and 1866. Early life and education ...
, and campaigned for better education for girls # Charles Henry (1810–1865), born in Dublin, died at
Ditchley Ditchley Park is a country house near Charlbury in Oxfordshire, England. The estate was once the site of a Roman villa. Later it became a royal hunting ground, and then the property of Sir Henry Lee of Ditchley. The 2nd Earl of Lichfield built ...
, Oxford; succeeded his father as 14th Viscount #Theobald Dominick (1811–1879), the 15th Viscount Dillon, who died childless and was succeeded by his brother #Arthur Edmund Denis (1812–1892), married Ellen Adderley and succeeded his brother as the 16th Viscount Dillon #
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(1813–1853), who emigrated to
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
#Robert George Lee (1817–1822), who died young #Margaret Frances Florence (1818–1885), who was a maid of honour to her majesty and married the geologist William Hamilton #Gerald Normanby (1823–1880), married Louisa FitzGibbon, daughter of Richard Hobart FitzGibbons, 3rd Earl of Clare, and changed his surname to hers #Louisa Anne Rose (1825–1902), married Spencer-Cecil Ponsonby of Bessborough #Helena Matilda (born 1827)


Later life, death, and timeline

Dillon-Lee's regiment was ordered to
Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...
, Canada, to where he also took his wife and where his eldest child was born in 1807. On 9 November 1813 his father died at Loughglinn House,
County Roscommon County Roscommon () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the province of Connacht and the Northern and Western Region. It is the List of Irish counties by area, 11th largest Irish county by area and Li ...
, and was buried in the Dillon Vault at
Ballyhaunis Ballyhaunis () is a town in County Mayo, Ireland. It is at the crossroads of the N60 and N83 National secondary roads and on the railway line linking Dublin to Westport and Ballina. Ballyhaunis is within both the Roman Catholic and civil pa ...
. Henry succeeded as the 13th Viscount Dillon, at the age of 36, he also inherited
Ditchley House Ditchley Park is a English country house, country house near Charlbury in Oxfordshire, England. The estate was once the site of a Roman villa. Later it became a royal hunting ground, and then the property of Henry Lee of Ditchley, Sir Henry Lee ...
, inherited from the Earl of Lichfield (Lee family). Lord Dillon, as he now was, lived with his wife and children in Florence, Italy in the late 1810s and in London in the 1820s where he seems to have had an affair with the writer Eliza Rennie, and where he wrote his two historical novels, ''Maltravers'', published in 1822, and ''Rosaline de Vere'', published in 1824. Dillon died on 24 July 1832 in London and was buried in the All Saints Church at
Spelsbury Spelsbury is a village and civil parish about north of Charlbury and about southeast of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. The village is on a narrow hill between the Coldron and Taston brooks overlooking the River Evenlode and the ancient Wych ...
. He was the first Dillon to be buried in Spelsbury. His widow died thirty years later at the Hotel Windsor, Paris, 18 March 1862, aged 73.


Works

Dillon's published works include: * ''Short View of the Catholic Question'' (London: J. Debrett, 1801), 32 pages * ''Letter to the Noblemen and Gentlemen who Composed the Deputation from the Catholics of Ireland on the Subject of their Mission'' (London: J. Budd, Crown and Mitre, 1805)
online at Google Books
56 pages * ''A Commentary on the Military Establishments and Defence of the British Empire'' (Dillon publisher: Printed by Cox, Son, and Baylis ... for E. Kerby, 1811) * ''The Tactics of Ælian: Comprising Military Systems of the Grecians'' (London: E. Kerby, 1814)
online at Google Books
* ''Discourse upon the Theory of Legitimate Government'' (Florence, 1817)
online at Google Books
89 pages * ''The Life and Opinions of Sir Richard Maltravers: an English Gentleman of the Seventeenth Century'', Volume 1 (London: G. and W.B. Whittaker, 1822)
online at Google Books
Corvey CME 3-628-48097-3; ECB 345; EN2 1822: 29; NSTC 2D13576; OCLC 35663915. * ''The life and opinions of Sir Richard Maltravers: an English gentleman of the seventeenth century'', Volume 2 (London: G. and W.B. Whittaker, 1822)
online at Google Books
* ''Rosaline de Vere'', Volume 1 (London: Treuttel and Würtz, Treuttel junior and Richter, 1824)
online at Internet Archive
Corvey CME 3-628-48547-9; ECB 502; EN2 1824: 29; NSTC 2D13577; OCLC 12423730. * ''Rosaline de Vere'', Volume 2 (London: Treuttel and Würtz, Treuttel junior and Richter, 1824)
online at Internet Archive
Also: various works of jurisprudence.


Notes and references


Notes


Citations


Sources

* – Snippet view * * – Dacre to Dysart * – Scotland and Ireland (for Dillon) * * – Abbay to Dyson * – (for timeline) * * * * * *


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dillon, Henry Dillon, 13th Viscount 1777 births 1832 deaths British MPs 1796–1800 Earls in the Jacobite peerage Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Mayo constituencies (1801–1922) UK MPs 1801–1802 UK MPs 1802–1806 UK MPs 1806–1807 UK MPs 1807–1812 UK MPs 1812–1818 UK MPs who inherited peerages Henry 13