Connected with the Chelsea Temperance Society for 21 years, he was actively engaged in the national temperance organizations and in the development of the “Royal Army Temperance Association” of which he was the first Honorary Secretary.
Conrad Adderly Dillon was born on 2 September 1845, the 2nd son of Arthur Edmund Denis Dillon-Lee, 16th Viscount Dillon of Costello-Gallin in the County of Mayo, Ireland (1812-1892) and Ellen Dillon née Adderly (1809-1896). On 12 February 1846 he was baptised at St Peter's Church, Pimlico, Westminster, where the baptismal registers show the family were living at Lower Belgrave Street.
In the 1851 census he is shown as living at 6 Lower Belgrave Street, Westminster, with his parents and elder brother, Harold Arthur Dillon (1844-1932), who would later succeed to his father's title becoming the 17th Viscount Dillon of Costello-Gallin and also to be made a Companion of Honour. Also recorded on the census were their three servants, i.e. a nurse, a cook and a housemaid. His father's occupation was recorded as a clerk in the Home Office.
He was shown as a 4th Class Clerk in the Court of Probate in the 1871 census living at 17 Clarges Street, Mayfair, Westminster, together with a female domestic housemaid.
On 27 August 1872 he married Ellen Louisa Dashwood (1847-1917) at St Mary's Church, Kirtlington, Oxfordshire, where the marriage register shows him as a bachelor and gentleman living in Mayfair, London, whilst his wife is shown as a spinster residing at Kirtlington Park, the eldest daughter of Henry William Dashwood, a baronet. They were to have six children: Hilda Ellen Dillon (1874-1957), Arthur Henry Dillon (1875-1934) who would later become the 18th Viscount Dillon of Costello-Gallin, Margaret Sophia Dillon (1877-1962), Eric Fitzgerald Dillon (1881-1946), Evelina Victoria Dillon (1887-1959 and Vere Mary Dillon (1888-1991).
When the 1881 census was compiled he was shown as a Clerk in the Probate, Divorce & Admiralty Division of the High Court, living at 53 Oakley Street, Chelsea, with his wife, their three children: Hilda, Arthur and Margaret, together with a housemaid, a cook and a nurse.
The 1901 census shows his occupation as 'Principle, Probate Registry' and that he was living at 47 Oakley Street, Chelsea with his wife and two daughters: Hilda, who was described as 'Secretary Abstinence League' and Margaret, who was listed as 'Treasurer St Winifred's Guild', together with a cook, a parlour-maid and a house-maid.
Probate records confirm that he died, aged 56 years, on 4 November 1901 at Rotherfield House, Easebourne, Midhurst, Sussex. He was buried on 8 November at St. Kenelms Churchyard, Enstone, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, OX7 4NN. Probate was granted on 29 December 1901 to his daughter, Hilda and his effects totalled £16,795-13-10d.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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