Carey Dillon, 5th Earl of Roscommon

Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford

In 1630; while Carey was a boy, his grandfather, his father and his eldest half-brother were staunch supporters of Thomas Wentworth, later Earl of Strafford, who was appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland in 1632.^[11] About 1635 Carey's half-brother James, later the 3rd Earl, married Strafford's sister Elizabeth.^[12] Their eldest son, the future 4th Earl of Roscommon, was named "Wentworth". Strafford, however, also had powerful enemies and was impeached by the English Parliament in November 1640 and after this failed, a bill of attainder was brought against him, which was passed in May 1641 and signed by the king on 10 May. Strafford was executed on 12 May 1641 on Tower Hill.^[13]

Carey's grandfather James died in March 1641^[14] and was succeeded by his eldest son, Robert, Carey's father, as the 2nd Earl of Roscommon.^[15]

Irish War

The Irish Rebellion of 1641 broke out on 23 October 1641.^[16] The 2nd Earl of Roscommon died on 27 August 1642 in Dublin.^[17][18] and was succeeded by his eldest son James Dillon, 3rd Earl of Roscommon, Carey's halfbrother.

During the English Civil War, both Dillon brothers were staunch Royalists: James, who died in 1649, was posthumously listed in Cromwell's Act for the Settlement of Ireland 1652 as one of the leaders of the Royalist cause in Ireland who were excluded from pardon, and thus liable to forfeiture of their estates.

As a younger son with his livelihood to earn, in the war-torn Ireland of the 1640s and 1650s, a military career was an obvious choice for him: he was made a captain by the age of seventeen.

Pepys's Diary

Samuel Pepys first mentions "Colonel Dillon" in his famous Great Diary in 1660. He evidently liked him, calling him "a very merry and witty companion".^[19] In the early 1660s one of Pepys's closest friends was a young clergyman called Daniel Butler (nicknamed "Monsieur l'Impertinent", apparently because he never stopped talking). He was probably, like Dillon, an Irishman.^[20] Shortly afterwards he went to Ireland, apparently at Dillon's urging. Pepys admired both of Butler's sisters, especially Frances (nicknamed "la belle Boteler"), whom he thought was one of the greatest beauties in London. Dillon courted Frances, and matters proceeded as far as an engagement, but this was broken off in 1662, apparently after a violent quarrel between Dillon and Frances's brother "Monsieur l'Impertinent", who complained of Dillon's "knavery" to him.^[21] In the summer of 1668 Dillon apparently renewed his proposal of marriage – Pepys saw him and Frances riding in a carriage together – but it seems that Frances declined his offer. It is not known whether Frances ever married.^[22]

Although Samuel Pepys always called him "Colonel Dillon" in his diary, he was apparently only a lieutenant until 1684, when he became a major, and subsequently a colonel.

Howard Duel

Following the Restoration of Charles II, Dillon entered politics, sitting in the Irish House of Commons as MP for Banagher in the Parliament of 1661–1666.^[23]

His career was almost ruined in 1662 when he acted as second to Colonel Thomas Howard (a younger brother of Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Carlisle) in his notorious duel with Henry Jermyn, 1st Baron Dover (Howard and Dover being rivals for the affections of the notoriously promiscuous Anna Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury).^[24] Howard left Lord Dover for dead, and Dillon killed Dover's second, Giles Rawlings, a Gentleman of the Privy Purse to the Duke of York.^[25] Dillon and Howard fled from London, but later returned to stand trial. As was usual in affairs of honour, they were both acquitted, as killing a man in a duel, although counted as murder in a court of law, was then generally regarded as being expected of a man who wished to preserve his honour.^[26]

Political career

This check to his career was temporary, and after 1670 his rise in Irish public life was rapid. He was sworn a member of the Privy Council of Ireland in 1673, and also became Master of the Irish Mint, Commissary-General of the Horse of Ireland, Surveyor-General for Customs and Excise in Ireland, and a Governor of the Royal Hospital Kilmainham.^[27]

In 1685, on the death of his nephew, the poet Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon, he succeeded as the 5th Earl of Roscommon.^[28]

Kilkenny affair

The following year Lord Roscommon, as he was now, clashed bitterly with Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell,^[29] the rising Roman Catholic Royal favourite. Tyrconnell, as Lieutenant-General of the Irish Army, had removed all the Protestant officers of the regiment stationed at Kilkenny. Roscommon, with it seems considerable justification, challenged his legal right to do so, and when the matter came before the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord Clarendon, Roscommon called Tyrconnell a liar to his face: this was a shrewd blow since Tyrconnell had the unfortunate nickname "Lying Dick Talbot".^[30][31] The "Kilkenny affair" caused something of a furore in Ireland, but did not damage Tyrconnell's standing at the English Court.