Robert Dillon was a lawyer, judge and politician in the 16th-century Kingdom of Ireland.
Birth and origins
Robert was born about 1540, probably at Newtown in County Meath. He was the son of Thomas Dillon and his wife, Anne Luttrell. His father was the only son of Sir Bartholomew Dillon, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. His mother was a daughter of Sir Thomas Luttrell, Chief Jutice of the Irish Common Pleas. He must be distinguished from his great-uncle Sir Robert Dillon, although the confusion is natural since both men held the same high judicial office.
Career
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 position 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. As Fitton's protege, 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 imprison 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. 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 in 1577 and was knighted. Having been disappointed in his hopes of securing the higher office on the death of his great-uncle Robert in 1580, he was appointed as Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in 1581, following the execution of Nicholas Nugent. William Nugent made complaints 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". 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 Dillon was suspended 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. Dillon had become a very rich man, and there is no doubt that he used his wealth to placate influential members of the Privy Council with expensive gifts. On 23 September 1594, the day of his successor's death, Fenton wrote to Burghley that Dillon was to be restored to the chief-justiceship, and this decision was confirmed by patent of 15 March 1594-5, which he retained until his death on 15 July 1597. Dillon died on 27 July 1597 and was buried at Tara, County Meath. often 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.
Family
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. They had one son who predeceased his father. He married secondly Catherine Sarsfield, daughter of Sir William Sarsfield of Lucan Manor, who had been Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1566, and his wife Msbel FitzGerald, by whom he had fourteen children.
