James Dillon, 3rd Earl of Roscommon

James Dillon
Earl of Roscommon
Tenure	1642–1649
Predecessor	Robert, 2nd Earl of Roscommon
Successor	Wentworth, 4th Earl of Roscommon
Born	c. 1605
Died	October 1649 Limerick, Ireland
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Wentworth
Issue Detail	Wentworth
Father	Robert, 2nd Earl of Roscommon
Mother	Margaret Barry

Sir James Dillon, 3rd Earl of Roscommon (c. 1605 – 1649) was an Irish magnate and politician. He was born a Catholic but converted as a young age to the Church of Ireland. He supported Strafford during his term as governor of Ireland. In the Confederate Wars and the Cromwellian conquest he was a royalist. He died in 1649, but was nevertheless included as the fifth on the list of people that were excluded from pardon in Cromwell's 1652 Act of Settlement.

Birth and origin[]

James was born about 1605^[1] in Ireland, the eldest son of Robert Dillon and his first wife Margaret Barry. His father was the second Earl of Roscommon. His family was Old English and descended from Sir Henry Dillon who came to Ireland with Prince John in 1185.^[2] His family held substantial lands in Meath, Westmeath, Longford and Roscommon.

James's mother was a daughter of David de Barry, 5th Viscount Buttevant. Her family, the de Barry family is another Old English family. Her ancestor John Barry was created Viscount Buttevant by Richard II in 1385.^[3]

James was one of five brothers including two half-brothers, one from each of the two other marriages of his father.

Robert among his brothers and half-brothers
#	Wife	Name	Remark
1	1st wife	James	(c. 1605 – 1649)
2	1st wife	Lucas	-died childless[5]
3	1st wife	David	-died an infant
4	2nd wife	Henry	(died 1640), died unmarried[6]
5	3rd wife	#Carey	(1627–1689), became the 5th Earl Roscommon[7] and was the "Colonel Dillon" of the Diary of Samuel Pepys[8]

Nothing seems to be known about his sisters.

Early life[]

His father's family were traditionally Roman Catholic, which is why his father, despite his record of loyalty to the Crown, was never fully trusted by King Charles I of England. James, however, was converted to the Church of Ireland by James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh.^[9]

On 24 January 1620 his grandfather was raised to the peerage with the title of Baron Dillon of Kilkenny-West, in the Peerage of Ireland.^[10] in a ceremony performed by the Lord Deputy Oliver St. John in the Presence Chamber of Dublin Castle on 25 January.^[11]

On 5 August 1622 James's grandfather was further honoured by being created Earl of Roscommon.^[12] In consequence of this advancement, Robert, the heir apparent, James's father, was styled Lord Kilkenny-West, as a courtesy title from 1622 to 1641.

Marriage and children[]

In late September or early October 1636 James Dillon married Elizabeth Wentworth, daughter of Sir William Wentworth and Anne Atkins at Lowton Hall, Essex.^[13] She was a sister of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, the formidable and (for a while), all-powerful Lord Deputy of Ireland. James's father was a staunch supporter and a personal friend of Strafford, and the marriage was clearly intended to strengthen English rule in Ireland through family alliances between leading English and Anglo-Irish families.^[14]

James and Elizabeth had a son:

• Wentworth (1637–1685), 4th Earl and a poet of renown.^[15][16]

Parliament[]

Dillon was knighted before or in 1639 and thus became Sir James Dillon.^[17][18] The same year he stood as MP, or "knight of the shire" as county MPs were then still called, for County Longford in the Parliament of 1640–1649,^[b] the second of Charles I. Sir James was elected as one of the two members for Longford County on 28 February 1640.

Parliament met on 16 March 1640.^[20] In its first session the parliament unanimously voted four subsidies of £45,000^[21] to raise an Irish army of 9,000^[22] for use by the king against the Scots in the Bishops' Wars. Dillon must have voted in favour. On 31 March 1640 Wentworth prorogued parliament until the first week of June.^[23][24]

On 3 April 1640, Strafford (i.e. Wentworth) left Ireland,^[25] called to England by the king to help him manage the Bishops war against the Scots. Strafford appointed Christopher Wandesford as Lord Deputy to govern Ireland in his absence. Wandesford opened the second parliamentary session on 1 June 1640.^[26][27] News from England was the Short Parliament had refused subsidies to the king.^[28] The Irish MPs regretted having voted subsidies and wanted to sabotage their action by changing how the subsidies would be evaluated and collected.^[29] After two weeks of inconclusive discussions, Wandesford prorogued parliament on 17 June.^[30]

Parliament reconvened for the third session on 1 October.^[31] The House of Commons formed a committee for grievances that compiled a remonstrance (complaint) against Strafford. The remonstrance was then approved by the House of Commons.^[32] Sir James must have voted against it in order to support Strafford. Wandesford prorogued parliament on 12 November,^[33] a day after Strafford's impeachment in Westminster by the Long Parliament.

Parliament met again on 26 January 1641.^[33] Lord Deputy Wandesford had died on 3 December 1640 and the Irish government had devolved to the Lords Justice, Parsons and Borlase.

Table of sessions: Parliament 1640–1649
Sir James only attended the first five sessions of this parliament as an MP.
Session	Start	End	Remark
1st	16 Mar 1640[20]	31 Mar 1640[23]	Voted 4 subsidies[21]
2nd	1 Jun 1640[26]	17 Jun 1640[30]	Trying to change how the subsidies would be evaluated and collected[30]
3rd	1 Oct 1640[31]	12 Nov 1640[33]	Remonstrance voted[32]
4th	26 Jan 1641[33][34]	6 Mar 1641[35]	Impeachment of Strafford and Radcliffe
5th	11 May 1641[36]	7 Aug 1641[34]
6th	9 Nov 1641	9 Nov 1641	Adjourned on the same day[37]
	16 Nov 1641	17 Nov 1641	Voted a protest against the rising
7th	11 Jan 1642
8th	1 Aug 1642[38]
9th		14 Dec 1642
10th	20 Apr 1643

Earl of Roscommon[]

In March 1641 James's grandfather died^[39] and his father succeeded as the 2nd Earl. His tenure was, however, a short one as he died on 27 August 1642 in Oxmantown, a residential quarter in Dublin's Northside.^[40] James succeeded as the 3rd Earl of Roscommon.^[41] He had to abandon his seat in the lower house and gained a seat in the House of Lords, which he took on the 17 November 1642.^[42]

Roscommon was in Dublin when Ormond handed the town over to the English Parliament and was given as hostage to the English Parliament by Ormond.^[43]

Death and timeline[]

He died at Limerick in October 1649, at the house of the Anglican Bishop Bramhall, of an accidental fall down a flight of stairs.^[44] According to legend, his son, then in exile at Caen, knew of his death at the moment it happened, although the official news did not reach him until two weeks later.^[45]

Timeline
Age	Date	Event
0	1605, about	Born.[1]
15	1620, 24 Jan	Grandfather created Baron of Kilkenny-West.[10]
17	1622, 5 Aug	Grandfather created Earl of Roscommon.[12]
20	1625, 27 Mar	Accession of King Charles I, succeeding King James I[46]
27	1632, 12 Jan	Thomas Wentworth, later Earl of Strafford, appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland[47]
31	1636, Sep or Oct	Married Elizabeth Wentworth.[13]
34	1639, 28 Feb	Returned as MP for Longford County.[18]
35	1640, 16 Mar	Parliament opened[20]
35	1640, Dec	Father appointed as one of the Lord Justices of Ireland.
36	1641, 12 May	Strafford beheaded.[48]
36	1641, Mar	Grandfather died and his father succeeded as 2nd Earl.[39]
36	1641, 23 Oct	Outbreak of the Rebellion[49]
37	1642, 27 Aug	Father died in Oxmantown, Dublin and he succeeded as the 3rd Earl of Roscommon.[40]
37	1642, 17 Nov	Took his seat in the Irish House of Lords[42]
7	1647, 19 Jun	Given as hostage to the English Parliament by Ormond[43]
44	1649, 30 Jan	King Charles I beheaded.[50]
44	1649, Oct	Died in Limerick.[44]

Notes, citations, and sources[]

Notes[]

Citations[]

Sources[]

• Asch, Ronald G. (2004). "Wentworth, Thomas, first earl of Strafford (1593–1641)". In Matthew, Colin; Harrison, Brian (eds.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 56. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 142–157. ISBN 0-19-861408-X.
• Aubrey, John (1696). Miscellanies. London: Edward Castle. OCLC 1049629740.
• Bagwell, Richard (1909a). Ireland under the Stuarts and under the Interregnum. Vol. 1. London: Longmans, Green, and Co. OCLC 458582656. – 1603 to 1642
• Beatson, Robert (1806). A Political Index to the Histories of Great Britain and Ireland. Vol. 3 (3rd ed.). London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme. OCLC 2228463. – Scotland & Ireland
• Burke, John (1832). A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. Vol. 2 (4th ed.). London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley. OCLC 39018719. – Ibbetson to Zouche (for Roscommon)
• Burke, Bernard (1866). A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire (New ed.). London: Harrison. OCLC 11501348.
• Clarke, Aidan (1976). "Ormond, Rinuccini, and the confederates". In Moody, Theodore William; Martin, F. X.; Byrne, Francis John (eds.). A New History of Ireland. Vol. 3. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 270–288. ISBN 978-0-1982-0242-4. – 1640 to 1641
• Cokayne, George Edward (1895). Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, or Dormant. Vol. 6 (1st ed.). London: George Bell and Sons. OCLC 1180818801. – N to R (for Roscommon)
• Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I., eds. (1986). Handbook of British Chronology. Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, No. 2 (3rd ed.). London: Offices of the Royal Historical Society. ISBN 0-86193-106-8. (for timeline)
• Gardiner, Samuel Rawson (1904). History of England from the Accession of James I to the Outbreak of the Civil War. Vol. 9. London: Longmans, Green & Co. OCLC 559091724. – 1639 to 1641
• Gerard, John (1913). "Chronology, General". In Herbermann, Charles George (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: The Encyclopedia Press. pp. 738–742. OCLC 1157968788.
• Gillespie, Stuart (2004). "Dillon, Wentworth, fourth Earl of Roscommon". In Matthew, Colin; Harrison, Brian (eds.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 16. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 226–228. ISBN 0-19-8613660.
• House of Commons (1878). Return. Members of Parliament – Part II. Parliaments of Great Britain, 1705–1796. Parliaments of the United Kingdom, 1801–1874. Parliaments and Conventions of the Estates of Scotland, 1357–1707. Parliaments of Ireland, 1599–1800. London: H. M. Stationery Office. OCLC 13112546. (for the subject MP)
• House of Lords (1779). Journals of the House of Lords (PDF). Vol. 1. Dublin: William Sleater. OCLC 35009219. – 1634 to 1699
• Kearney, Hugh F. (1959). Strafford in Ireland 1633–1641 – a Study in Absolutism. Manchester: Manchester University Press. OCLC 857142293.
• King, Bruce (1982). Seventeenth Century English Literature. New York: Schocken books. ISBN 0-8052-0771-6.
• Lodge, John (1789). Archdall, Mervyn (ed.). The Peerage of Ireland or, A Genealogical History of the Present Nobility of that Kingdom. Vol. 4. Dublin: James Moore. OCLC 264906028. – Viscounts (for Dillon)
• Meehan, Rev. Charles Patrick (1882). The Confederation of Kilkenny (New revised and enlarged ed.). Dublin: James Duffy. OCLC 224157081.
• Mountmorres, Hervey Redmond Morres, Viscount (1792a). The History of the Principal Transactions of the Irish Parliament from the Year 1634 to 1666. Vol. 1. London: T. Cadell. OCLC 843863159. – House of Lords
• Mountmorres, Hervey Redmond Morres, Viscount (1792b). The History of the Principal Transactions of the Irish Parliament from the Year 1634 to 1666. Vol. 2. London: T. Cadell. OCLC 843863159. – House of Commons
• Pepys, Samuel (1893). Wheatley, Henry Benjamin (ed.). The Diary of Samuel Pepys. Vol. 1. London: George Bell and Sons. OCLC 503692830. – 1 January 1660 to 30 March 1660/1
• Warner, Ferdinand (1768). History of the Rebellion and Civil-War in Ireland. Vol. 1. Dublin: James William. OCLC 82770539. – 1641 to 1643
• Webb, Alfred (1878). "Dillon, Theobald, Viscount". Compendium of Irish Biography. Dublin: M. H. Gill & Son. p. 149.
• Wedgwood, Cicely Veronica (1961). Thomas Wentworth, First Earl of Strafford 1593–1641. A Revaluation. London: Jonathan Cape. OCLC 1068569885.

Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by Robert Dillon	Earl of Roscommon 1642–1649	Succeeded by Wentworth Dillon