Charles was born on 20 April 1810 in Ely Place (a street near St Stephen's Green) in Dublin.

They lay in north-eastern Connacht (counties Mayo and Roscommon) and in western Leinster (Westmeath).

However, he became involved in a claim under the Slave Compensation Act 1837 because he was one of a group of four people who were trying to recover a debt of £6,000 from Dominick Trant, owner of the Lower Windward Estate on the island of Montserrat in the British West Indies.

15" for £1,977 (worth £236,991 in 2025[11]) as a compensation for the loss he incurred by the emancipation of the 128 slaves of the estate,[12] this group submitted a successful counterclaim.

This group consisted of Lord Dillon, Philip Laycock Story, Henry Trant and James Flemming.

A large stained-glass window in the baptistery of the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Ballaghaderreen, County Roscommon commemorates Lord Dillon for his fairness as a landlord during the great famine.

[16] Another stained-glass window in a chapel on the south side of the cathedral commemorates his agent Charles Strickland.

[18] On 18 November 1865 Lord Dillon died aged 55 at Ditchley, the family's seat near Charlbury in Oxfordshire.