Garrett Dillon

Garrett (or Gerald) Dillon (c.1640-c.1696) was an Irish judge, politician and soldier, who held the office of Recorder of Dublin. He is mainly remembered today as one of the signatories of the Treaty of Limerick, which he helped to negotiate.

He was born in County Westmeath, the son of Theobald Dillon of Portlick Castle and his wife Marcella Browne. Theobald was the son of Garrett Dillon of Feamore, County Mayo, who was a cousin of Theobald Dillon, 1st Viscount Dillon. The younger Garrett inherited both Feamore and Portlick, and acquired other estates in Westmeath and Mayo: all his estates were forfeited in the 1690s, but his eldest son Theobald recovered at least a portion of them.

He entered Gray's Inn in 1669, and was called to the Irish Bar in 1674. The Roman Catholic King James II of England, who succeeded to the throne in 1685, adopted a policy of appointing as many Catholics as possible to high office. Dillon was described as a "furious Catholic" and was therefore in favour with the King. His rise to high office was rapid: he became King's Counsel and Recorder of Dublin in 1685, and Prime Serjeant in 1687. In the so-called Patriot Parliament of 1689 he sat in the Irish House of Commons as member for Mullingar. On the outbreak of the Williamite War, he entered the military service on King James's side and was made a colonel.

After the defeat of the Jacobite cause, the new King William III of England was anxious to conciliate as many of his former enemies as possible. The result was the Treaty of Limerick, which was strictly speaking two treaties, one military and one civil. Dillon (who had been dismissed from all his political offices) was one of the three lawyers, along with John Brown and Sir Toby Butler, who negotiated the civil articles on behalf of the defeated Jacobite side, although Butler is said to have done most of the work.

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