James Dillon was born in Clara in 1788 to Simon and Catherine Dillon. His father, Simon, was involved in property and his mother ran a shop and also had extensive property on New St. In the 1820s and 1830s he was politically active in opposing tithes, supporting Daniel O'Connell and the cause of Catholic Emancipation. He was appointed coroner for King's County in July 1836. In 1847, the county was split into two districts and he was assigned the Tullamore district serving the northern half of the county. He had married Alice Kelly in the 1820s and they had 10 children, 6 daughters and 4 sons. He died at the age of 71 in 1859 while on the way to Edenderry to undertake another inquest. He was succeeded in the post by William A. Gowing of Tullamore.
Published
Inquest reports handwritten by James Dillon, King's County Coroner into a leather-bound notebook. Inquests begin at No. 589, 21 February 1846 and end at No. 1079, 12 December 1854. Format of inquest reports is largely identical beginning with a record of the inquest number, date, location of inquest and the name of the deceased. Then follows a list of the jurors present and witnesses called. The reports end with a verdict on the cause of death. Notable due to its date span which covers the famine era.
Good. Slight damage to endpages.
Donated by John Lynam
Other diaries in the series are held by Offaly County Library:
1836-1840 (GJ/1/3/1)
1854-1859 (GJ/1/3/2)
By appointment only. Please contact archivist@offalyhistory.com
Lisa Shortall, ‘Instances of death in infancy and childhood in the inquest casebooks of James
Dillon, King’s County Coroner, 1836-1859’, Offaly Heritage 10 (2018).