Thomas Dillon

Thomas Dillon (15 January 1884 – 11 December 1971) was an Irish chemist and nationalist. Early life and education Thomas Patrick Dillon was born in Enniscrone, County Sligo on 15 January 1884. His parents were Elizabeth (née Sullivan) and John Dillon, an engineer. His maternal grandfather was William Kirby Sullivan, and his paternal great uncle was John Blake Dillon. He was the eldest of five children, with 4 younger sisters. When his father was tasked with building the waterworks of Ballina, County Mayo, the family moved to the town. Dillon attended St Nathy's, Ballaghadereen, and later Clongowes Wood College. He won a scholarship to study medicine at Queen's College, Cork when he was 16. Having initially undertaken the mandatory preliminary course in arts, Dillon decided to study chemistry and physics, receiving his BA in 1904. He then entered the Royal College of Science, Dublin, being awarded an MA in chemistry in 1908. Dillon was appointed assistant to professor of chemistry, Hugh Ryan, at the Catholic University school of medicine on a salary of £6 a month. He supplemented this by teaching science at the Catholic University School and Loreto Convent School, Dalkey. After the establishment of the National University of Ireland (NUI) in 1908, he transferred to University College Dublin (UCD) with Ryan. Dillon was awarded the first D.Sc. conferred by the NUI in 1912. Nationalism Influenced by Joseph Plunkett and Tom Kettle, Dillon became involved in labour and republican politics. During the 1913 Lockout, he was the honorary secretary of the Industrial Peace Committee, and was the chemical adviser to the Irish Volunteers in their manufacture of bombs and hand grenades. His future wife, Geraldine Plunkett was one of his students in UCD, and sister of Joseph Plunkett. A fellow republican, they married in Rathmines on 23 April 1916, Easter Sunday in a ceremony which was also supposed to see Joseph marry Grace Gifford. The couple spent Easter Monday in the wedding suite of the Imperial Hotel, O'Connell Street watching the events of the Easter Rising unfold at the GPO. Dillon was awaiting orders to aid in the commandeering of chemical supplies for the manufacture of more explosives, but when this didn't happen he was ordered to return home to await further orders. As Dillon was not directly involved in the uprising, he was not arrested in the aftermath.