The Chancel of Hucknall Torkard Church, under the floor of which is the Byron Vault.
In the Chancel of the Church, and the lead coffin in the vault bears the inscription:—
"Here lyeth the body of Lady Elizabeth Byron, 1st wife of Lord Richard Byron, who died the 22nd of March, 1657."
The Tablet in the Sanctuary states that his second wife, whose name was also Elizabeth, was buried in the Vault. There is no entry of her burial in the register.
There were other members of the Byron family whose bodies were laid in the vault about this time.
Gilbard Byron was buried the 16th day of March, 1655.
History tells us that at one time he was Governor of Rhuddlan Castle for the King. He was taken prisoner at Willoughby.
1664.—Esqre. Byrion, the son of Wm. Byron, Esqre., was buried the 13th day of April.
1664.—Mr. Byrion, Londoner, was buried the 15th of August.
The entries at this time were transcribed by a very illiterate clerk!
Richard died in 1679. His estates had been sequestrated in 1649, the year marking the execution of Charles I., and the proscription of many prominent Royalists. The tablet in the Chancel of Hucknall Torkard Church records the fact that he and "the rest of his family, being seven brothers . . . . . suffered much for their loyalty, and lost all their present fortunes. His estates were restored to him when Charles II. became King. Upon his death he was buried in the family vault. The Entry of his burial in the Church register is as follows:—
1679.—Richard Byron was buried the sixth day of October.
His coffin bears the inscription:—
"Here lieth the body of the Lord Richard Byron, who died the 4th of October, 1679."
His eldest son, William, afterwards the 3rd Lord, married Elizabeth, the daughter of Viscount Chaworth, and so "wove the first link in a strange association of tragedy and romance." The marriage took place in Papplewick Church (1½ miles from Hucknall Torkard) on October 18, 1661.
Hucknall Torkard Church is indebted to Elizabeth for the gift of the beautiful silver gilt Ciborium and Paten, to which reference has already been made. The gift was made in 1664, before William, her husband, succeeded to the Peerage.
Elizabeth died in 1683, and her burial is recorded in the Church Register as follows:—
1683.—Elizabeth, wife of the Right Honble. William Lord Byron, was buried June the Twentieth.
Her husband died 12 years later (1695).
His burial took place on November 16, as appears from the following entry:—
"The Right Honorable Wm. Lord Byron was buried the 16 of November, 1695."
In the Church register of the neighbouring parish of Linby there is this note:—
"Lord Byron died November 13, about halfe an hour after nine of ye clock at night, and was laid in ye vault at Hucknall Torkard ye l6th day about 8 of ye clocke at night."
Before William Byron succeeded to the Peerage in 1679, he and his wife lived at Bulwell Wood Hall, Hucknall Torkard.
The register contains the entries of the Baptism of their children.
1665.—Richard, son of Wm. Byron. Esqre. was baptised the 17th of March.
1666.—John, the son of William Byron, of Bulwell Wood, Esqre., and Dame Elizabeth, his wife, was baptised July the Eighteenth.
1668.—Henrietta .Maria, the daughter of the Honble. William Byron, Esqre. and Elizabeth his wife, was baptised the Seventeenth day of March.
1668.—William, the son of William Byron and Dame Elizabeth his wife, was baptised February the Twenty-sixth.
1670.—Julia, the daughter of the Honble. William Byron, of Bulwell Wood, and Elizabeth his wife, was baptised May the Nineteenth day.
Of these children Richard died apparently shortly after birth. The register records that he was baptised nine days after he was buried!
1665.—Richard Byrion, the son of Mr. Will. Byrion, was buried the 8th of March.
Henrietta Maria died at the age of 4 years.
1671.—Henrietta Maria, the daughter of the Honble. William Byron, Esqre., and dame Elizabeth his wife, was buried August the tenth day.
Another daughter, Anne, of whose baptism there is no entry, died in 1675.
The Entry of the Burial of Anne Byron. 1675.
1675.—Anne, the daughter of the Right Honble. William Byron, Esqre.. and Dame Elizabeth his wife, was buried April the fifth day.
The baptism and death of one child, Ernest, are recorded together:—
167l.—Ernest, the son of the Right Honble. William Byron and Dame Elizabeth his wife, was baptised March the fifth day, and buried March the ninth day.
William, the 3rd Lord's son, whose baptism is recorded above, came to the peerage in 1695. He was gentleman of the Bedchamber to Prince George of Denmark. His first wife, a daughter of the Earl of Bridgewater, died eleven weeks after their marriage, at the age of 27. On her coffin is inscribed the following:—
"The body of the Right Honorable the Lady Mary Egerton, the eldest daughter of John, Earl of Bridgewater, and the wife of the Right Honorable William Lord Byron, who died the 10th of April, 1703, in the 27th year of her age."
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.
1720.—July 8. George, ye sonne of ye Right Honble, William Lord Byron.
1724.—Sep. ye 24th., Frances Byron.
The entry of the Burial of Francis Byron. 1712 A.D.
Their mother died some years previously, as the following record shows:—
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, was buried August (the day of the month is obliterated).
The following entry of a burial in the register is of interest:—
1711.—July 31. William Buyram, gardener to ye 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. 1758—June 24—Frances Elizabeth Byron.
The Entry of the Burial of William Byron - " The Wicked Lord." 1798 A.D.
His eldest son William was only a boy of 14 when he succeeded to the Peerage. He entered the Naval Service, and subsequently became Master of the Svaghounds. In 1765 he was sent to the Tower, and tried for killing Mr. Chaworth, his neighbour and relation, 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. 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 Hucknall Torkard vault on June 16. The entry of his burial is as follows:—
"June 16. William, Lord Byron, age 75."
The inscription on his coffin is:—
"William Lord Byron, obit. May, 21, 1798, aged 75."