Dillon was the son of Major Andrew Dillon and entered the British Army in 1843. He was present as a captain at the
Siege of Lucknow during the
Indian Mutiny of 1857 and as a major in the subsequent
Oudh campaign of 1858. In the
China Campaign of 1860 he served as an assistant adjutant-general on the staff of
Major-General Sir Robert Napier and as the latter's military secretary in India and Abyssinia. He was Aide-de-Camp to
Queen Victoria from 1868 to 1878 when, now promoted Major-general, he was appointed assistant military secretary to
Prince George, Duke of Cambridge. He was knighted as a Knight Commander of the
Order of the Bath (KCB) in 1887. Promoted lieutenant-general in 1887 and full general on 16 July 1892, he was given the colonelcy of
The Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regiment) in 1897, transferring in 1913 to be briefly colonel-commandant of the 1st Battalion of the
Rifle Brigade. Dillon was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) in the
1902 Coronation Honours list published on 26 June 1902, and was invested by King
Edward VII at
Buckingham Palace on 8 August 1902. ==References==