George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, later George Gordon Noel, 6th Baron Byron, FRS (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), commonly known simply as Lord Byron, was an English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement. Among Byron's best-known works are the lengthy narrative poems Don Juan and Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and the short lyric She Walks in Beauty. Byron is regarded as one of the greatest British poets, and remains widely read and influential. He travelled all over Europe especially in Italy where he lived for seven years and then joined the Greek War of Independence fighting the Ottoman Empire, for which Greeks revere him as a national hero.He died one year later at age 36 from a fever contracted while in Missolonghi in Greece. Often described as the most flamboyant and notorious of the major Romantics, Byron was both celebrated and castigated in life for his aristocratic excesses, including huge debts, numerous love affairs with more than one gender, rumours of a scandalous liaison with his half-sister, and self-imposed exile.He also fathered the Countess Ada Lovelace, whose work on Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine is considered a founding document in the field of computer science, and Allegra Byron, who died in childhood - as well as, possibly, Elizabeth Medora Leigh out of wedlock.
Trinity College, Cambridge, Harrow School, Aberdeen Grammar School, University of Cambridge
Nationality
English
Spouse
Lady Byron
Children
Ada Lovelace, Allegra Byron, Elizabeth Medora Leigh
Parents
John Byron, Catherine Gordon
Siblings
Augusta Leigh
Partner
Claire Clairmont
Movies
Don Juan DeMarco, Gothic, Don Juan
Star Sign
Aquarius
#
Trademark
1
Romantic poetry.
#
Quote
1
Pleasure's a sin, and sometimes sin's a pleasure.
2
I am studying daily at an Armenian monastery, the Armenian language. I found that my mind wanted something craggy to break upon; and this-as the most difficult thing I could discover here (in Venice) for an amusement- I have chosen, to torture me into attention. It is a rich language, however, and would amply repay any one the trouble of learning it. I try, and shall go on;-but I answer for nothing, least of all for my intentions or my success.
3
Now I shall go to sleep. Good night. [These were his last words; he died within the day.]
4
Curiosity kills itself; and love is only curiosity, as is proved by its end.
5
Reason is so unreasonable, that few people can say they are in possession of it.
In December 1816 Byron went to The Mechitarist Convent of St. Lazarus in Venice to learn Armenian language. He created the first English-Armenian grammar book.
3
Upon his death, the Barony was passed to a cousin, George Anson Byron (1789 - 1868), a career military officer and Byron's polar opposite in temperment and lifestyle. The 13th Baron Byron of Rochdale, Robert James Byron (b. 5 April 1950), is an attorney and lives in London, England.
4
At her request, Byron's daughter Ada was buried next to him at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene (Hucknall, Nottingham.) Ada never met Byron; her mother left him when Ada was a month old. In 1833, she met Charles Babbage, Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge and inventor of the Difference Engine, a calculating machine. During a nine-month period in 1842-1843, she translated for him Italian mathematician Louis Menebrea's memoir on Babbage's newest proposed machine, the Analytical Engine. With the article, she appended a set of Notes which specified in complete detail a method for calculating Bernoulli numbers with the Engine, recognized by historians as the world's first computer program. On 10 December 1980, the U.S. Defense Department approved the reference manual for their new computer programming language, Ada.
5
A character in the BBCi animated webcast series "Ghosts of Albion."
6
Became the 6th Baron Byron of Rochdale upon the death of his great-uncle on 21 May 1798, and inherited Newstead Abbey, the family's ancestral home given to John Byron by Henry VIII in 1540. In 1818, Byron sold it to schoolboy friend Thomas Wildman for £94,500 to pay his debts. Newstead Abbey remained in private hands until its last owner, philanthropist Sir Julien Cahnit, presented it to Nottingham Corporation in 1931.
7
Christened after his maternal grandfather George Gordon, 12th Laird of Ghight, a descendant of James I. After his suicide in 1779, Byron's mother had to sell her land and title to pay his debts. Biographers believe the combination of the suicide, the forced sale of her legacy, and the loss of her fortune (thanks to Byron's father), were the factors behind Catherine's schizophrenic upbringing of her son.
8
His second child (b. 12 January 1817) was named Allegra by Byron and Alba by her mother, his lover Claire Clairmont. Byron agreed to support Allegra but refused to have anything more to do with Claire. On 9 March 1818, Claire had Allegra baptized Clara Allegra Byron. Allegra died of typhus on 20 April 1822 at a convent in Bagnacavallo, Italy, where Byron had sent her to live.
9
Augusta Ada Byron was born on 10 December 1815 to Byron and his wife Annabella. On 15 January 1816, Annabella left Byron, taking Augusta with her. On 21 April 1816 Byron signed the Deed of Separation and left England for good a few days later. He never saw either again.
10
When his mother-in-law died, her Will stipulated that her beneficiaries must take her family name, Noel, in order to inherit. Byron added it to his and became George Gordon Noel Byron in 1822.
11
Swam the Hellespont, the stretch of water linking the Aegean with the Black Sea (3 May 1810). He also swam the mouth of the Tagus River (Lisbon, Portugal), and from the Lido to the Rialto Bridges (Venice, Italy).
12
The doctors attending Byron on his deathbed attempted to cure him with leeches and castor oil. Lord Byron lapsed into a deep stupor. He eventually regained consciousness long enough to say "Now I shall go to sleep. Good night." He died within twenty-four hours.
13
Upon his death, Byron's heart was removed and buried in Missolonghi, Greece. His remains were sent to England and, refused burial in Westminster Abbey, placed in the vault of his ancestors near Newstead. In 1969, a memorial to Byron was placed on the floor of the Abbey.
14
Said to have had a 10 pound brain.
15
Addressed as The Right Honourable Lord Byron (by strangers) and as Byron (the title, not the name) by friends. No one ever called him George after he became Byron, not even his mother.
16
Made his first speech in the House of Lords. [February 1812]
Writer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Don Juan
2009
Short novel
The Sunday Programme
2003
TV Series poems - 1 episode
I due Foscari
2001
TV Movie as George Byron
In Motion
2000
TV Series short poem - 1 episode
Le corsaire
1999
TV Movie narrative poem "The Corsair" 1814
Don Juan DeMarco
1994
character Don Juan - in part
The Vampyr: A Soap Opera
1992
TV Movie story "The Vampyr"
I due Foscari
1988
TV Movie book
Gothic
1986
story
Manfred - versione per concerto in forma d'oratorio
1983
TV Special by - as Lord George Gordon Byron
Ficciones
1972
TV Series 1 episode
Romantici a Venezia
1948
Documentary short poem
I due Foscari
1942
play "The Two Foscaris"
Don Juan
1926
poem - uncredited
The Corsair
1914
Short poem
Mazeppa, or the Wild Horse of Tartary
1910
Short poem
Mazeppa
1908
Short poem
Soundtrack
Title
Year
Status
Character
Jane Eyre
2011
lyrics: "Farewell" 1874
Vanity Fair
2004
lyrics: "She Walks in Beauty" - as Lord George Gordon Byron
Quién mató a Bambi?
2013
lyrics: "She Walks in Beauty" - as George Gordon Byron
Miscellaneous
Title
Year
Status
Character
Venus Blue
1998
Short poetry excerpts
Dead Game
1996
Short epigraph - as Byron
Unmasked Part 25
1989
poetry
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
Duck Dollas in the 21st Century: The Return of Dr. Cranium
$17 Million
