Early Years (Chapter 1) - Byron in Context (original) (raw)

George Gordon, the sixth Lord Byron (1788–1824), was the son of Captain John Byron (1756–91), known as “Mad Jack,” and his second wife, Catherine, née Gordon (1765–1811). Lord Byron, the poet, inherited his title from his great-uncle, known as “Wicked Lord Byron,” who killed one of his relatives in a duel in a poorly lit tavern, the Star and Garter in Pall Mall, on January 26, 1765. The victim was William Chaworth, father of Mary Chaworth, Byron’s distant cousin and early beloved. Notorious for his poor treatment of his wife and for allowing crickets to crawl over his body unmolested, the uncle denuded Newstead of trees and escaped a sentence of capital punishment for his crimes.