LORD BYRON
January 22, 1788 - April 19, 1824

"But words are things, and a small drop of ink, 
Falling like dew upon a thought, produces 
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think." 

~ George Gordon Byron was born in London, England.

~ His father Captain John Byron was heavily in debt, and abandoned his mother Catherine while she was pregnant. 

~ George was born with a club-foot, which he later attributed to his mother's tight corsets. He became extremely ashamed of it. 

~ His early childhood years was spent in poor surroundings in Aberdeen, where he was educated until the age of ten.

~ In 1798 George succeeded to the title Baron Byron of Rochdale at the death of his great-uncle.

~ Money was now available to provide Lord Byron with an education at Harrow School and Trinty College, Cambridge. 

~ Lord Byron's first collection of poems Hours of Idleness appeared in 1807. The poems were savagely attacked by critics. Byron answered with the publication of his satire English Bards and Scotch Reviewers.

~ The following year he took his seat in the House of Lords, and set out on a grand tour of Spain, Malta, Albania, Greece and the Aegean. These sites inspired him.

~ Byron spent two years in Italy, where he began his satiric masterpiece, Don Juan.

~ Real poetic success came in 1812 when Byron published the first two cantos of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage.

~ He became an adored character of London society; he spoke in the House of Lords and had a love-affair with Lady Caroline Lamb.

~ In 1814 Byron's The Corsair sold 10,000 copies on the first day of publication.

~ In 1815 he married Anne Isabella Milbanke and had a daughter Ada. The marriage was unhappy, and they obtained a legal separation the following year.

~ After a long creative period, Byron yearned for action. When he heard of the revolt of the Greeks against the Turks, the idea of participating in a war on the battlegrounds of classical myth and legend thrilled him. He joined the Greek insurgents at Missolonghi.

~ He donated much of his money, despite the fact that he owed creditors, and the Greeks made him commander-in-chief. Before he saw any serious military action, however, Byron contracted a fever and died at the age of 36 (the same age his daughter Ada died) in Missolonghi. 

~ Memorial services were held all over the land for the world's most romantic poet. Byron's body was returned to England but refused by the deans of both Westminster and St Paul's. Finally his coffin was placed in the family vault at Hucknall Torkard, near Newstead Abbey in Nottinghamshire.