Arthur Richard Dillon

Who was Arthur Richard Dillon?

Arthur Richard Dillon, French archbishop, was the son of Arthur Dillon, one of the Irish Wild Geese who became a general in the French service.

He was born at St Germain, entered the priesthood and was successively curé of Elan near Mézières, vicar-general of Pontoise, bishop of Evreux and archbishop of Toulouse, archbishop of Narbonne in 1763, and in that capacity, president of the estates of Languedoc.

He devoted himself much less to the spiritual direction of his diocese than to its temporal welfare, carrying out many works of public utility, bridges, canals, roads, harbours, etc.; had chairs of chemistry and of physics created at Montpellier and at Toulouse, and tried to reduce poverty, especially in Narbonne.

From about the age of fifty, until she died shortly before Dillon, he lived with his wealthy, widowed niece, Mme. de Rothe. The pair were considered to be lovers, an arrangement considered scandalous even by the jaded standards of the day. They maintained a household primarily at the chateau Hautefontaine, where Dillon kept an extravagant hunt.