Arthur Dillon
Painting byJean-Hilaire Belloc, 1834
Born	3 September 1750 Braywick, Berkshire
Died	13 April 1794(1794-04-13) (aged 43) Paris, France
Allegiance	Kingdom of France Kingdom of France French Republic
Rank	General
Battles / wars	American Revolutionary War French Revolutionary Wars
Spouse	Thérèse-Lucy de Dillon
Children	8
Relations	Henry Dillon, 11th Viscount Dillon (father)

Arthur Dillon (3 September 1750 – 13 April 1794) was aFrench Army officer, colonial administrator and politician who served during theAmerican Revolutionary War and theWar of the First Coalition. After serving in several political offices during the early years of theFrench Revolution, he was executed inParis as a royalist during theReign of Terror in 1794.

Arthur was born on 3 September 1750 atBray Wick inBerkshire,England.^[1] He was the second son ofHenry Dillon and his wife Charlotte Lee. His father was the 11th Viscount Dillon.

Arthur's mother was a daughter ofGeorge Lee, 2nd Earl of Lichfield. He had six siblings,who are listed in his father's article.

On 25 August 1767, at the age of 16, he became colonel ofDillon's Regiment taking over from his father who had been absentee colonel for twenty years from 1747 to 1767 after the death of his uncle Edward atLauffeld in 1747.

At eighteen, Colonel Dillon married a first cousin once removed,Therese-Lucy de Rothe (1751–1782).

Arthur and Thérèse-Lucie had two children:

1. George (who died at the age of two)
2. Henriette-Lucy, or Lucie (by marriage,Henriette-Lucy, Marquise de La Tour du Pin Gouvernet), a memoiriste of the Revolutionary period and the Napoleonic era.

He was to become the grandfather ofArthur Dillon, also a military officer.

In 1778, France entered theAmerican Revolutionary War on the American side. Dillon sailed with his regiment to the Caribbean under the command ofCharles Henri Hector d'Estaing. In 1779, he and his regiment fought at thecapture of Grenada^[3] against British forces underGeorge Macartney. They landed on 2 July, and stormed the Hospital Hill which the British had chosen as the centre of their resistance. Dillon personally led one of the storming parties, his brother Henry led another. Macartney surrendered on 5 July. On 6 July 1779 a British fleet under Admiral John Byron appeared off the coast of the island and the naval engagement of theBattle of Grenada was fought. In September and October 1779, Dillon fought at thesiege of Savannah where he was promoted to the rank of brigadier. He and his regiment participated in theinvasion of Tobago, thecapture of Sint Eustatius, and thesiege of Brimstone Hill. With the victory at Brimstone Hill, Dillon was made governor ofSaint Kitts. After theTreaty of Paris, he became governor ofTobago.

His first wife having died, he married a wealthy FrenchCreole widow fromMartinique, Laure de Girardin de Montgérald, the Comtesse de la Touche, by whom he had six children, includingÉlisabeth Françoise 'Fanny' Dillon, later wife ofHenri Gatien Bertrand. The Dillon Estate in Martinique produced sugar and later producedDillon Rum.

He returned to Paris to represent Martinique in theEstates General of 1789 as a democratic, reformist royalist.^{[citation needed]}

Dillon assumed military duties at a very difficult time for noble officers of the old army. On 29 April 1792 his cousinThéobald Dillon was lynched by his own troops after a minor skirmish.^[4] After theBattle of Valmy, whenCharles Dumouriez returned to the Belgian frontier with the greater part of the army, he detached Dillon with 16,000 troops to form the rump of theArmy of the Ardennes around 1 October 1792.^[5] Two weeks later Dillon was called to Paris for questioning and was ultimately arrested on 1 July 1793 despite being stoutly defended by hisaide-de-campFrançois Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers. He was condemned for alleged participation in a prison conspiracy and executed byguillotine on 13 April 1794. In his final moments he mounted the scaffold shouting, "Vive le roi!" (Long live the king).^[6]

• Compte-rendu au ministre de la guerre (Paris, 1792) ;
• Exposition des principaux événements qui ont eu le plus d'influence sur la révolution française (Paris, 1792).

• Distillerie Dillon

• Brizan, Edward (1984).Grenada: Island of Conflict. London: Zed Books.OCLC 40397478.
• Moorehead, Caroline (2009).Dancing to the Precipice: The Life of Lucie de la Tour du Pin, Eyewitness to an Era. London: Chatto & Windus.ISBN 978-0-70117904-5.

• 1750 births
• 1794 deaths
• French generals
• Military leaders of the French Revolutionary Wars
• French Republican military leaders of the French Revolutionary Wars
• English people of Irish descent
• French people of Irish descent
• French people executed by guillotine during the French Revolution
• People from Maidenhead
• Executed people from Berkshire
• French military personnel of the American Revolutionary War
• Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe
• Younger sons of viscounts
• Executed military leaders
• People of the War of the First Coalition

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