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In 1695, William, the 3rd Lord’s son, whose baptism is recorded above, came to the Peerage. He was Gentleman of the Bedchamber to Prince George of Denmark, with whom he was a great favourite. His first wife, Mary Egerton, daughter of John, Earl of Bridgewater, died of small-pox at the age of 27, eleven weeks after their marriage.
His second wife was the daughter of the Earl of Portland. Three sons were born of this marriage, but they all died before their father. We have the record of the burial of one son, George, and a daughter Frances.
July 8, George, ye sonne of ye Right Honble. William Lord Byron, 1720.
Sep. ye 24th, frances Byron, 1724.
(Transcript: The Hon. Frances Byron,
etc.)
Their mother died some years previously, as the following record shows: —
Buried 1712.
Ap. 7th, Francis, the wife of the Right Honble.
Wm. Ld. Byron.
His third wife was Frances, the daughter of Lord Berkley, of Stratton, and by her he became the progenitor of a strange group of adventurous and passionate spirits.
He died in 1736. His burial is recorded as follows:
1736, William Lord Byron, Baron of Rochdale,
August . . . . . (Transcript says “August 12th”).
The following entry of a burial in the register is of interest:—
1711.
July 31, William Bugram, Gardener to the
Right Honble. ye Lord Byron.
The registers of the Church record the burials of three members of the Byron family about this time.
1756, September 18, William Byron.
18, George Byron.
Buried 1768, June 24, Frances Elizabeth Byron.
William, the eldest son of the Fourth Lord, was only a boy of 14 when he succeeded to the Peerage. His early years were spent in the Navy. In 1765 he was sent to the Tower, and tried for killing Mr. Chaworth, his neighbour and relative, in a duel fought at the Star and Garter Tavern in Pall Mall. He was found guilty of manslaughter, but upon paying his fees, he was set at liberty. He returned to Newstead to pass the rest of his days in miserable seclusion, shunned by his fellows, high and low. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Charles Shaw, of Besthorpe, Norfolk, whom he treated with the utmost brutality. The baptism of a child is recorded in the Lynby registers as having taken place at Newstead.
Henrietta Diana, ye Daur. of the Right Honble. Wm. and Eliz. Byron, Baptized at Newstead. (August 30th, 1751).
His eldest son married his cousin, the daughter of Admiral John.
During the last years of his life he earned, by his eccentricities and evil ways, the title of “The Wicked Lord.” He died in 1798, and was buried in the Byron Vault on June 16. The entry of his burial is as follows: —
The brother of the 5th Lord, Admiral John, had an adventurous life. In 1768 he published the story of his adventurous and hair-breadth escapes at sea. “Foulweather Jack” was the name by which he was known to his contemporaries. The Poet made use of this narrative in “Don Juan.”
In 1748 Admiral John married Sophia, the daughter of Trevanyon, a Cornish Squire, and by her had two sons and three daughters.
The eldest surviving son, John, bom in 1751, was the father of the Poet. He had a good education at Westminster, and eventually entered the army. His life was one of a profligate and a spendthrift, and his conduct soon alienated him from his family. He went through a legal form of marriage with Lady Conyers, after her husband had divorced her. By her he had one child, Augusta, half-sister of the Poet. She married Colonel Leigh, and had a numerous family, most of whom died young.