Robert Dillon (judge)

Robert was born about 1540, probably at Newtown in County Meath, the eldest son of Thomas Dillon and his wife, Anne Luttrell.[1] His father was the only son of Sir Bartholomew Dillon, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. His mother, whom he was accused many years later of ill-treating, was a daughter of Sir Thomas Luttrell, Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas.

He must be distinguished from his great-uncle Sir Robert Dillon, although the confusion is understandable as the two men held the same judicial office, and the records of the King's Inns do not always distinguish clearly between them.

He was educated at Lincoln's Inn, where he was entered on the books in 1560. Here his lifelong enmity with Nicholas Nugent began: the two law students were reprimanded for brawling by the benchers of the inn, and bound to keep the peace.

His first official appointment came in 1569 when he became junior justice of Connacht, serving under Ralph Rokeby, the first Chief Justice of Connacht. In this capacity he favourably impressed Sir Edward Fitton, the Lord President of Connaught. When Fitton became Vice-Treasurer of Ireland, he secured Dillon's appointment as Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland. Two other powerful patrons were Adam Loftus, the Archbishop of Dublin, and Robert Weston, the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, who recommended Dillon for appointment as Master of the Rolls in Ireland, partly on account of his staunch adherence to the Church of Ireland. As Fitton's protégé, Dillon was inevitably drawn into the bitter feud which erupted in 1572-3 between Fitton and Sir William FitzWilliam, the Lord Deputy of Ireland. FitzWilliam urged the Queen to detain Dillon in the Fleet Prison, but Elizabeth I took Dillon's side in the dispute, reprimanded FitzWilliam, and persuaded him to resolve his differences with Fitton. Relations between Dillon and FitzWilliam improved in later years.

After years of lobbying for a senior judicial post, involving at least one trip to London, he was at last made a justice of the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland) in 1577 and was knighted. Having been disappointed in his hopes of securing the higher office of chief justice on the death of his great-uncle Robert in 1580, he reached that grade by being made chief justice of the common pleas in 1581, after the execution of Nicholas Nugent.[3] Nugent's execution greatly damaged the reputation of a man who had always been unpopular, and caused the Queen and Lord Burghley to regard him with suspicion. His puzzling decision to warn the future rebel Sir Brian O'Rourke not to come to Dublin in 1589, on the grounds that he would be arrested, inevitably led to accusations that he had fomented O'Rourke's rebellion, which broke out the following year. Although Dillon was not close to Sir John Perrot, FitzWilliam's successor as Lord Deputy, Perrot's downfall damaged his career as it led the Crown to scrutinise closely the conduct of all senior Irish officials, thus giving an opportunity to Dillon's many enemies to come forward.

William Nugent, Nicholas's nephew, a former rebel later pardoned and restored to favour, complained that Dillon had abused his position to prosecute members of the Nugent family, and in the summer of 1591 Nugent formally accused Dillon of maladministration of justice. The case was strong: in particular the charge that Dillon had wrongfully condemned William's uncle Nicholas Nugent, his predecessor as Chief Justice, to death for treason. Apart from their long-standing personal enmity, Dillon blamed Nugent for his failure to become chief justice. A colourful, though probably apocryphal story, was widely circulated that Dillon, after the execution, watching Nugent's corpse hanging from the gallows remarked "Friend Nugent, now I am even with you for coming between me and my place (i.e of Chief Justice)". Other charges included corruption in his role as a commissioner for the settlement of Connacht, and rather incongruously, cruelty to his mother.

In the view of Roger Wilbraham, the Solicitor General for Ireland, there was little doubt that Dillon had been guilty of crimes dishonourable to a judge, but Wilbraham considered that

It was no policy that such against whom he had done service for her Majesty should be countenanced to wrest anything hardly against him unless it was capital.

Dillon was briefly imprisoned and suspended from office as a judge as a judge and commissioners were appointed to try the charges, but obstacles were constantly arising, and in November 1593 Dillon was pronounced innocent on all charges and reinstated.[4] Dillon had become very rich and there is no doubt that he used his wealth to placate influential members of the Privy Council with expensive gifts. In addition Elizabeth I and Burghley, previously hostile to Dillon, had decided that a purge of senior Irish officials would simply deprive them of valuable public servants, however questionable their conduct, a view first put forward by Roger Wilbraham. On 23 September 1594, the day of his successor's death, Sir Geoffrey Fenton wrote to Lord Burghley that Dillon was to be restored to the chief-justiceship, and this decision was confirmed by patent of 15 March 1595, which he retained until his death in July 1597.[5]

Dillon died on 27 July 1597[6] in Riverston[7] and was buried at Tara, County Meath.[8]

Elrington Ball remarks that while Dillon's conduct as a judge was deplorable, he was an eloquent public speaker, and a man of some personal charm and humour.

Dillon married twice, but neither of his marriages can be dated.[9][10]

He married firstly Eleanor Alan, daughter of Thomas Alen of Kilteel Castle, County Kildare and his wife Mary Rawson, natural daughter of John Rawson, Viscount Clontarf.

Robert and Eleanor had a son:

1. Richard, who predeceased his father unmarried[11]

—and a daughter:

1. Mary, married Patrick Segrave of Killeghlan, County Meath, son of Richard Segrave[12]

Dillon married secondly Catherine Sarsfield, daughter of Sir William Sarsfield of Lucan Manor, who had been Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1566, and his wife Mabel FitzGerald.[9]

Robert and Catherine had five sons:[13]

1. Bartholomew (died 1633), married Catherine, daughter and heiress of Alexander Fitton and his wife Mary Wyse, in about 1595, which made him owner of Bective Abbey.[14][8] Bartholomew was 24 years old at his fatherds's death.[15]
2. William
3. Thomas, father of Arthur Dillon[16]
4. Michael
5. Christopher

—and nine daughters of which the eldest:

1. Eleanor (died 1635), married Richard Aylmer of Dullardstown[17]

Dillon's second wife died in 1615.[18]