Background
Born at Bray Wick in Berkshire, England, Dillon was the son of Lady Charlotte Lee and Henry Dillon, 11th Viscount Dillon of Costello-Gallen, and cousin of Théobald Dillon (not to be confused with his brother, also named Théobald).
Born at Bray Wick in Berkshire, England, Dillon was the son of Lady Charlotte Lee and Henry Dillon, 11th Viscount Dillon of Costello-Gallen, and cousin of Théobald Dillon (not to be confused with his brother, also named Théobald).
He was the grandfather of Arthur Dillon, also a military officer In 1778, he sailed with his regiment to the Caribbean to campaign against Britain. He served at Grenada.
Savannah, Georgia (where he was promoted to brigadier).
And elsewhere. After the Treaty of Paris, he became governor of Tobago. He returned to Paris to represent Martinique in the Estates-General of 1789 as a democratic, reformist royalist.
Dillon assumed military duties at a very difficult time for noble officers of the old army. After the Battle of Valmy when Charles 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 the Army of the Ardennes around 1 October 1792.
He was condemned for alleged participation in a prison conspiracy and executed by guillotine on 13 April 1794.
In his final moments he mounted the scaffold shouting, "Vive le roi! (Long live the king)".
Two weeks later Dillon was called to Paris for questioning and was ultimately arrested on 1 July 1793 despite being stoutly defended by his aide-de-camp François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers.