DILLON, JOHN (1851-1927), Irish nationalist politician, was the son of John Blake Dillon (1816-1866), who sat in parlia ment for Tipperary, and was one of the leaders of "Young Ire land." John Dillon was educated at University college, Dublin, and afterwards qualified as a surgeon. He entered parliament in 188o as member for Tipperary, and was at first an ardent sup porter of C. S. Parnell, whom he accompanied in his tour of the United States in that year. In August he delivered a bitter speech on the Land League at Kildare ; he advocated boycotting, and was arrested in May 1881 under the Coercion Act, and again after two months of freedom in October. In 1883 he resigned his seat for reasons of health, but was returned unopposed in 1885 for East Mayo, which he continued to represent. He was one of the prime movers in the famous agrarian "plan of campaign" (see IRELAND, History). Dillon was compelled by the court of queen's bench on Dec. 14, 1886, to find securities for good be haviour; and in June 1888 under the provisions of the new Crim inal Law Procedure Bill he was condemned to six months' impris onment. He was released in September, and in the spring of 1889 sailed for Australia and New Zealand, where he collected funds for the Nationalist Party. On his return he was again ar rested, but, being allowed bail, sailed for France in a fishing-boat with W. O'Brien, and thence to America. He returned to Ireland by way of Boulogne, where he and W. O'Brien held long and inde cisive conferences with Parnell. They surrendered to the police in February, and on their release from Galway gaol in July de clared their opposition to Parnell. After the expulsion of T. M. Healy and others from the Irish National Federation, Dillon be came the chairman (Feb. 1896). His early friendship with O'Brien gave place to disagreement, but the various sections of the party were ostensibly reconciled in 1900 under Redmond's leadership. In the autumn of 1896 he arranged a convention of the Irish race, which included 2,000 delegates from various parts of the world. In 1897 Dillon opposed in the House the diamond jubilee address to Queen Victoria on the ground that her reign had not been a blessing to Ireland. He was suspended on March 20 for violent language addressed to Joseph Chamberlain.
In 1905 he advised Irishmen in England to vote Liberal at the general election, and now began to support the Liberal govern ment in its Irish measures, notably the Land bill, although in his earlier days he had opposed ameliorative measures as likely to defer Home Rule. In the crisis of 1912 over the Better Govern ment of Ireland bill Dillon urged that Nationalists should con centrate on the attack against the House of Lords. In July 1914 he was invited by King George V. to accompany Redmond to the Buckingham Palace conference which attempted to settle the Irish controversy, when his attitude is said to have been stiffer than Redmond's.
When war broke out, he immediately placed his whole influence behind the British Government, speaking in this sense at the meet ing in the Dublin Mansion House on Sept. 25, 1914. He took an active part in recruiting but steadily opposed the extension of conscription to Ireland which would, he was convinced, merely strengthen the Sinn Fein movement. He succeeded Redmond as leader of the Nationalist Party, and at the General Election of Dec. 1918 he shared the general obliteration which overwhelmed the Party. He died in London on Aug. 4, 1927, and was buried in Glasnevin cemetery, Dublin, by the side of his wife (d. 1907), a daughter of Justice Mathew.