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- BIOGRAPHY
Arthur Dillon was born in 1670, a younger son of Theobald, 7th viscount Dillon, and Mary Talbot. His father fought for King James II and was killed in 1691 at the Battle of Aughrim. In 1691, after the defeat at Limerick the Jacobites went into exile under the terms of the Treaty of Limerick, with Arthur Dillon choosing France.
In France he was made a colonel of the Dillon Regiment that his father had raised at his own expense in 1688. He became a mqréchal de camp aged 34 and lieutenant général at only 36. He fought gloriously in the campaigns of Louis Joseph de Vendôme in Spain and of François de Neufville de Villeroy in Italy, served under Claude Louis Hector de Villars (1708) and James FitzJames, 1st duke of Berwick (1709), and in 1713 he captured Kaiserslautern.
In 1711 Arthur was created 'Comte de Dillon' in France by Louis XIV, and was awarded the Irish title 'Earl of Dillon' in 1721 by the monarch he recognised as James III.
He married Catherine Sheldon, the daughter of an English Jacobite family, and a maid-of-honour of Mary of Modena, queen-consort of James II. Arthur and Catherine had at least five sons.
Arthur, comte Dillon, died on 7 February 1733 at St.Germain en Laye.
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