Charles Dillon, 14th Viscount Dillon

Charles Henry Dillon-Lee, 14th Viscount Dillon (1810–1865), was an Irish and English landowner. He lived in Ditchley, Oxfordshire, England, and was represented in Ireland by his agent Charles Strickland.

Charles Henry Dillon-Lee
Viscount Dillon
Tenure	1832–1865
Predecessor	Henry, 13th Viscount Dillon
Successor	Theobald Dominick Dillon-Lee
Born	20 April 1810 Ely Place, Dublin
Died	18 November 1865 Ditchley
Buried	All Saints Church, Spelsbury
Spouse(s)	Lydia Sophia Story
Issue Detail	Ethelred Florence & Geraldine Lee Frances
Father	Henry, 13th Viscount Dillon
Mother	Henrietta Browne

Birth and origins

Charles was born on 20 April 1810 in Ely Place (a street near St Stephen's Green) in Dublin.^[1] He was the eldest son of Henry Augustus Dillon-Lee and his wife Henrietta Browne. His father was the 13th Viscount Dillon of Costello-Gallen.^[2] The Dillons were a widespread Old English family that had settled in Connacht and Leinster and descended from Sir Henry Dillon who had come to Ireland with Prince John in 1185.^[3] Charles's mother was the eldest daughter of Colonel Dominick Geoffrey Browne, MP for Mayo and sister of Lord Oranmore and Browne. His parents had married in 1807.^[4] He was one of ten siblings, who are listed in his father's article.

Family tree

Charles Henry Dillon-Lee with wife, parents, and other selected relatives.^[a] Henrietta- Maria Phipps 1757–1782 Charles 12th Viscount 1745–1813 Marie Rogier d. 1833 Henry Augustus 13th Viscount 1777–1832 Henrietta Browne 1789–1862 Charles Henry 14th Viscount 1810–1865 Lydia Sophia Story Theobald Dominick 15th Viscount 1811–1879 Arthur Edmund Denis 16th Viscount 1812–1892 Ethelred Florence Geraldine Lee Harold Arthur 17th Viscount 1844–1932 Conrad Adderly Dillon 1845–1901 Arthur Henry 18th Viscount 1875–1935 Eric FitzGerald 19th Viscount 1881–1946 Nora Beckett d. 1962 Legend XXX Subject of the article XXX Viscounts Dillon

Viscount

On 26 July 1832 Charles succeeded his father as the 14th Viscount Dillon.^[5] He inherited land in Ireland and in England. The Irish lands were the ancestral lands owned by the family since Theobald Dillon, 1st Viscount Dillon in the 17th century. They lay in north-eastern Connacht (counties Mayo and Roscommon) and in western Leinster (Westmeath). The land in England was in Oxfordshire and had been acquired more recently by the marriage of the 11th Viscount to Charlotte Lee, daughter of the 2nd Earl of Lichfield in 1744 and the inheritance that followed in 1776 at the death of the 4th Earl of Lichfield.^[6]

Marriage and children

On 1 February 1833 Lord Dillon, as he was now, married Lydia Sophia Story, daughter of Philip Laycock Story and his wife Lydia Baring.^[7] She was a granddaughter of Sir Francis Baring, founder of the London merchant house of Barings. They married in Tusmore House, Oxfordshire, England, at that time the home of his father-in-law.^[8]

Charles and Lydia had two daughters:

1. Ethelred Florence (died 1910), never married^[9]
2. Geraldine Lee Frances (died 1920), married Captain Charles Augustus Drake Halford in 1859^[10]

Slave compensation claim

Lord Dillon never owned slaves. However, he became involved in a claim under the Slave Compensation Act 1837 because he was one of a group of four people who were trying to recover a debt of £6,000 from Dominick Trant, owner of the Lower Windward Estate on the island of Montserrat in the British West Indies. When on 7 November 1836 Dominick Trant submitted the claim "Montserrat No. 15" for £1,977 (worth £199,608 in 2024^[11]) as a compensation for the loss he incurred by the emancipation of the 128 slaves of the estate,^[12] this group submitted a successful counterclaim. This group consisted of Lord Dillon, Philip Laycock Story, Henry Trant and James Flemming.^[13] The Dillons, Trants and Storys were related by marriage. Philip Laycock Story was not only Lord Dillon's father-in-law (by his daughter Lydia) but also Dominick Trant's father-in-law (by his daughter Caroline).^[14] Frances Trant was an aunt of Dominick Trant and a great-aunt of Lord Dillon by her marriage to General Henry Dillon, the last colonel of Dillon's regiment.^[15]

Landlord and Irish famine

From 1845 to 1849 Ireland suffered the Great Famine. Lord Dillon's Irish estates lay in some of the worst affected areas. Despite living in England and being an absentee landlord in Ireland, he and his estate manager Charles Strickland, who lived at Loughglinn, seem to have been humane and seem to have helped the tenants rather than evicting them. A large stained-glass window in the baptistery of the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Ballaghaderreen, County Roscommon commemorates Lord Dillon for his fairness as a landlord during the great famine. This window was donated by his wife.^[16] Another stained-glass window in a chapel on the south side of the cathedral commemorates his agent Charles Strickland.^[17]

When Lord Dillon's Mayo tenants were discriminated against at the market of Bellaghy in County Sligo, his agent Charles Strickland built the town of Newtown Dillon in County Mayo next to the county border. The first houses were completed in 1846. The town soon took the name of Charlestown in honour of Charles Strickland.^[18]

Death and succession

On 18 November 1865 Lord Dillon died aged 55 at Ditchley, the family's seat near Charlbury in Oxfordshire.^[19] The title passed to his younger brother Theobald Dominick, who became the 15th Viscount Dillon.^[20]

A monument to the memory of the 14th Viscount with full-length effigy in white marble was erected in the All Saints church (Church of England), Spelsbury, Oxfordshire. This work is signed by the sculptor Charles Francis Fuller, who worked in Florence.^[21][22][23]

Notes and references

Notes

1. Also see the lists of siblings and children in the text.

Citations

1. Cokayne 1916, p. 362, line 4. "Charles Henry (Dillon-Lee), Viscount Dillon of Costella-Gallen [I.], 2nd but 1st surviv. s. and h., b. 20 April 1810 in Ely Place, Dublin ..."
2. Burke & Burke 1915, p. 647, right column, line 47. "Charles Henry, 14th Viscount Dillon served in Scots Fus. Guards, b. [born] 20 April 1810;"
3. Webb 1878, p. 149, line 7. "... [Sir Henry Dillon] came to Ireland in 1185 as secretary to Prince John ..."
4. Debrett 1838, p. 609, right column, line 23. "[Henry Augustus] m. 1807 Henrietta, eldest da. of Dominick-Geoffry Browne, M.P. for Mayo and sister of lord Oranmore and Browne ..."
5. Burke & Burke 1915, p. 647, right column, line 45. "He [Henry Augustus] d. [died] 24 July 1832 and was s. [succeeded] by his eldest son."
6. Cokayne 1893, p. 76, line 8. "He [Robert Lee] d. s.p. at Ditchley, 4 Nov 1776, aged 71, when all his peerage dignities and possibly the baronetcy also became extinct."
7. Burke & Burke 1915, p. 647, right column, line 48. "[Charles Dillon] m. [married] 1 Feb. 1833 Lydia Sophia dau. [daughter] of Philip Laycock Story ..."
8. Cokayne 1916, p. 362, line 8. "He m. [married] 1 Feb. 1833 (spec. lic.), at Tusmore House, Lydia Sophia, da. [daughter] of the Rev. Philip Laycock Story of Tusmore House Oxon. by Lydia da. of Sir Francis Baring, Bart."
9. Burke & Burke 1915, p. 647, right column, line 50. "Etheldred Florence d. unm. [died unmarried] 17 March 1910."
10. Burke & Burke 1915, p. 647, right column, line 51. "Geraldine Lee Frances m. [married] 13 July 1859, Capt. Charles Augustus Drake Halford, of East Bergholt, Suffolk. He d. [died] 25 April 1907, leaving issue."
11. UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
12. "Montserrat 15 (Lower Estate or Lower Windward)". University College London. Retrieved on 9 August 2020.
13. House of Commons 1838, p. 319. "Henry Chas., Viscount Dillon; Philip Laycock Story; Henry Trent & James Flemming / 1,977 9 3 / 128"
14. S. M. 1914, p. 31. pedigree
15. Burke & Burke 1915, p. 646, right column, bottom. "3. Henry, Major-Gen in the French and English services, Col. of the Dillon Regt. (in the English army 1794–8) when on the surrender of the 2nd Bn. at San Domingo it passed to the English Army, b. [born] 28 June 1759; m. [married] 1stly 29 Apr. 1790 Frances, dau. of Dominick Henry Trant of Easingwold ..."
16. Galloway 1992, p. 22, left column. "... on the south side of the west door is the former baptistery, donated by Lydia, Viscountess Dillon (d. 1876) in memory of her husband, the 14th Viscount Dillon, who died on 18 November 1865."
17. Galloway 1992, p. 22, right column. "... window was erected by the Bishop of Achonry and others 'to commemorate their respect and esteem for Charles Strickland and his wife Maria of Loughglynn ..."
18. Cathal, Henry. "The Early History of Charlestown in Co. Mayo".
19. Cokayne 1916, p. 362, line 10. "He d. s.p.m. [died without male issue], at Ditchley, Oxon. 18 and was bur. 24 Nov. 1865 at Spelsbury, aged 55."
20. Burke & Burke 1915, p. 647, right column, line 55. "The Viscount d. [died] 18 Nov. 1865 and was s. [succeeded] by his next brother ..."
21. Ross, David. "Spelsbury, All Saints Church". In a recess in the north transept is a beautiful memorial to Charles, 14th Viscount Dillon (d. 1865). This is a lovely piece of Gothic Revival sculpture carved by GF Fuller.
22. "Church of All Saints, Spelsbury. A Grade II* Listed Building in Spelsbury, Oxfordshire". In the north transept is a large monument to the 14th Viscount Dillon (d.1865) with an effigy under an elaborate canopy with pierced cuspings.
23. Ellis, Geoffrey. "Spelsbury: All Saints". Monument (alcove in north transept) to Charles, 14th Viscount Dillon (1810-65). This fine example of the Victorian Gothic Revival was designed by G.F. Fuller. Its centrepiece, lying on a table above the inscription, is the white marble effigy wearing a Peer's robes and holding a cross under a pinnacled stone canopy. Within the arch is a carved relief of Christ flanked by angels. The heavily foliated tympanum above bears shields of the Dillon and Litchfield arms.

Sources

• Burke, Bernard; Burke, Ashworth Peter (1915). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage, the Privy Council, Knightage and Companionage (77th ed.). London: Harrison. OCLC 1155471554.
• Cokayne, George Edward (1893). Complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant. Vol. V (1st ed.). London: George Bell and Sons. OCLC 1180836840. – L to M (for Lichfield)
• Cokayne, George Edward (1916). Gibbs, Vicary (ed.). The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant. Vol. IV (2nd ed.). London: St Catherine Press. OCLC 228661424. – Dacre to Dysart
• Debrett, John (1838). Courthope, William (ed.). Debrett's Complete Peerage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (22nd ed.). London: F. C. and J. Rivington. OCLC 315551200.
• Galloway, Peter (1992). The Cathedrals of Ireland. Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, Queens University, Belfast. ISBN 978-0-85389452-0.
• House of Commons (1838). Accounts of Slave Compensation Claims. Vol. 48. London: His/Her Majesty's Stationery Office. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
• S. M. (1914). "The Trant Family (continued)". Kerry Archaeological Magazine. 3 (13): 20–38. doi:10.2307/30022075. JSTOR 30022075.
• Webb, Alfred (1878). "Dillon, Theobald, Viscount". Compendium of Irish Biography. Dublin: M. H. Gill & Son. p. 149. OCLC 122693688.

Honorary titles
Preceded by William Evetts	High Sheriff of Oxfordshire 1857	Succeeded by Henry Lomax Gaskell
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by Henry Dillon	Viscount Dillon 1832–1865	Succeeded by Theobald Dillon