Thomas Arthur Lally, count, baron of Tul-lendally or Tollendal, in Ireland, a French soldier, born in Romans, Pauphiny, in January, 1702, beheaded in Paris, May 9, 1766. He was the son of Sir Gerard Lally, an Irish loyalist, who accompanied James II. in his exile to France. He was educated to the profession of arms, and when scarcely 12 years old performed his first military service at the siege of Barcelona. For his gallantry at the sieges of Kehl in 1733 and Philippsburg in 1734, where he saved his father's life, he was promoted to the rank of major. In 1737 he visited England, Ireland, and Scotland, with a view to promote the interests of the pretender; and in 1738 he was sent on a secret mission to St. Petersburg. In 1745 he distinguished himself at the battle of Fontenoy, where he led the Irish brigade whose gallantry secured victory to the French. Louis XV. made him brigadier general on the field. The same year, at the head of a body of volunteers, he landed in Scotland, joined the young pretender Charles Edward, and served as his aide-de-camp at the battle of Falkirk. In 1755, being consulted by the French ministry upon the best mode of impairing the power of England, he strongly urged an attack upon her East Indian possessions.

He was offered the command of an expedition to carry out his plan, received the appointment of governor general of the French establishments in the East, and sailed for his destination, May 2, 1757. But the means which had been placed at his disposal were wholly inadequate. He landed at Pondicherry, April 28, 1758, and found that the agents of the French East India company were secretly against him. Nevertheless, the Coromandel coast was conquered in a few weeks. He overcame all the obstacles thrown in his way, laid siege to Madras in the month of December, carried the Black Town, and had some prospect of success; but being unsupported by D'Ache, the commander of the French fleet, and having no money to pay his mutinous soldiers, he was finally obliged to retire on the arrival of an English fleet. Soon after he found himself besieged in Pondicherry by an enemy ten times his superior in numbers. He held out for'ten months; but deserted by his fleet, betrayed by the agents of the French company, having exhausted his resources, and the garrison being reduced to 700 men, he was finally compelled to surrender at discretion, Jan. 14, 1761, to Gen. Coote, who had 22,000 troops under his command and was supported by 14 ships.

He was carried as a prisoner to London; but having heard that he was charged by his personal enemies with various crimes, he obtained his release on parole, went to Paris, and voluntarily entered the Bastile, in order to hasten his trial, but was left there for 19 months without examination. Finally he was accused as a traitor and a defaulter by the men who had been the cause of his ruin, and a mock trial took place; witnesses of the worst character, some of whom were his own servants, were admitted to testify against him; he was refused counsel, and was not even allowed to present his defence; and at last, after a protracted secret deliberation, he was sentenced to death and executed. Several years afterward the whole of these proceedings were revised, and the sentence was finally reversed in 1778.