Byron Family Tree William Byron 4th Lord Byron Surprisingly little scandal William Byron 5th Lord Byron a k a The Wicked Lord Killed his cousin in an argument about grouse shooting Spent all his money so his son wouldn’t inherit it Murderer Vice-Admiral John Byron a k a Foul-Weather Jack Naval officer and adventurer Almost started a war by claiming possession of the Falkland Islands which the Spanish said belonged to them Oops You rascal William Byron MP Racked up gambling debts and expected his dad to pay them Ditched a rich bride to run off with his cousin Then died before his dad so the Byron title went to his cousin George Captain John Byron Gordon a k a Mad Jack Blew all his money on wild living Married two rich women and spent all their money Had to take a new surname Gordon in one marriage deal Left 22,000 debt 44 million today to his son George Just lend me a few thousand Dad Lovely cash Poetry is such agony George Gordon Byron 6th Lord Byron Violent temper Abused drugs and alcohol Debts forced him into marriage with a rich woman Unfaithful husband had girlfriends and boyfriends while he was married World-famous poet Ada Byron And I’m the only woman The men had wives and mothers but only they could be this awful because they were in charge
1 AdA’s Awful Ancestors Ada’s father George Gordon was the sixth Lord Byron let’s just call him Byron for short He came from a long line of drunkards addicts gamblers and murderers He carried on the family theme of wild danger ous living even though he didn’t have any money before he got married He liked to throw parties for his friends at the family home Newstead Abbey Abbey in Nottinghamshire Newstead had once been a monastery and it’s said Byron liked to drink his wine out of a cup made from an old skull found in the monks graveyard Ew Byron started writing poetry at the age of fourteen and in 1812 when he was twenty-four he published the first half of his epic poem Childe Pilgrimage it Harold’s sold out in just three days Byron became a superstar over night In those days he was about as cool as a YouTuber with fifty million followers As he said himself I awoke one morning and found myself famous I have a good head for drinks Me too mate 7
Just think what he could have done if he’d written the whole poem Childe Harold made a small fortune for its publisher but it didn’t help Byron’s debt problems Strangely he wouldn’t take any of the money for himself My father loved being difficult He believed only common people got paid and he didn’t want anyone to think he was common I used to think the same thing until I realized money is actually quite useful Byron’s money troubles finally changed when he met Anne Isabella Milbanke Horrendous Honeymoon Anne Isabella called herself Annabella She was the cousin of a future prime minister and stood to inherit 20,000 a few million dollars today from a very old uncle For Byron it was the money that sealed the deal In those days every penny a woman owned officially officially became her husband’s when they got married and then she had absolutely no control over it Byron might not want to earn money but he had no problem with marrying a rich woman and taking all her wealth It was a family tradition after all 8
Ka ching Oh my There was more to the match than just money however Byron and Annabella agreed about important things like social justice and helping people who were too poor to help themselves His first speech in the House of Lords had been about workers in the north of England losing their jobs because of new fangled machines taking their places Byron was on the workers side and so was Annabella The house of Lords Britain’s Parliament consists of the House of Commons and the House of Lords Members of the Commons are elected but to join the Lords you just needed to be a lord So Byron was automatically a member He did have to give a speech though and a member’s first speech was usually on a subject very close to their heart They got married on January 2 1815 had their first big argument on their honeymoon it was downhill from then on The unhappy couple moved to a fashionable part of London and ten months later 9
