The gay life of Lord Byron
Romantic poet, libertine, hell-raiser.
George Gordon Byron (1788–1824), sixth Baron Bryon, was a Romantic poet today best remembered for his long works Don Juan and Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, and one of history’s most famous libertines.
Byron was born in London (or maybe Dover) to an unconventional family, and inherited his title at only ten years old. He came from a long line of intemperate and notorious figures on both sides of his family. His father “Mad Jack” Bryon was known as a cruel and vicious husband, who ran up staggering debts; his paternal grandfather, “Foulweather Jack” Bryon, was the younger brother of the fifth baron, Bryon’s great-uncle, who in turn was commonly known as “the Wicked Lord.” His mother Catherine was an alcoholic and “a woman without judgment or self-command”; her father committed suicide in 1779.
That young Bryon was born to be trouble was clear from his ancestry, and he wasted little time confirming that he was going to live up to the family name. His schooling was inconsistent: his mother enrolled him first at Aberdeen Grammar School, then a private school in Dulwich, but often withdrew him for periods at a time, leaving his classical education incomplete. At thirteen, Bryon was sent to Harrow, a school he attended for four years, although with a notable absence from September 1803 to January 1804. The reason…
