Catherine Byron Letters
Correspondence from the John Murray
Archive
1785
22 January 1785
Catherine Gordon marries Captain John Byron at St Michael's Church, Bath.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
1788
13 November 1786
Noble Street, London
Catherine Byron to Mrs Urquhart
Mrs Byron tells Mrs
Urquhart of her plans to sell her estate of Gight in exchange for a settlement of
£10,000 which could be kept out of the hands of her husband.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
1787
1787
Mrs Byron sells her estate at Gight
to the third earl of Aberdeen for £17,880. Almost all of the
proceeds go to pay Captain John Byron's debts, with £3000
reserved for Mrs Byron.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
September 1787
Mrs Byron travels to join her husband
in Chantilly, France, where she looks after her stepdaughter Augusta
Byron.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
Late 1787
Mrs Byron, leaving her husband
behind, takes a furnished room at 16 Holles Street, London, to prepare for her lying-in.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
1788
22 January 1788
George Gordon Byron is born at 16 Holles
Street, Cavendish Square, London.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
Early 1788
Mrs Byron is introduced to the
solicitor John Hanson by their mutual friend James Farquhar of Aberdeen.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
☞ LETTER
26 January 1788
Edinburgh
Jack Byron to James Watson
Jack Byron writes to James Watson?, Catherine
Byron's Edinburgh solicitor, complaining that John Leslie, one of the commissioners
of the Gight estate, has not been forthcoming with funds.
Source: John Murray Archive
19 February 1788
Edinburgh, Scotland
James Watson to Catherine Gordon
James Watson writes to Catherine Byron warning her against further expenditure and asking
for a list of her husband's debts.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
☞ LETTER
22 February 1788
Noble Street, London
Catherine Byron to James Watson
Mrs Byron tells James Watson, her Edinburgh solicitor, that she has taken a house
in London where she believes she can live as cheaply as at Bath. He can obtain a list of debts from
Thomas Beckett, attorney, of Berwick Street, Soho.
Source: John Murray Archive
26 February 1788
[London, England]
John Byron to James Watson
Captain John Byron writes to his
wife's Edinburgh solicitor reporting that she has no money to get on with.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
21 March 1788
[London, England]
John Byron to Frances Leigh
Captain John Byron tells his sister
of the death of their sibling, Juliana, Lady Wilmot, and
reports that he is thinking of returning to France.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
7 April 1788
London
Catherine Byron to James Watson
Mrs Byron congratulates James Watson on his marriage, inquires whether she has funds
available, and refuses to assist husband's creditors.
1789
Summer 1789
The summer of the storming of the Bastille, Mrs
Byron and her son George leave London for
Aberdeen, where they live for £150 a year.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
August 1789
Captain John Byron is reported to be
living in Sandgate, Kent.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
1790
September 1790
Captain John Byron joins his sister
Frances Leigh in Valenciennes, France.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
November 1790
Sophia Byron, the poet's grandmother,
dies and is buried at Bath.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
November 1790
Frances Leigh has left France for
London, from where she corresponds with her brother Captain John
Byron.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
1791
19 January 1791
[Valenciennes, France]
Jack Byron to Frances Leigh
Captain John Byron writes to his
sister Frances Leigh asking for money; "For my son, I am happy to hear he is well; but for his walking 'tis
impossible, for he is club-footed."
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
21 January 1791
[Aberdeen]
Catherine Byron to Frances Leigh
Mrs Byron writes her first letter to
her sister-in-law, Frances Leigh, asking for financial
assistance: she and her son "have not at present a farthing nor know where to get one."
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
[March?] 1791
[Aberdeen]
Catherine Byron to Frances Leigh
Mrs Byron writes to her sister-in-law
requesting that she deliver a letter to the surgeon John
Hunter regarding her son's deformity.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
☞ LETTER
15 May 1791
[Aberdeen?]
Catherine Byron to James Hanson
Mrs Byron requests some receipts from
her solicitor which might prove embarrassing if they "were to fall into the other hands."
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
31 May 1791
[London?]
Catherine Byron to Frances Leigh
Mrs Byron requests that her
sister-in-law have a shoe made in Anderson Lane for her son and inquires after her nephew William Byron, the then heir of the fifth
lord Byron.
Source: John Murray Archive
21 July 1791
Captain John Byron makes his will,
naming his sister Frances Leigh his executrix and heir,
leaving nothing but debts to his wife and son.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
2 August 1791
Captain John Byron dies, possibly of
tuberculosis, possibly by suicide, in Valenciennes, France.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
1791
Mrs Byron moves with her son to 64
Broad Street, Aberdeen.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
August 1791
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
☞ LETTER
23 August 1791
Aberdeen
Catherine Byron to Frances Leigh
Mrs Byron is distraught at the loss
of her husband; "as to money matters they are perfectly
indifferent to me I only wish there may be enough to pay his debts."
Source: John Murray Archive
1792
29 November 1792
[Aberdeen]
Catherine Byron to Frances Leigh
Mrs Byron writes to her sister-in-law, declining an invitation to visit her in France: "I
am quite a Democrat and I do not think the King after his treachery and perjury, deserves to be
restored."
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
1794
1794
Young George Byron is entered at Aberdeen
Grammar School where he reads widely in the four years he attends.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
11 July 1794
The Duke of Portland becomes home
secretary, a position he will occupy until 1801.
31 July 1794
William Byron, grandson of the
fifth Lord Byron, dies at the seige of Calvi in Corsica.
George Byron becomes heir to the title.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
23 November 1794
Catherine Byron to Frances Leigh
Mrs Byron writes to Frances Leigh complaining that she has written three letters
without an answer from Mrs Leigh—whose nephew "is a fine Boy and very well and walks and runs as
well as any other child."
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
8 December 1794
Catherine Byron to Frances Leigh
Mrs Byron writes to her sister-in-law
inquiring whether the fifth lord Byron will lend her any
support: "Do you think he will do anything for George, or be at
any expense to give him a proper education, or, if he wish to do it, is his present fortune such a
one that he could spare anything out of it?"
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
1798
19 May 1798
The fifth Lord Byron dies at the age of
75, to be succeeded by his great-nephew. Mrs Byron is
presented with the bill for the funeral.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
August 1798
Lord Byron and his mother leave Aberdeen
for Newstead Abbey, where they spend several months. Mrs
Byron received £74 for the sale of her furniture in Aberdeen. The Newstead estate,
valued at £90,000, was producing between £1200 and £1500 annually.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
August 1798
Lord Byron is made a ward in Chancery
with his mother, Lord Carlisle and John Hanson (possibly) appointed as his guardians.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
30 August 1798
[Newstead Abbey]
John Hanson to James Farquhar
John Hanson writes to an Aberdonian
friend, "I have seen Mrs Gordon [Byron] and I find she has a
great wish to live at Newstead—I doubt very much the prudence of it at least at first."
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
4 September 1798
John Hanson departs from Newstead
Abbey, where he had been assessing the property in August, to return to London.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
November 1798
Owen Mealey is hired as the steward
at Newstead Abbey.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
8 November 1798
Newstead Abbey
Lord Byron to Hon. Frances Byron
Lord Byron's, in his earliest extant
letter, offers Newstead potatoes to his great aunt and a
rabbit to Frances Parkyns, then fifteen years old.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
1799
1799
Mrs Byron and her son live with the
Parkyns family at Nottingham, befriending the cousins Elizabeth and Frances. She consults the
Nottingham truss-maker Lavender about Lord Byron's deformed foot; he charges her outrageous bills.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
1799
At some time during this year Mrs
Byron takes lodgings at a Mr Gill's, No. 76 St James's Street,
London.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
13 March 1799
Nottingham
Lord Byron to Catherine Byron
Lord Byron, then living in Nottingham,
tells his mother that he and Mrs Frances Parkyns are
grateful for a present and comments on plans for his education.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
15 April 1799
[Newstead Abbey]
Catherine Byron to Mary Duff
Mrs Byron tells a childhood friend that her son's limp is hardly noticeable and
mentions that she and the Earl of Carlisle may go to court over
the Rochedale property.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
9 July 1799
[Newstead Abbey]
Catherine Byron to Earl of Carlisle
Mrs Byron thanks the earl for acting as guardian for her son, says that he can communicate
with her through John Hanson (who likely drafted this
letter) and raises the possibility that she could be granted a pension.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
July 1799
John Hanson takes Lord Byron on a visit to London to meet Lord
Carlisle; he stays with the Hansons at Earl's Court, Kensington.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
Summer 1799
John Hanson visits Newstead to
collect rents.
Source: J. V. Beckett,
Sheila Aley, Byron and Newstead Abbey (2001)
☞ LETTER
17 July 1799
[Nottinghamshire]
Catherine Byron to the Duke of Portland
A draft by John Hanson of the letter
Mrs Byron was to send appealing for a pension for her
son; her fortune has been reduced to £4,200 and she is attempting to live an income of £150 per
annum.
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
23 July 1799
Newstead, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron has written to her son who
is staying with John Hanson and his family and reports that
her taxes on the estate have not been paid.
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
28 July 1799
the Duke of Portland to Catherine Byron
The Duke of Portland makes a swift and
promising response to Mrs Byron's request for a
pension.
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
27 August 1799
[Newstead, Nottinghamshire]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron asks John Hanson to send copies of letters she can send to the
Duke of Portland and the Earl of
Carlisle expressing her gratitude for their assistance in obtaining the
pension.
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
28 August 1799
Bulstrode, Buckinghamshire
the Duke of Portland to Catherine Byron
The Duke of Portland writes to announce
that Mrs Byron has been granted a pension of £300 per annum
from the civil list.
Source: John Murray Archive
September 1799
Lord Byron begins school at William Glennie's academy in Dulwich, South London.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
1 September 1799
[London]
John Hanson to Catherine Byron
John Hanson reports on leaving
Lord Byron at Dr
Glennie's school where he has learned that Byron's nurse,
Mary Gray, had been treating him abusively.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
[November 1799]
[Dulwich]
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron invites John Hanson to visit him at Dulwich over the holidays and
instructs him to dismiss his nurse, Mary Gray.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
27 November 1799
[Newstead Abbey]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron invites John Hanson and his wife to visit her at Newstead Abbey; they came
and stayed until the first week of January.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
December 1799
Lord Byron spends the Christmas holidays
with John Hanson and his family at Earl's Court,
Kensington.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
1800
1800
Mrs Byron takes lodgings in Sloane
Terrace, London, to be near her son while he is at school. She has a romantic affair with a
Monsieur St Louis, a dancing-master.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
Early 1800
John Hanson takes Mrs Byron to meet Lord Byron's guardian, the
Earl of Carlisle and she stays for a few days with the
Hansons at Earl's Court, Kensington.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
Summer 1800
Source: J. V. Beckett,
Sheila Aley, Byron and Newstead Abbey (2001)
Summer 1800
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
1801
March 1801
Newstead Abbey is let to a Mr Clay who stays for one
year.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
April 1801
John Hanson takes Lord Byron to Harrow School to meet the headmaster Joseph Drury; Byron begins his studies at
Harrow where his tutor is Henry Drury.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
April 1801
Lord Byron's friend Hargreaves Hanson becomes a student at Harrow School.
April 1801
Mrs Byron's civil list pension is
reduced from £300 to £200 per annum when Lord Byron goes to
Harrow.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
May 1801
John Hanson visits Newstead Abbey to
collect rents.
Source: J. V. Beckett,
Sheila Aley, Byron and Newstead Abbey (2001)
☞ LETTER
4 May 1801
[London]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron, who has been living in
London to settle her affairs, requests a meeting to settle accounts; she would like thirty pounds
immediately.
Source: John Murray Archive
6 May 1801
Mrs Byron gives up lodgings in Sloane
Terrace, London; she moves briefly to George Street, Portmans Square, and then to Mrs Massingberd's at 16 Piccadilly, London.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
August-September 1801
Lord Byron and his mother spend the later
part of the summer at Cheltenham in Gloucestershire. Mrs
Byron visits a fortune-teller and learns that some great misfortune would happen to
her son in his twenty-seventh year.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
21 September 1801
Mrs Byron arrives in Brighton, were
she stays at 16 Prospect Row until the end of October.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
☞ LETTER
21 September 1801
Brighton, Sussex
Catherine Byron to John Laurie
Mrs Byron complains that the medical
instrument maker Laurie has been over-charging her "at the
rate of a hundred and fifty pounds a year, and three guineas a visit to Harrow."
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
3 October 1801
Brighton, Sussex
Catherine Byron to John Laurie
Mrs Byron has not decided whether to
continue with John Laurie's services to Lord Byron, "although I allow that he has received benefit."
Source: John Murray Archive
18 October 1801
[Brighton, Sussex]
Catherine Byron to Augusta Byron
Mrs Byron writes to her
step-daughter to express condolences for the death of Countess of
Holderness (who had separated Augusta from
the Byrons) and to offer her services.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
☞ LETTER
25 October 1801
Brighton, Sussex
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron complains that John Hanson has not been answering her letters. Does he know what
Lady Holderness has left to her granddaughter Augusta Byron?
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
9 November 1801
[Brighton, Sussex?]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Since John Hanson has yet to supply
the accounts [of Lord Byron's education to be submitted to the
Chancery court?] he may leave them in Parliament Street for Mrs
Byron to inspect later.
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
5 November 1801
No 5, Parliament Street, London
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron has come up to London to
settle accounts with the Master [of the Rolls, Sir William
Grant?]
Source: John Murray Archive
13 November 1801
Mrs Byron's grandmother, Margaret Duff-Gordon (known by the courtesy title Lady Gight),
dies, leaving her £1200 and so raising her annual income to £190.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
7 December 1801
[London]
John Laurie to Catherine Byron
John Laurie, who has visited
Lord Byron at Harrow, gives a bad report of the state of
Byron's foot.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
December 1801
Lord Byron spends the Christmas holidays
his mother in Half Moon Street, Westminster, returning to
Harrow in February.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
1802
25 February 1802
Grogmadoc Hill, Cambridgeshire
Augusta Byron to Catherine Byron
Augusta Byron writes to her
step-mother defending the character of Frances Leigh (her
future mother-in-law), with whom she had been staying; she has "discovered none of those failings
which you seem to suppose in her."
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
February? 1802
Mrs Byron takes rooms at No. 23
George Street, Portman Square; she would depart for Cheltenham in July.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
April 1801
Lord Byron spends the Easter holidays
with his mother at George Street, Portman Square,
London.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
July 1802
Lord Byron begins the summer holidays
with his mother at Mrs Massingberd's in London.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
July-September 1802
Lord Byron continues the summer holidays
with his mother at the resort town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
☞ LETTER
5 September 1802
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Can Lord Byron spend the night with the
Hansons as he returns to Harrow from Cheltenham?
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
5 September 1802
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
John Hanson to Catherine Byron
Lord Byron will be welcome; after all,
"on one or two occasions he spent the whole of his Harrow vacations in Chancery Lane."
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
20 September 1802
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron requests that John Hanson report on Lord
Byron's arrival in town; "I don't know how I shall pay Dr Drury but by giving him a draft on you." Mr Clay is to
leave Newstead this month.
Source: John Murray Archive
Autumn 1802
John Hanson makes an extended visit
to Newstead to do estate planning.
Source: J. V. Beckett,
Sheila Aley, Byron and Newstead Abbey (2001)
2 October 1802
[London]
John Laurie to Catherine Byron
John Laurie complains that Lord Byron has spent several days in London without visiting him to
have his foot examined.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
28 October 1802
The Bath Chronicle reports the arrival of Mrs
Byron from Cheltenham; she stays at No. 16 Henrietta Street.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
28 October 1802
[London]
John Hanson to Owen Mealey
John Hanson writes to the Newstead
steward that the house has been let to Frances and Ursula Launder of Basford, Nottinghamshire. The lessees believe
that they will have the house for the duration of Lord Byron's
minority.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
☞ LETTER
17 November 1802
No. 16 Henrietta Street, Bath
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron will draw on John Hanson for £125 payable in January. She desires to be paid
quarterly since her Scottish income is paid annually and she receives the civil list pension
irregularly.
Source: John Murray Archive
26 November 1802
Lord Byron arrives at Bath where he will
spend the Christmas holidays with his mother at No. 16 Henrietta Street.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
1803
January 1803
John Hanson concludes that the
Rochedale estates had been sold illegally by the fifth Lord
Byron and begins issuing ejectments to those mining the property. The case would go
to court in 1806.
Source: J. V. Beckett,
Sheila Aley, Byron and Newstead Abbey (2001)
12 January 1803
[Newstead Abbey]
John Hanson to Frances Launder
John Hanson writes to Frances and Ursula Launder,
friends of Lord Grantley, concerning the terms of their lease,
which he regards as merely temporary until they can find another residence.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
12 January 1803
[No. 16 Henrietta Street, Bath]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron would like Owen Mealey to send a birthday-basket of game from Newstead to
Lord Byron at Harrow.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
☞ LETTER
16 January 1803
No. 16 Henrietta Street, Bath
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron will stay with the Hansons on
his return to Harrow; Mrs Byron reports that Mrs Chaworth's
right to Annesley Park, adjacent to Newstead, is being challenged by Lord
Meath and speculates that the Byrons might have a better claim.
Source: John Murray Archive
19 January 1803
[No. 10 Henrietta Street, Bath]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
☞ LETTER
29 January 1803
[London?]
John Hanson to Catherine Byron
Lord Byron is refusing to return to
Harrow, and after what has been said, John Hanson believes
it might be best to find him a tutor instead.
Source: John Murray Archive
February 1803
Lord Byron belatedly returns to Harrow
following the Christmas holiday.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
☞ LETTER
2 February 1803
No. 10 Henrietta Street, Bath
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron is "very anxious to have
the business [about Harrow] settled"; Lord Byron's interest in
the Chaworth case should be attended to.
Source: John Murray Archive
4 February 1803
[Harrow School]
Joseph Drury to John Hanson
Joseph Drury, the headmaster of
Harrow, writes to John Hanson reporting that Lord Byron's tutor, Henry
Drury, has complained of Byron's misbehavior and inattention to his
studies.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
14 February 1803
[No. 16 Henrietta Street, Bath]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron will visit with the Hansons
on his way to Harrow, where he is to stay at the house of a Mr
Evans.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
March 1803
Lord Grey de Ruthyn begins his
five-year lease of Newstead Abbey; the Miss Launders, Frances and Ursula,
expecting the lease to continue through Lord Byron's minority, are disinclined
to leave.
Source: J. V. Beckett,
Sheila Aley, Byron and Newstead Abbey (2001)
☞ LETTER
10 March 1803
No. 10 Henrietta Street, Bath
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron is concerned about a
possible outbreak of the Paris fever at Harrow; she cannot find a title in the peerage for
Lord Grey de Ruthyn's who will be leasing Newstead Abbey
for five years.
Source: John Murray Archive
[Late March 1803]
Owen Mealey to John Hanson
Owen Mealey informs John Hanson that Mrs Byron has instructed him to find a house for
her in the vicinity of Newstead Abbey.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
22 March 1803
Lord Grey de Ruthyn to John Hanson
Lord Grey de Ruthyn tells John
Hanson that he "shall be a perfect Cain" in insisting that Frances and Ursula Launder
depart from Newstead Abbey by the beginning of his lease.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
23 March 1803
Lord Grey de Ruthyn to John Hanson
Frances and Ursula
Launder are insisting that they will remain in Newstead Abbey until a new house can
be found for them. They would remain until August.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
April 1803
John Hanson visits Newstead
Abbey.
Source: J. V. Beckett,
Sheila Aley, Byron and Newstead Abbey (2001)
April or May 1803
Mrs Byron takes lodgings at Park
Row, Nottingham.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
8 April 1803
[Not specified]
Lord Grey de Ruthyn to John Hanson
Lord Byron is invited to visit at
Newstead Abbey where Lord Grey de Ruthyn plans to take up
residence over the summer.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
1 May 1803
Harrow
Lord Byron to Catherine Byron
Lord Byron writes to his mother to
complain that his tutor Henry Drury, "has behaved himself to
me in a manner I neither can nor will bear."
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
☞ LETTER
6 May 1803
Park Row, Nottingham
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron has been feuding with his
Harrow tutor Henry Drury and Mrs
Byron is afraid that he will run away; she has no proper place to receive him in
Nottingham.
Source: John Murray Archive
May 1803
Mrs Byron leases Burgage Manor, near
Newstead Abbey, at thirty-five guineas per annum.
Source: J. V. Beckett,
Sheila Aley, Byron and Newstead Abbey (2001)
26 May 1803
[Newstead Abbey]
Frances Launder to John Hanson
Miss Launder writes to complain that
the Newstead steward, Owen Mealey, has threatened to kick
her servant and has been behaving badly.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
☞ LETTER
30 May 1803
Nottingham
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron has taken a house at
Southwell called Burgage Manor and will draw against her quarterly allowance due on 5
July.
Source: John Murray Archive
9 June 1803
Newstead Abbey
Owen Mealey to John Hanson
The Newstead steward comments on Mrs
Byron's support for the Whigs: "I am sorry to inform you that Mrs
Byron is the whole talk of the Quallity of Nottingham an about it, for taking up
Burchs party which they say there was not another Lady
in the County did but herself."
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
19 June 1803
Newstead Abbey
Frances Launder to John Hanson
Miss Launder calls upon John Hanson to intervene with Lord Grey
de Ruthyn in the quarrel about the Newstead lease and remarks on Mrs Byron's unpopular support for the Whig party in
Nottinghamshire.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
23-30 June 1803
Harrow
Lord Byron to Catherine Byron
Lord Byron writes to his mother to thank
her for sending money and reports that he is getting along well with Dr. Drury, the headmaster.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
Late June 1803
During the week of 26 June Mrs Byron
stays overnight at Newstead Abbey where Frances and
Ursula Launder are still in residence, refusing to leave
until a new house is ready for them.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
☞ LETTER
1 July 1803
Park Row Nottingham
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron asks John Hanson to intervene with the trussmaker Lavender about Lord Byron's shoes
and instrument; Lord Grey de Ruthyn is quarrelling with the
tenants at Newstead.
Source: John Murray Archive
5 July 1803
Newstead Abbey
Owen Mealey to John Hanson
Owen Mealey, the Newstead steward,
remarks that the current tenants, Frances and Ursula Launder, are mocking Mrs
Byron: "the Miss Launders and their visitors still more makes
game of her."
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
☞ LETTER
6 July 1803
Nottingham
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron has drawn on John Hanson for £125 due to her at Michaelmas.
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
17 July 1803
Nottingham
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron has no objection to
Lord Byron accompanying John
Hanson in the stage on his journey to Newstead, where the previous tenants, the
Miss Launders, are still refusing to vacate the premises.
Hanson can take a house at Newstead.
Source: John Murray Archive
26 July 1803
Lord Byron leaves Harrow for the summer
vacation, staying with his mother at Burgage Manor in Southwell, Nottinghamshire.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
31 July 1803
[Burgage Manor]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
A message from her son: will John
Hanson "send down by coach as soon as possible, his cricket bat and stumps which he
left in Chancery Lane."
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
31 July 1803
[Nottinghamshire]
Lord Grey de Ruthyn to John Hanson
Lord Grey de Ruthyn has settled matters
amicably with Frances and Ursula
Launder; they have warned him about the misconduct of Owen Mealey.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
2 August 1803
[Nottinghamshire]
Frances Launder to John Hanson
Miss Launder writes to say that she
and her sister have moved out of Newstead Abbey.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
2 August 1803
Lord Byron stays with the Newstead
steward Owen Mealey at the gatehouse.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
5 August 1803
[Newstead Abbey]
Owen Mealey to John Hanson
Owen Mealey writes to complain that
"Lord Byron is at Newstead and talks of stopping a month
here."
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
6 August 1803
[Burgage Manor, Nottinghamshire]
Catherine Byron to Frances Launder
Mrs Byron writes a stern letter to
the former tenants of Newstead Abbey, reminding them that they had overstayed their
lease.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
8 August 1803
[Newstead Abbey]
Lord Grey de Ruthyn to John Hanson
Lord Byron is very welcome to visit at
Newstead Abbey but Lord Grey de Ruthyn does not yet have the
facilities to accommodate him there.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
September 1803
Lord Byron, infatuated with Mary Chaworth of Annesley Hall, again refuses to return to
Harrow.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
[15? September 1803]
[Newstead]
Lord Byron to Catherine Byron
Lord Byron writes to his mother from
Newstead Abbey where he is visiting Lord Grey de Ruthyn; he
insists that he must stay another day before returning to her and going back to Harrow.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
[10 October 1803]
[Newstead Abbey]
Owen Mealey to John Hanson
The steward at Newstead Abbey informs John
Hanson that Mrs Byron has removed the family
portraits from Newstead Abbey to Burgage Manor. Lord Byron has
been at Newstead since August and "has been a very great Hindrance to me since he has been
here."
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
30 October 1803
[Burgage Manor, Southwell]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron, upon Lord Byron's refusal to return to Harrow, wants to make different
living arrangements for the "next Holydays." "I cannot get him to return to school, though I have
done all in my power for six weeks past."
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
November 1803
From November to January Lord Byron
lives at Newstead Abbey as the guest of his tenant, Lord Grey de
Ruthyn.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
☞ LETTER
7 November 1803
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron has reluctantly agreed to
let Lord Byron remain in Nottinghamshire through the Christmas
holidays.
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
17 November 1803
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
What is the status of the Rochedale suit, and of the £1000 the Duke of Portland owes Lord Byron?
Newstead Abbey is going to ruin and restrictions need to be placed on the tenants.
Source: John Murray Archive
29 December 1803
[Newstead Abbey]
Owen Mealey to John Hanson
Owen Mealey at Newstead complains
that nothing is getting done: "most of all me time has been taken up waiting of Lord Byron since the 1st of August."
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
1804
January 1804
Lord Byron has a falling-out with
Lord Grey de Ruthyn who had made sexual advances to
him.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
☞ LETTER
19 January 1804
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron will stay with the John Hanson on his way to Harrow; Mrs
Byron has drawn against her December and March allowances.
Source: John Murray Archive
Late January 1804
Lord Byron returns to Harrow.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
☞ LETTER
12 March 1804
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron replies to a query
concerning family documents and gives Lord Byron permission to
spend time with the Hansons during the Easter holiday.
Source: John Murray Archive
Late March 1804
Lord Byron travels to spend the Easter
holiday at Burgage Manor with his mother.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
26 March 1804
[Newstead Abbey]
Owen Mealey to John Hanson
The steward writes that Grey de Ruthyn
"is very thick with Mrs
Byron and Lord Byron is displaised at
it."
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
April 1804
John Hanson visits Newstead Abbey to
collect rents.
Source: J. V. Beckett,
Sheila Aley, Byron and Newstead Abbey (2001)
April 1804
Lord Byron returns to Harrow following
the Easter holiday.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
16 April 1804
[Newstead Abbey?]
Lord Grey de Ruthyn to John Hanson
"I have learnt that Lord Byron is in
Town. When you see him I beg you to say whenever he chuses to call I beg he will, sans
ceremonie."
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
[1-10 May 1804?]
[Harrow School]
Lord Byron to Catherine Byron
Lord Byron complains that he is being
stigmatized at Harrow where he is called a blackguard.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
☞ LETTER
12 May 1804
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron encloses Lord Byron's recent letter; he is a turbulent, unruly boy; "what is to
be done with him where he leaves Harrow God only knows."
Source: John Murray Archive
2 July 1804
[Burgage Manor, Southwell]
Catherine Byron to Margaret Keith Abercromby
A report to a Scottish correspondent
on Lord Byron at Harrow; he "passes his time I am informed very
differently from most young people, he writes a good deal of poetry."
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
[17 July 1804]
[Harrow School]
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron writes to John Hanson requesting that he reserve a place in the Edinburgh
Mail for his trip to Nottinghamshire.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
☞ LETTER
20 July 1804
[No 16 Piccadilly, London]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Writing from Mrs Massingberd's,
Mrs Byron tells John
Hanson that Lord Byron will not return to
Southwell in the mail coach but return with his mother who is now in London.
Source: John Murray Archive
July 1804
Hargreaves Hanson leaves Harrow to
work for his father.
28 July 1804
Lord Byron leaves Harrow to spend his
summer holiday at Burgage Manor in Southwell.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
☞ LETTER
13 August 1804
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron has drawn her quarterly
allowance; "never was a Boy more improved in every respect; he is now truly amiable."
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
26 August 1804
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron expresses concern for
John Pailethorpe, a Newstead tenant who suffered bankruptcies in 1804 and
1811. Lord Byron will write soon.
Source: John Murray Archive
30 August 1804
Burgage Manor
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron writes to John Hanson accepting his invitation to visit on his return to
Harrow.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
September 1804
Lord Byron returns to Harrow after the
Summer holiday.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
☞ LETTER
10 October 1804
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron has heard from Mrs Frances Byron that the Rochedale suit has been won; she does
not believe it.
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
1 October 1804
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron will draw the remainder of
her quarterly allowance; she has purchased furniture for Burgage Manor.
Source: John Murray Archive
1 December 1804
[Southwell]
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron writes requesting that he be
permitted to spend the holidays in London with the Hanson family.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
☞ LETTER
2 December 1804
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron writes to John Hanson concerning her Scottish investments, which have been
transferred from a Mr Carswell to mortgage given to Sir James Grant. Lord Byron is
to be given funds for his holiday expenses.
Source: John Murray Archive
December 1804
Lord Byron leaves Harrow to spend the
Christmas holidays in London with John Hanson and his
family; he stays until February.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
29 December 1804
In a letter to John Hanson,
Joseph Drury recommends that Lord Byron leave Harrow at the end of the term and prepare for college with the
assistance of a private tutor.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
☞ LETTER
29 December 1804
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron will not return to Harrow; "I
have forced the truth from Dr. Drury." His books are to be
retrieved, and he is to travel to Southwell.
Source: John Murray Archive
1805
☞ LETTER
23 January 1805
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron's Harrow debts are to be paid
and he is to be given funds to return to Southwell.
Source: John Murray Archive
February 1805
Lord Byron belatedly returns to Harrow
having spent the Christmas vacation with the John Hanson and
his family.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
2 February 1805
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron writes, "you may however
tell Byron he may return to Harrow if he resolves to behave as
he ought to do."
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
☞ LETTER
8 February 1805
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron wants to fit out Lord Byron for college: clothes, furniture, and plate. Upon
Byron's seventeenth birthday, she turns over the whole of the £500 per
annum Chancery Court allowance to Byron, leaving for herself only the £200
from her Scottish income.
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
20 February 1805
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron writes concerning Newstead
tenants, complaining about Owen Mealey, and wishing that the
Rochedale lawsuit could be settled before Lord Byron comes of
age.
Source: John Murray Archive
2 March 1805
[Harrow School]
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
April 1805
Joseph Drury, headmaster of Harrow
School, retires and is replaced by George Butler.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
15 April [1805]
[Harrow School]
Lord Byron to Hargreaves Hanson
Lord Byron writes to his former
schoolmate Hargreaves Hanson saying that he has been
detained at Harrow but intends to be in London by the 24th.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
20 April [1805]
[Harrow School]
Lord Byron to Hargreaves Hanson
Lord Byron writes to Hargreaves Hanson saying that his visit has been postponed until
the 1st and that he intends to stay for a week.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
Late April 1805
Lord Byron departs for the Easter
holidays at Burgage Manor where he quarrels with his mother. He visits with John Hanson and his family on the way out and back.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
May 1805
Lord Byron returns to Harrow and leads a
rebellion against the new headmaster, George
Butler.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
11 May 1805
Harrow School
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron writes to John Hanson requesting that he supply cash on a draft he has left
at his house.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
23 June 1805
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
☞ LETTER
26 June 1805
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron has borrowed money against
her quarterly allowance.
Source: John Murray Archive
27 June 1805
Harrow School
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron writes to John Hanson announcing that he intends to make a short visit on
Saturday but must return to Harrow early the following week.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
1 July 1805
Lord Byron visits Cambridge and is
admitted as a member of Trinity College before returning to Harrow.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
8 July 1805
Harrow School
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron requests that John Hanson misreport the beginnings of the holidays to his
mother so that he will have time to visit with his
sister Augusta Byron before her arrival.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
16 July 1805
[Newstead Abbey]
Lord Grey de Ruthyn to John Hanson
Lord Grey de Ruthyn writes about
Newstead business and mentions "the Shyness that exists between Lord
Byron and myself."
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
16 July 1805
[London]
John Hanson to Lord Grey de Ruthyn
John Hanson replies to Lord Grey de Ruthyn: "I am extremely sorry that any Shyness should
exist between his lordship and Lord Byron, the cause of which I
never could learn."
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
4 August 1805
Lord Byron returns to Burgage Manor,
where he quarrels with his mother.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
19 August 1805
Burgage Manor, Nottinghamshire
Lord Byron to Hargreaves Hanson
Lord Byron tells Hargreaves Hanson that he accepts the invitation to the earl of Portsmouth's country house at Farleigh, Hampshire in
September. He hopes to see John Hanson who has been in
Lancashire attending to the Rochdale business.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
[28 August 1805]
Burgage Manor, Nottinghamshire
Lord Byron to Hargreaves Hanson
Lord Byron asks Hargreaves Hanson to inquire of his father when it would be
convenient for him to visit.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
20 September 1805
Burgage Manor, Nottinghamshire
Lord Byron to Hargreaves Hanson
Lord Byron tells Hargreaves Hanson that he expects to arrive on Tuesday.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
23 September 1805
Lord Byron leaves Burgage Manor for
London, where he stays with John Hanson and his
family.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
30 September 1805
James Watson, Mrs Byron's Edinburgh solicitor, dies.
☞ LETTER
23 September 1805
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron arranges for her son's
college expenses; he is to have an allowance of £500 per annum and she will live on the £200 she
reserves for household expenses.
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
23 September 1805
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Birch
Mrs Byron tells John Birch that Lord Byron is
to be given funds for a journey to Farleigh House, Hampshire, a residence of the third earl of Portsmouth.
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
5 October 1805
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron is surprised that
John Hanson has not replied to the letter which was to
have been delivered by her son; she is in immediate need of £50.
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
7 October 1805
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Not receiving John Hanson's letter,
Mrs Byron has stopped payment on the draft she
requested.
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
13 October 1805
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
The lost letter mentioned 7 October has turned up, but it contained no
money. May Mrs Byron draw on John Hanson for £50?
Source: John Murray Archive
24 October 1805
Lord Byron goes into residence at
Trinity College, Cambridge.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
25 October 1805
Trinity College, Cambridge
Lord Byron to Hargreaves Hanson
Lord Byron reports to Hargreaves Hanson that he has arrived at Cambridge and is
receiving his furniture, but will defer papering and painting his rooms.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
26 October 1805
Trinity College, Cambridge
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron requests that his solicitor
John Hanson send four dozen bottles of assorted wines to
Cambridge.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
☞ LETTER
6 November 1805
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron finds that the man who
delivered the missing letter on October 7 was Lord Byron's
servant Francis Boyce, since been discovered to have been be
a thief.
Source: John Murray Archive
12 November 1805
Trinity College, Cambridge
Lord Byron to Hargreaves Hanson
Lord Byron asks Hargreaves Hanson to thank his father for filling
Byron's cellar, and reports news from Cambridge.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
30 November 1805
Trinity College, Cambridge
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron tells John Hanson that he has quarreled with his mother and that at the
end of term he intends to rent rooms in London from Mrs.
Massingberd.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
9 December 1805
Trinity College, Cambridge
Lord Byron to Elizabeth Massingberd
Lord Byron writes from Cambridge to
Mrs. Massingberd to let rooms; "The Terms I leave
entirely to yourself."
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
10 December 1805
[London]
John Hanson to Lord Byron
John Hanson writes of Mrs Byron: "Indeed I have felt uneasiness myself at the treatment
I have at time received from your Mother but it has grown into compassion and there I am disposed
to let it rest." He encloses £50.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
18 December 1805
Lord Byron leaves Cambridge for London,
where he takes lodgings with Mrs. Massingberd, where he will
remain until April 1806.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
☞ LETTER
25 December 1805
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron has given Dr Butler, who succeeded Joseph
Drury as headmaster of Harrow, a draft of £50 on John
Hanson, due at three month's date. Lord Byron is
at Mrs Massingberd's.
Source: John Murray Archive
27 December 1805
After failing with his sister Augusta, Lord Byron consults with his landlady,
Mrs. Massingberd, about a loan. Since he is underage,
she agrees to stand as a joint security in order to procure for him a few hundred pounds which will
make him financially independent of his mother.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
1806
☞ LETTER
11 January 1806
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Source: John Murray Archive
11 January 1806
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
In a letter once belonging to Harry Bache
Smith Mrs Byron writes to Hanson: "When I wrote to him I said that I was afraid he could not
live on his allowance. The answer was that he only lived as other young men did that had only half
his income. His bills were coming in thick upon me to double the amount I expected. He went and
ordered just what he pleased here, at Nottingham, and in London."
Source: Rowland Prothero,
Letters and Journals (1898-1901)
☞ LETTER
29 January 1806
[London]
John Hanson to Catherine Byron
John Hanson has seen Lord Byron several times; Mrs
Byron should send the bill for his furnishing his college rooms so that he can get
the allowance fixed. If he is to give advice he must retain Byron's
confidence.
Source: John Murray Archive
February 1806
Rather than returning to Cambridge after the holidays, Lord Byron lives a dissipated life in London, borrowing money from the
usurers.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
5 February 1806
The Cambridge term begins but Lord Byron
is still in London.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
26 February 1806
16 Piccadilly, London
Lord Byron to Catherine Byron
Lord Byron has discharged his college
debts of £231, of which £75 went to John Hanson for
furniture. He explains that he would like to leave college without finishing his degree. He would
rather travel for two years. Hanson will procure the £600 civil list pension.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
☞ LETTER
1 March 1806
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron has learned that Lord Byron is suddenly flush in funds and talking of travelling
abroad; fearing that "he has got into bad hands," she asks John
Hanson to investigate.
Source: John Murray Archive
3 March 1806
16 Piccadilly, London
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron writes to John Hanson telling him that he has paid his a bill to his tutor,
Thomas Jones, amounting to £231.4.5 and that he has paid
off all his Cambridge debts.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
☞ LETTER
4 March 1806
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
"That Boy will be the death of me, or drive me mad"—while his mother
scrimps, Lord Byron has borrowed hundreds from moneylenders. He
does not have his mother's consent to travel abroad.
Source: John Murray Archive
10 March 1806
16 Piccadilly, London
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron tells John Hanson that he needs to raise £500 to pay his
debts.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
☞ LETTER
18 March 1806
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
John Hanson is to pay Lord Byron his quarterly allowance.
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
18 March 1806
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron has not received money for
the land tax which had been incorrectly deducted from her allowance. "I certainly would not give
the money to Byron if it was not to answer some good
purpose."
Source: John Murray Archive
25 March 1806
16 Piccadilly, London
Lord Byron to John Hanson
After being denied his original request, Lord
Byron writes to John Hanson soliciting a
lesser amount of £200.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
31 March 1807
The Duke of Portland becomes prime
minister.
☞ LETTER
26 March 1806
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron desires John Hanson to withhold Lord
Byron's allowance and threatens to come to London: "he shall know he is not yet his
own Master."
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
31 March 1806
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron may receive his quarterly
allowance "on condition only that he will return to Cambridge after the Easter term."
Source: John Murray Archive
10 April 1806
16 Piccadilly, London
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron asks John Hanson for £200 before he leaves London for
Cambridge.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
April 1806
Lord Byron divides his time between
Cambridge, London, and Southwell.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
☞ LETTER
21 April 1806
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron has not been receiving her
payments from the Court of Chancery and must draw upon John
Hanson for funds.
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
24 April 1806
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron has spent large sums on china
and purchased a carriage for his mother which she refused to accept.
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
5 May 1806
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron, not receiving payments
from the Court of Chancery and the civil list, is getting into arrears with John Hanson.
Source: John Murray Archive
8 July 1806
Trinity College, Cambridge
Lord Byron to Elizabeth Massingberd
Lord Byron writes from Cambridge to
Mrs. Massingberd to discuss the loan she is arranging
with the money-lenders.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
12 July 1806
Lord Byron returns to London and
proceeds to Southwell where he quarrels with his mother.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
16 June 1806
Trinity College Cambridge
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
Mid-Year 1806
After a failed attempt at securing a £500 loan, Mrs Byron borrows £1,000 from her family with her Scottish income as
security.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
25 July 1806
[Burgage Manor, Nottinghamshire]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
"My Son has been with me some time and is to remain till he returns to
Cambridge in Oct. I am perfectly satisfied with his conduct indeed I have no reason to be
otherwise."
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
August 1806
John Hanson wins the Rochedale
lawsuit on a legal technicality; by the end of the year James
Dearden, who has been mining the property, would respond by taking the case to the
Court of Exchequer.
Source: J. V. Beckett,
Sheila Aley, Byron and Newstead Abbey (2001)
August 1806
Lord Byron returns to London from
Cambridge.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
7 August 1806
Lord Byron visits his Harrow classmate
Edward Noel Long at Littlehampton, West Sussex.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
7 August 1806
Lord Byron visits Harrowgate in Durham
with John Pigot of Southwell.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
26 August 1806
Little Hampton, West Sussex
Lord Byron to Elizabeth Massingberd
Lord Byron writes from Littlehampton,
West Sussex to Mrs. Massingberd to report that "my
Lancashire Cause is gained."
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
☞ LETTER
20 September 1806
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Birch
Since John Hanson is not answering letters, Mrs
Byron, writes to John Birch to inquire about
the status of the Rochedale suit.
Source: John Murray Archive
November 1806
Lord Byron's Fugitive Pieces is
privately printed.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
7 December 1806
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron writes a conciliatory letter
to John Hanson; he is not surprised that the success in the
Rochedale lawsuit has been reversed.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
☞ LETTER
10 December 1806
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Birch
Mrs Byron seeks advice on the status
of the Rochedale lawsuit, which the Court of the King's Bench is preparing to review.
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
22 December 1806
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Birch
Lord Byron and his mother have drawn
their quarterly allowance.
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
31 December 1806
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Birch
Mrs Byron is aware that Mrs Massingberd is trying to persuade Lord
Byron to borrow money and wishes John Birch
to take steps to prevent it.
Source: John Murray Archive
1807
January 1807
Lord Byron's Poems on Various Occasions
is privately printed.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
☞ LETTER
31 January 1807
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Massingberd is trying to persuade
Lord Byron to go to the usurers for a second loan and
Mrs Byron asks for assistance in stopping it.
Source: John Murray Archive
January 1807
Lord Byron's landlady, Mrs Massingberd, herself in debt, persuades him to borrow £3000 on
her behalf.
Source: J. V. Beckett,
Sheila Aley, Byron and Newstead Abbey (2001)
☞ LETTER
7 March 1807
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron is in need of money to pay
overdue bills and despairs of settling with the Court of Chancery.
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
17 March 1807
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron's bills are pressing and
nothing is moving in the courts. The opponents in the Rochedale lawsuit must be
desperate.
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
19 March 1807
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
If progress is not made toward increasing her allowance from the Chancery
Court Mrs Byron says that she will face financial ruin. She
cannot afford to pay Lord Byron's servants while he is in
Nottingham.
Source: John Murray Archive
2 April 1807
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron, who was spending well in
excess of his £500 annual allowance, tells John Hanson that
he has no money to continue at Cambridge.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
☞ LETTER
11 April 1807
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron has drawn on John Hanson for £85 to reimburse herself for an amount due to her
son from the Court of Chancery.
Source: John Murray Archive
19 April 1807
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Due to financial difficulties, Lord Byron
needs to draw on his quarterly allowance due to him July 25th. He awaits £100 for furniture, but
has only received £30. As a result of some outstanding debts, he requests £150. He plans to sell
his horses.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
☞ LETTER
29 April 1807
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
To keep her son out of the hands of the usurers Mrs Byron has made herself security for a £1000 loan to Byron from Mrs Frances Byron and her granddaughter Elizabeth Parkyns and grand-niece Frances Parkyns.
Source: John Murray Archive
June 1807
Mrs Byron runs up a bill for £278 at
the London jewellers Rundell and Bridge, possibly intending to use her personal property as a form of security
against her son's debts.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
18 May 1807
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron draws on John Hanson for £50.17.5 for balances incurred at Cambridge for
furniture and other incidentals.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
☞ LETTER
23 May 1807
[London]
John Hanson to Catherine Byron
John Hanson declines to be involved
in the £1000 loan to Lord Byron from Nottingham family
relations. This loan, which of course went unpaid, would later cause Mrs Byron particular distress.
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
24 May 1807
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron asks John Hanson to explain the status of the Rochedale
lawsuit.
Source: John Murray Archive
June 1807
Lord Byron publishes Hours of
Idleness.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
27 June 1807
Lord Byron returns to Cambridge to
settle his affairs and meets Charles Skinner Matthews and
John Cam Hobhouse.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
6 July 1807
Lord Byron goes to London, staying at
Gordon's Hotel, Albemarle Street.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
20 July 1807
[London]
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron wants John Hanson to make future drafts payable to him rather than his
mother.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
☞ LETTER
9 August 1807
Chancery Lane, London
John Hanson to Catherine Byron
John Hanson has seen Lord Byron who intends to return to Cambridge to pursue his studies.
The opponents in the Rochedale suit can protract the proceedings for years but will eventually lose
and have to pay the costs. Ursula Launder has married
William Fletcher Norton.
Source: John Murray Archive
17 August 1807
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
☞ LETTER
Fall? 1807?
[London?]
Lord Byron to Elizabeth Massingberd
In this undated and unsigned copy of a letter Lord
Byron writes to Elizabeth Massingberd
disputing the sums he was to pay on their joint loans.
Source: John Murray Archive
October 1807
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
19 October 1807
Dorant's Hotel, London
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron asks John Hanson to send his quarterly allowance.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
13 November 1807
Trinity College, Cambridge
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron directs John Hanson to deduct £5 from his quarterly allowance of £125 in
order to pay his Newstead steward, Joe Murray.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
☞ LETTER
21 December 1807
Chancery Lane, London
John Hanson to Catherine Byron
Lord Grey de Ruthyn will soon be
vacating Newstead Abbey; Augusta Byron's marriage was a
suprise; Lord Byron is still at Cambridge.
Source: John Murray Archive
23 December 1807
Trinity College, Cambridge
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron plans on having New Years Day
dinner with John Hanson and family, and inquires about
borrowing money against his title.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
23 December 1807
Burgage Manor, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron is glad Lord Grey de Ruthyn will be out of Newstead by midsummer and urges
John Hanson to pursue the Rochedale suit, remarking of
her son, "I am sensible that clever people are not always the most prudent in regard to money
matters."
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
23 December 1807
Lord Byron finishes at Trinity College,
Cambridge.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
1808
6 January 1808
Lord Byron is in London staying at
Dorant's Hotel, Albemarle Street.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
8 January 180[8]
Dorant's Hotel, London
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron asks John Hanson to give him an advance on his March
allowance.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
8 January [1808]
Dorant's Hotel, London
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron again asks John Hanson for an advance on his March allowance.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
12 January 180[8]
Dorant's Hotel, London
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron informs John Hanson that Mr. Mitchell, a saddler, a
bill of £40 and needs to drawn on his quarterly pension to pay it.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
25 January 1808
Dorant's Hotel, London
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron informs John Hanson that he owes debts amounting to £5,100 to
moneylenders, Mrs Frances Byron, and various tradesmen. "I
could as soon compass the National Debt."
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
February 1808
Dorant's Hotel, London
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron is in need of a £100 loan from
John Hanson as promised the night before.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
13 March 1808
[Burgage Manor, Nottinghamshire]
Catherine Byron to John Thomas Becher?
Mrs Byron tells her son's literary friend that Lord Byron is distressed by the
Edinburgh Reviewers: "he says if I have any regard for him I will never mention his Poetry to him
more as he wishes to forget it."
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
12 May 1808
[London]
Lord Byron to Elizabeth Massingberd
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
23 May 1808
[Nottinghamshire]
Catherine Byron to John Birch
Mrs Byron reports to John Hanson's partner John
Birch that the Lancashire property, Rochedale, is not worth as much as she had
hoped, especially while there are "hundreds of Collers getting coal" out of the property. With
better management Lord Byron ought to have £30,000 out of
it.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
☞ LETTER
26 May 1808
[Chancery Lane, London]
John Hanson to Catherine Byron
John Hanson writes that
Shaw (a solicitor formerly employed by James
Dearden, possibly a relation of the fifth Lady
Byron), had been woefully inept at keeping track of coal extraction on the Rochedale
property.
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
28 May 1808
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron is inclined to believe
Shaw, a former associate of the James
Dearden currently mining the Rochedale property, and believes that John Hanson undervalues it.
Source: John Murray Archive
15 June 1808
St James St, London
Lord Byron to Hargreaves Hanson
If the exchequer business is not settled, the commission will need to be
sent to Brighton, whither Lord Byron is travelling.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
16 June 1808
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
July 1808
Lord Byron visits Cambridge to take his
MA degree.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
4 July 1808
Burgage Manor, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Birch
Mrs Byron writes to John Birch to enquire why she has not heard from his partner
John Hanson about his visit to Newstead Abbey.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
19 July 1808
Burgage Manor, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Birch
Mrs Byron writes again to John Birch to enquire why she has not heard from his partner
John Hanson: "he seems to be a sleeping partner in the
firm."
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
20 July 1808
Brighton, Sussex
Lord Byron to Elizabeth Massingberd
Lord Byron has parted with
Caroline Cameron—a courtesan—at Brighton; "I beg she may have her Clothes
& the trunk containing them."
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
☞ LETTER
28 July 1808
Chancery Lane, London
John Hanson to Catherine Byron
John Hanson at last replies: he
plans to visit the Rochedale estate in early August and to stop at Southwell on the way. Lord Grey de Ruthyn will pay rent for Newstead until
midsummer.
Source: John Murray Archive
August 1808
Lord Byron returns to
Brighton.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
7 August 1808
Brighton, Sussex
Lord Byron to Lord Grey de Ruthyn
Upon vacating Newstead Abbey, Lord Grey de
Ruthyn had complained to Lord Byron about
Owen Mealey; Byron replies that he
will look into the matter.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
[August 1808]
[Not specified]
Lord Grey de Ruthyn to Lord Byron
Replying to Lord Byron, Lord Grey de Ruthyn retracts his complaints about Owen Mealey and says that "still I am at a loss to account" for
the loss of Byron's former friendship.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
14 August 1808
Brighton, Sussex
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron will be back in town soon and
accepts John Hanson's invitation to join him for a
meal.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
29 August 1808
Reddish's Hotel, London
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron reminds John Hanson that his quarterly allowance of £200 has been due for
some time and he awaits being paid.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
Late August 1808
Lord Byron takes up residence in
Newstead Abbey; he has not stayed there in five years.
Source: J. V. Beckett,
Sheila Aley, Byron and Newstead Abbey (2001)
13 September 1808
Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron, patiently awaiting a
response from John Hanson, inquires about getting his
fishponds stocked.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
September 1808
Lord Grey de Ruthyn having vacated
Newstead, Lord Byron moves in with John Cam Hobhouse as a companion.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
2 October 1808
[Burgage Manor, Nottinghamshire]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
"It is now four months since your partner wrote to me that your or
Mr Birch would certainly go down to Rochdale in a
month!!! Why dont you go there?"
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
October 1808
John Hanson visits Newstead Abbey to
prepare for Lord Byron's coming of age the following
January.
Source: J. V. Beckett,
Sheila Aley, Byron and Newstead Abbey (2001)
2 November 1808
Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire
Lord Byron to Catherine Byron
Lord Byron reports on the work done at
Newstead Abbey and appoints his mother as sole trustee to his assets while he will be traveling in
the East.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
November 1808
John Hanson makes his long-deferred
visit to Rochedale and Newstead Abbey; Mrs Byron, whose
health was beginning to fail, is unable to see him.
Source: J. V. Beckett,
Sheila Aley, Byron and Newstead Abbey (2001)
9 November 1808
Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire
Lord Byron to John Birch
Lord Byron writes John Birch asking for news of his partner John Hanson who is at Rochedale. Byron is
owed his quarterly allowance plus £200, and is in want of money.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
30 November 1808
[Nottinghamshire]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron, concerned over Lord Byron's financial woes, is in poor health.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
15 November 1808
Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron writes to John Hanson, who is at Rochedale, concerned that he has heard
nothing from him.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
18 November 1808
Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron tells John Hanson, who he has at last been heard from, that he will be
travelling to India. His debts now amount to £12,000. He needs £3-4,000 for his travels and wants
to sell property, but not Newstead Abbey where his mother is
to stay in his absence.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
20 November 1808
Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire
Lord Byron to the Duke of Portland
Lord Byron asks the Prime Minister for permission to travel through the East India
Company settlements on his journey.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
25 November 1808
[Burgage Manor, Nottinghamshire]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron has been very unwell since
the first of September: "I am quite unequal to come to Newstead, or even to talk of business if was
to meet you there or anywhere else."
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
December 1808
John Hanson appeals to the Exchequer
Court to have the injunction against his Rochedale ejectments lifted; the court decides against
this while the case is at trial.
Source: J. V. Beckett,
Sheila Aley, Byron and Newstead Abbey (2001)
17 December 1808
Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire
Lord Byron to John Hanson
With the Rochdale lawsuit still unsettled, Lord
Byron considers the alternatives of "marrying a Golden Dolly or blowing my brains
out."
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
23 December 1808
Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron writes to John Hanson that an enclosure underway at Annesley Park threatens
a Newstead right of way.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
1809
3 January 1809
[Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire]
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron doubts the report given by
Mrs Massingberd of an arrangement being reached with
their creditors.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
5 January [1809]
Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron will draw on Hanson for £300
to cover bills falling due when he comes of age in February.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
10 January 1809
Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron changes his mind. Instead of
drawing £300, he needs £258 with 40 guineas going to cover his opera subscription.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
14 January 1809
[Chancery Lane, London]
John Hanson to Lord Byron
John Hanson offers to give Lord Byron a celebratory dinner in Chancery Lane, to drink his "Health
and long Life of Prosperity and Happiness" and enquires when he will be seated in the
Lords.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
15 January 1809
Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron invites John Hanson to come to Newstead Abbey to celebrate his
twenty-first birthday; he will take a seat in the House of Lords as soon as possible.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
17 January 1809
Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron contests a large bill from a
Nottingham silversmith. He gives John Hanson instructions
for reducing the staff at Newstead and proposes raising the rents; his servant
Lucy is to be retained, as he has left her pregnant.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
19 January 1809
Lord Byron is at Reddish's Hotel, London,
preparing to take his seat in the House of Lords.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
22 January 1809
Lord Byron comes of age.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
22 January 1809
Lord Byron's coming of age is celebrated at Newstead; the Nottingham Journal reports that the
event was attended by nearly 4000 persons.
Source: J. V. Beckett,
Sheila Aley, Byron and Newstead Abbey (2001)
30 January 1809
[Burgage Manor, Nottinghamshire]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron observes than unless "coal
mines turn to gold mines" her son faces the road to ruin. He had better marry money.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
February 1809
Mrs Byron is seriously ill; after a
period of recovery she will be ill again in April.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
4 February 1809
Reddish's Hotel, London
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron wants to update his will: his
property will go to his sister Augusta's children.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
7 February 1809
[London]
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron has found a potential buyer
for John Hanson's barouche; he asks Hanson to pursue his
being seated in the House of Lords with the lord chancellor.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
8 February 1809
[London]
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron tells John Hanson that he will leave the country immediately if not
seated in the House of Lords; he has not five pounds in his pocket but will not sell Newstead
Abbey.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
March 1809
Lord Byron publishes English Bards and
Scotch Reviewers which contains a passage insulting his former guardian Lord Carlisle.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
3 March 1809
[London]
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron tells John Hanson to send a courier to Cornwall for documents pursuant
to being seated in the House of Lords.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
4 March 1809
[Burgage Manor, Nottinghamshire]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron observes that "Love
matches is all nonsense." Lord Byron has not paid off the £500
loan from Frances Byron or the £300 loan from Elizabeth and Frances
Parkyns for which his mother was security.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
6 March 1809
8 St James's Street, London
Lord Byron to Catherine Byron
Lord Byron tells his mother that he will
under no circumstances sell Newstead Abbey and complains that Lord
Carlisle is of no help with getting seated in the House of Lords.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
☞ LETTER
13 March 1809
Chancery Lane, London
John Hanson to Catherine Byron
John Hanson has completed the
paperwork necessary for Lord Byron to take his seat in the House
of Lord and reports that he intends to pay his debts. Hanson proposes
mortgaging part of the Newstead estate.
Source: John Murray Archive
March 1809
Hopelessly in debt, Lord Byron gives
£500 to support Lady Falkland whose husband was killed in a
duel on 2 March.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
13 March 1809
Lord Byron takes his seat in the House
of Lords.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
15 March 1809
[Burgage Manor, Nottinghamshire]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron complains of Mrs Massingberd, "that infamous woman" who "is equal to anything."
She has some of Mrs Massingberd's letters to her son which can be sent if
required. She complains of Lord Carlisle not sponsoring
Lord Byron in the House of Lords.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
April 1809
John Hanson fails to obtain the
mortgage on the Newstead property necessary to pay the debts coming due upon Lord Byron's coming of age.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
April 1809
Lord Byron returns to Newstead Abbey
where he invites his Cambridge friends for the famous party with the monks' robes and drinking from
the skull cup.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
4 April 1809
Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron inquires whether John Hanson has secured a mortgage on Newstead Abbey, and desires
to grant John Hanson power of attorney during his travels.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
8 April 1809
Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron implores John Hanson to procure a mortgage on Newstead so he can travel
without borrowing money on bad terms.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
9 April 1809
[Burgage Manor, Nottinghamshire]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron's plan to borrow on his
mother's remaining Scottish fortune is problematic: "if my son is abroad he cannot I suppose give
security for it."
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
12 April 1809
Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron draws on John Hanson for £264 to cover an overdue bill from his
stonemason.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
16 April 1809
Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire
Lord Byron to John Hanson
As his creditors are making life unbearable, Lord
Byron plans to leave England as soon as possible.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
17 April 1809
Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron asks John Hanson to obtain at least the principal of the £1,000 the
Duke of Portland owes to the Byron estate.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
26 April 1809
Batt's Hotel, Jermyn Street, London
Lord Byron to John Hanson
As his debts are increasing daily, Lord
Byron is desperate to obtain the money he is owed by the Duke of Portland or by settling the Rochedale lawsuit. He wishes to procure £3,000
immediately.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
2 May 1809
Batt's Hotel, Jermyn Street, London
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron asks John Hanson if he has heard further from the Duke of Portland or the another money man from the City.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
19 May 1809
8 St James's Street, London
Lord Byron to Catherine Byron
Lord Byron's servant, Fletcher, has been visiting prostitutes, and taking with him the
boy Robert Rushton, who is to be returned to Newstead.
Byron will sail on June 16th.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
21 May 1809
Newstead Abbey
Joe Murray to Lord Byron
Joe Murray, the old servant, reports
that Robert Rushton has returned heartbroken to Newstead
Abbey.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
23 May 1809
8 St James's Street, London
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron has only £5 to his name; the
money he is owed from Chancery—needed to provide security for his borrowing—is three months
overdue.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
25 May 1809
[Basingstoke, Hampshire?]
John Hanson to Lord Byron
John Hanson concedes that he has not
been successful in raising money for Lord Byron's travels, but
insists that he is his true friend "who regrets so much the Difficulties you have plunged yourself
into."
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
6 June 1809
8 St James's Street, London
Lord Byron to Joe Murray
Lord Byron relents and tells Murray "to set off for London in some of the coaches with
Robert." Rushton would accompany
Byron as far as Gibraltar.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
17 June 1809
[Newstead Abbey?]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron has left on his travels
leaving his mother responsible for £1000 in Nottingham loans he had obtained from the banker
Wylde, Frances
Byron, and Elizabeth and Frances Parkyns—a sum she could ill afford to pay.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
21 June 1809
Lord Grey de Ruthyn marries
Ann Maria Kelham, described by Mrs
Byron as "a Farmer's daughter."
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
19 June 1809
Lord Byron leaves London for Falmouth,
Cornwall where is to embark on his travels.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
19 June 1809
[Falmouth?, Cornwall]
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Unable to raise funds otherwise, Lord
Byron has contracted an annuity with the moneylender George
Thomas at seven years' purchase at £400 per year which is to be paid out of the
annuity contracted with Col. Sawbridge.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
21 June 1809
Wynn's Hotel, Falmouth, Cornwall
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Since the Malta packet will not sail for a few more days, Lord Byron wants his letters of credit sent ahead.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
21 June 1809
Falmouth, Cornwall
Lord Byron to John Hanson
After the Sawbridge loan is paid
off, Lord Byron asks Hanson to deduct the sums for the annuities from the loan until Rochdale and
Wymondham have been sold. Hanson has dishonored a bill for which
Byron had left adequate funds to cover.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
22 June 1809
Falmouth, Cornwall
Lord Byron to Catherine Byron
Lord Byron tells his mother that he has
plenty of stationery with which he can write her; if Rochedale is not sold he will join the
Austrian, Russian, or Turkish service. He has agreed to take William
Fletcher back into his service.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
25 June 1809
Falmouth, Cornwall
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron asks John Hanson to forward his letters of credit to Falmouth. When
Rochedale is sold the purchase money be put towards the liquidation of his debts.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
27 June 1809
[Newstead Abbey]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron is reducing the staff at
Newstead Abbey where she has unwillingly taken up residence: "no time ought to be lost in reducing
all expenses as much as possible."
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
30 June 1809
Falmouth, Cornwall
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron confirms that he has received
the letters of credit. His immediate distress has been relieved by a loan from his friend Scrope Davies who has pledged £6,000. Upon the sale of Rochedale
the annuities will be redeemed immediately.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
[2?] July 1809
[Falmouth, Cornwall]
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron encloses a letter from
Mrs Massingberd to underscore the importance of coming
to an immediate arrangement with his creditors.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
2 July 1809
Lord Byron and John Cam Hobhouse sail for Lisbon, Cadiz, and Seville.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
21 May 1809
[Chancery Lane, London?]
John Hanson to Catherine Byron
John Hanson has ordered Owen Mealey to dismiss three of the four gardeners at Newstead;
old Joe Murray, when he returns, may be put on board
wages.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
13 July 1809
Lisbon, Portugal
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron orders John Hanson to pay £30 for items purchased from John William Ward (afterwards Lord Dudley) at Lisbon. He asks that
money be set aside from the sale of the Wymondham estate and received funds from Col. Sawbridge.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
August 1809
Lord Byron and Hobhouse sail on the Hyperion from Cadiz to Gibraltar, then from
Gibraltar to Sardinia, to Malta.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
7 August 1809
Gibraltar, Spain
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron describes his travels from
Lisbon to Cadiz.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
11-15 August 1809
Gibraltar, Spain
Lord Byron to Catherine Byron
Lord Byron begins his travel diaries
addressed to his mother.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
13 August 1809
Gibraltar, Spain
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron informs John Hanson that he has sent home his servant Robert Rushton since "Turkey is in too dangerous a state for boys
to enter."
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
25 August 1809
[Newstead Abbey]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron is considering raising
rents and selling timber; she objects to Owen Mealey's
comfortable arrangements at the Hutt.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
31 August 1809
Malta
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron has heard nothing about the
sale of Wymondham. He requests that letters of credit be sent to Malta and Constantinople, and
requests that his debts be paid from the sale of Rochdale; he will not sell Newstead.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
15 September 1809
Malta
Lord Byron to Catherine Byron
Lord Byron writes to his mother about
his time in Malta.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
☞ LETTER
22 September 1809
Newstead Abbey
Catherine Byron to John Musters
Mrs Byron excoriates her sporting
neighbour John Musters at Annesley Hall for trespassing at
Newstead and insulting her servants.
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
26 September 1809
Farleigh House, Hampshire
John Hanson to Catherine Byron
John Hanson approves of Mrs Byron's economies and reassures her that the Nottingham debts
can be paid out of the Newstead rents.
Source: John Murray Archive
26 September 1809
Lord Byron and Hobhouse land at Patras, then proceed to Albania, then to
Nicopolis.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
29 September
Prevesa
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron asks John Hanson to forward his remittances through Hammersley's bank
to bankers in Malta, Gibraltar, and Constantinople.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
October 1809
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
October 1809
Mrs Byron gives up Burgage Manor,
raising £200 by the sale of some of the furniture.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
4 October 1809
Having been sent home from Gibraltar, Robert
Rushton returns to Newstead Abbey bearing a letter from his master.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
[4 October 1809]
[Nottinghamshire]
Catherine Byron to Lord Byron
Mrs Byron writes to her son
encouraging him to avoid Spanish and Italian women, and to stay far away from Turkish
harems.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
30 October 1809
The Duke of Portland dies shortly after
leaving office as prime minister.
November 1809
Lord Byron and Hobhouse leave Janina and head back to Greece, arriving in Patras
on November 22nd.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
12 November 1809
Prevesa
Lord Byron to Catherine Byron
Lord Byron describes his travels in
Albania.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
24 November 1809
Patras
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron inquires about the Col. Sawbridge annuity, the sale of any lands, and the "tolerable
sum" which may have arisen as a result of it. He asks John
Hanson to expedite the sale of Rochdale.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
December 1809
Lord Byron arrives in Athens.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
1810
3 February 1810
[Newstead Abbey]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Two bailiffs with a notice from the upholster Brothers have been sent to Newstead Abbey.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
4 February 1810
[Newstead Abbey]
Catherine Byron to Lord Byron
Mrs Byron begins a letter to her son
saying that the tenants had celebrated his birthday at Newstead; Robert
Rushton's sister has been made pregnant by one of the tenants; he himself has been
sent to school at Newark at Lord Byron's expense. The letter was
set aside and completed 9 March.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
5 February 1810
[Newstead Abbey]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron fears that her personal
property may be seized in lieu of Lord Byron's outstanding debts
to Brothers. Lord Byron
and his financial troubles have been the talk of the town.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
10 February 1810
[Newstead Abbey]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Brothers's charges come to £2100
which must be too high since Lord Byron had his furniture from
Cambridge. English Bards is in its second edition with a third planned.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
27 February 1810
[Newstead Abbey]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Brothers the upholsterer is demanding
his payment. Wylde hasn't received his interest payment of
£20, with the remaining £200 due in six months.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
28 February 1810
[Newstead Abbey]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron is having difficulty
raising money on her Scottish investments: "For God sake let me have as little trouble in this
business as possible."
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
☞ LETTER
[March? 1810]
[Southwell]
Margaret Pigot to Catherine Byron
In an undated letter Mrs Pigot thanks
Mrs Byron for the gift of a third edition of English
Bards: "you know how very highly I thought of the first edition, and this is certainly much
improved."
Source: John Murray Archive
3 March 1810
Athens
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron has received neither letters
nor remittances from John Hanson.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
5 March 1810
Lord Byron and Hobhouse arrive in Smyrna.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
☞ LETTER
12 March 1810
Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
20 March 1810
Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron asks whether John Hanson has news from Lord Byron and mentions a dispute with
Owen Mealey over whether Lord
Byron's servant Robert Rushton is to live in
the Castle.
Source: John Murray Archive
10 April 1810
Smyrna
Lord Byron to Catherine Byron
Lord Byron is to set sail on the
Salsette to Constantinople.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
10 April 1810
Smyrna
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron chides John Hanson for not replying to his letters or for not addressing
his replies to Malta as he was instructed.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
11 April 1810
Lord Byron sets sail for Constantinople
on the Salsette.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
17 April 1810
Salsette Frigate off the Dardanelles
Lord Byron to Catherine Byron
Writing at anchor on the way to Constantinople, Lord Byron tells his mother that he will arrive at Constantinople in a few
days.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
17 April 1810
Lord Byron writes a letter to John Hanson, apparently no longer extent, to which
Hanson refers in his correspondence with Mrs
Byron.
Source: John Murray Archive
10 May 1810
Constantinople
Lord Byron to Catherine Byron
Lord Byron informs his mother of his
arrival at Constantinople.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
11 May 1810
[Newstead Abbey]
Catherine Byron to Lord Byron
"A thousand thanks my Dearest Dear Son for your long kind and entertaining
letter" on Albania, which Lord Byron had written the previous
November. Among the news she sends is that George Leigh,
Augusta's husband, was in trouble with the Prince Regent
about a shady horse trade.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
12 May 1810
[Newstead Abbey]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Having not received any of the money she requested from John Hanson, Mrs. Byron
demands £48 for the interest owed to Wylde, and other
expenses. Hanson has also failed to collect the rents on Newstead in the past few months.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
13 May 1810
Lord Byron arrives in
Constantinople.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
15 May 1810
[Newstead Abbey]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron is concerned about missing
receipts: "if your Papers were to fall into other hands it might create uneasiness and confusion
thereafter."
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
23 May 1810
Constantinople
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron awaits "intelligence" from
the last quarter.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
24 May 1810
Constantinople
Lord Byron to Catherine Byron
Lord Byron has swum the Hellespont but
has heard nothing from John Hanson.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
25 May 1810
[Newstead Abbey]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Having learned that her solicitor in Scotland, Hugh Watson, has not heard from John Hanson,
Mrs Byron threatens to give up the attempt to raise
funds on her investments to pay the Nottingham creditors.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
4 June 1810
[Newstead Abbey]
Catherine Byron to John Birch
Having written John Hanson four
letters in three weeks with no reply, Mrs Byron addresses
her complaints to his partner.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
8 June 1810
[Chancery Lane, London?]
John Hanson to Catherine Byron
John Hanson reveals the terrible
truth: Lord Byron is on the hook for "for Bills to the Amount of
upwards of £10,000" and for annuities running an additional £2-3000 per annum.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
9 June 1810
[Chancery Lane, London?]
John Hanson to Lord Byron
Lord Byron, who hasn't heard from
John Hanson in 15 months, is told that Wymondham sold
for £4,400, but no money has yet been received to cover the £3,000 due on the annuities. Newstead
lands were surveyed and appraised at £1,700 a year, but only after serious repairs.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
June 1811
Mrs Byron, whose health has long
been indifferent, suffers another bout of serious illness.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
9 June 1810
[Nottingham, Nottinghamshire]
Frances Parkyns to Catherine Byron
Miss Parkyns sends news from
Nottingham: "sorry we shall not have the pleasure of seeing you."
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
9 June 1810
[Newstead Abbey]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron is so ill that she is
barely able to sit up and write. She asks what Brothers, the
upholsterer, means by what he said in a previous letter—to be "sold up here" in a
fortnight.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
Mid-June 1810
Lord Byron and John Cam Hobhouse journey to the Black Sea.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
15 June 1810
Constantinople
Lord Byron to John Hanson
There has been confusion over the letters of credit sent by Lord Byron's bankers to Malta and Constantinople. Hobhouse will report on their travels when he delivers this
letter.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
20 June 1810
[Newstead Abbey]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron is still concerned about
getting her money from Edinburgh; "I hope you will let nothing be done against me, at least against
Lord Byron. I have a slow fever, Grief I believe does not kill."
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
☞ LETTER
22 June 1810
Chancery Lane, London
John Hanson to Catherine Byron
John Hanson has received a letter
from Byron dated 17 April. Creditors are threatening, among them James
Milne and Benjamin Brothers.
Hanson needs an additional power of attorney to pay creditors from
Mrs Byron's Scottish investments.
Source: John Murray Archive
28 June 1810
Constantinople
Lord Byron to Catherine Byron
Lord Byron has not been receiving his
mother's letters. He isn't sure when he will return to England.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
30 June 1810
Constantinople
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron writes that he will not
return to Britain for some time, for two years at least, and repeats his instructions for sending
letters of credit.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
☞ LETTER
8 July 1810
Chancery Lane, London
John Hanson to Catherine Byron
Lord Byron's financial affairs are "in a
situation of infinite perplexity" and Mrs Byron's small
remaining personal property and a mortgage on the Newstead estates will be needed to satisfy his
creditors.
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
[Late summer 1810]
[Chancery Lane, London?]
John Hanson to Catherine Byron
Mrs Byron's Scottish solicitor
Hugh Watson has sent John
Hanson the power of attorney which he has forwarded to Lord Byron in Constantinople.
Arrangements are being made to put off the claims of Benjamin
Brothers.
Source: John Murray Archive
18 July 1810
Returning from Constantinople, Lord
Byron arrives in Athens. Hobhouse bids
farewell after a year of travels.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
20 July 1810
Athens
Lord Byron to Catherine Byron
Lord Byron, just arrived at Athens,
continues his travel diary and discusses his itinerary.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
26 July 1810
Lord Byron arrives at Patras.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
30 July 1810
Patras
Lord Byron to Catherine Byron
Lord Byron continues his travel diary;
Hobhouse has returned to England.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
26 August 1810
[Newstead Abbey]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron has settled with the
banker William Wylde, with no help from John Hanson. She asks him to remit £50.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
September 1810
Lord Byron falls ill with fever while at
Patras.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
6 September 1810
Mrs Byron makes a payment of £100 on
the loan to the banker William Wylde.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
2 October 1810
Patras
Lord Byron to Catherine Byron
Lord Byron is angry at John Hanson's inaction; he is running low on funds and will remain
in the vicinity in Patras. "Fletcher is well and
discontented as usual."
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
2 October 1810
Patras
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron complains of John Hanson's "wilful neglect" in not answering his
letters.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
☞ LETTER
18 October 1810
Hardwick Hall
the Duke of Devonshire to Catherine Byron
In reply to Mrs Byron's request the
elderly Duke of Devonshire writes to offer twenty brace of
tench to stock the ponds at Newstead Abbey.
Source: John Murray Archive
25 October 1810
[Newstead Abbey]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Mrs Byron reminds John Hanson of the outstanding Nottinghamshire loans and notes
that the Newstead rents have not been raised since Lord Byron
came of age.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
26 October 1810
[Newstead Abbey]
Catherine Byron to Lord Byron
Mrs Byron has received the Saunders portrait of her son; Robert
Rushton "is a well disposed Boy"; William
Fletcher's family is well; Margaret Pigot
thinks Hobhouse's poems are "absurd vicious
nonsense."
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
29 October 1810
Lord Grey de Ruthyn dies in
Warwickshire at the age of thirty leaving a six-month old daughter to succeed him in the
title.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
4 November 1810
Athens
Lord Byron to John Hanson
John Hanson is to pay the bearer of
the letter, his servant William Fletcher, £250 as soon as
possible, and find him a situation at Newstead.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
11 November 1810
Athens
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron confirms that he has received
a letter of credit. He reiterates that he will not, under any circumstances, sell
Newstead.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
☞ LETTER
31 December 1810
Chancery Lane, London
John Hanson to Catherine Byron
John Hanson has no funds to forstall
the upholster Brothers' coming execution at Newstead and
appeals to Mrs Byron to work something out with her Scottish
solicitor. He refuses to pay for the education of Robert
Rushton as Lord Byron had requested.
Source: John Murray Archive
1811
January 1811
Lord Byron continues in Athens.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
January 1811
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
3 January 1811
[Newstead Abbey]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Having failed to procure the £1512.2.0 owed to Brothers, Mrs Byron pleads with John Hanson to pay the debt. He can secure the money by taking out
a mortgage on Newstead. Her health is failing.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
8 January 1811
[Newstead Abbey]
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
Expecting a property seizure at Newstead Abbey on account of the Brothers' bill, Mrs Byron
asks John Hanson how to secure her personal
possessions.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
☞ LETTER
8 January 1811
Chancery Lane, London
John Hanson to Catherine Byron
John Hanson is arranging a mortgage
on Newstead properties; he absolves himself of responsibility for paying Lord Byron's Nottinghamshire creditors. Mrs
Byron must spend her remaining fortune "to prevent unpleasant measures being there
taken by Mr Brothers."
Source: John Murray Archive
14 January 1811
Athens
Lord Byron to Catherine Byron
Lord Byron continues his letter-diary. He
may be heading home in the spring.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
☞ LETTER
15 January 1811
Chancery Lane, London
John Hanson to Catherine Byron
John Hanson has received a letter
from Lord Byron without the power of attorney; if there is an
execution at Newstead Mrs Byron's personal property will not
be seized. Hanson again absolves himself of responsibility for Byron's
Nottinghamshire loans.
Source: John Murray Archive
☞ LETTER
17 January 1811
Chancery Lane, London
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
The power of attorney has not arrived and Mrs
Byron is distressed at the prospect of auctioning the contents of Newstead Abbey;
surely John Hanson could raise some money? William Fletcher would arrive with the papers only at the end of
May.
Source: John Murray Archive
18 January 1811
Athens
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron asks John Hanson for more money, reiterating that he will not, under
any circumstances, sell Newstead. He cannot return to England without more money.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
1 February 1811
Athens
Lord Byron to John Hanson
After receiving a firman, or permission to travel, Lord Byron will travel to Jerusalem and Cairo. He is in need of more money as a
result. John Hanson may sell Rochedale, but not Newstead.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
2 February 1811
Athens
Lord Byron to Catherine Byron
Lord Byron tells his mother that finances
permitting, he shall "visit the Pyramids & Palestine," and asks her to remind John Hanson not to leave him stranded 3,000 miles away with no
money.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
13 February 1811
[Newstead Abbey]
Catherine Byron to Thomas France
Mrs Byron writes to Thomas France, a solicitor in John
Hanson's office, to inform him that according to the Nottingham sheriff, the
upholsterer Benjamin Brothers, a man with a wife and eight
children, is in danger of being imprisoned for debt.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
28 February 1811
Athens
Lord Byron to Catherine Byron
Lord Byron tells his mother that if
Rochdale is sold he will return home, but if Newstead Abbey were to be sold he would use the
proceeds to live more cheaply abroad since the estate is his only tie to England.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
28 February 1811
Athens
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron repeats the substance of what
he had written to his mother: if he is left but with no choice but to sell Newstead, he will spend
his life abroad.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
16 March 1811
Nottingham
Catherine Byron to Lord Byron
The Rochedale property has been surveyed, its various coal deposits worth
an estimated £100,000. Financial recovery requires that Newstead rents must be raised, Copt Mill
and the Lancashire property must be recovered, and the coal underneath Rochedale must be
mined.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
20 April 1811
Hargreaves Hanson dies of
consumption.
May 1811
Lord Byron spends a month in Malta on
his return journey.
May 1811
Mrs Massingberd is arrested for debt
after John Hanson had refused to meet Lord Byron's obligations to their joint creditors.
Source: J. V. Beckett,
Sheila Aley, Byron and Newstead Abbey (2001)
23 May 1811
Nottingham
Catherine Byron to John Hanson
The bailiffs are now installed at Newstead: "For God sake do not let me
live in this state. Something must be done immediately."
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
[Late May 1811]
[Newstead Abbey]
Catherine Byron to Thomas France
Thomas France is informed that
fourth bailiff has arrived at Newstead, whose contents will be sold unless a delay can be
arranged.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
☞ LETTER
28 May 1811
Chancery Lane, London
John Hanson to Catherine Byron
John Hanson is in the process of
settling matters with Benjamin Brothers and the bailiffs
will be removed from Newstead Abbey shortly.
Source: John Murray Archive
30 May 1811
[Newstead Abbey]
William Fletcher to John Hanson
Lord Byron's valet William Fletcher has arrived home only to discover that, instead
of the munificence promised him by his master, nothing will be done by Mrs Byron, who is turning away the Newstead servants.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
June 1811
Lord Byron departs from Malta on the
frigate Volage.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
1 June 1811
[Newstead Abbey]
Catherine Byron to Margaret Keith Abercromby
A short letter to Miss Abercrombie,
a childhood friend, who complained of its brevity in her reply of 26 July. Mrs Byron had two months to live.
Source: Megan Boyes, My
Amiable Mamma (1991)
25 June 1811
Volage Frigate
Lord Byron to Catherine Byron
On the second anniversary of his departure Lord
Byron tells his mother to prepare his apartments at Newstead for his return.
Fletcher, his servant, will arrive at Newstead soon;
after visiting John Hanson, Byron will
stop at Newstead on his way to Rochedale.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
July 1811
Source: J. V. Beckett,
Sheila Aley, Byron and Newstead Abbey (2001)
4 July 1811
Volage Frigate, Bay of Biscay
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron expects to arrive in Falmouth
within a few days. His affairs have led him with no choice but to join the army. He needs £20 or
£30 to get from port to London, and encloses a two-year-old bill from the bookseller Miller to be paid immediately.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
14 July 1811
Lord Byron arrives in Sheerness, Kent,
after two years abroad.
Source: Norman Page: A Byron
Chronology (1988)
16 July 1811
Reddish's Hotel, London
Lord Byron to Elizabeth Massingberd
Lord Byron will attend to the business
of the annuities, taking the creditors to court if necessary.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
23 July 1811
Reddish's Hotel, London
Lord Byron to Catherine Byron
Lord Byron is back in London and is
"only detained" by John Hanson to sign some copyhold papers.
He would like to visit and discuss the Rochdale business.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
24 July 1811
Reddish's Hotel, London
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron has been out of town a few
days and has just returned. He has met with the moneylender George Thomas,
written to Mrs Massingberd, and assured Miller that his bill will be paid.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
☞ LETTER
26 July 1811
Crown Inn, Harrowgate
Margaret Keith Abercromby to Catherine Byron
Miss Abercrombie, a childhood friend,
congratulates Mrs Byron on her son's return to England and
relates the news from Harrogate, Yorkshire.
Source: John Murray Archive
28 July 1811
Reddish's Hotel, London
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron asks that John Hanson honor the bookseller Mr.
Miller's charges, which he hopes won't be protested.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
31 July 1811
[Reddish's Hotel, London]
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Lord Byron reminds John Hanson again about Miller's bill, asking that he not be involved "in fresh disgrace."
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
1 August 1811
Lord Byron is sent a note by
Benjamin Hutchinson, an apothecary, that his mother is "considerably
worse, so as to make me most apprehensive for the Event." Catherine
Byron died the same day.
Source: Doris Langley
Moore: Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered (1974)
2 August 1811
St. James's Street, London
Lord Byron to John Hanson
Having learned that his mother was deathly ill but not that she had died,
Lord Byron writes that he must leave town immediately and will draw upon John Hanson for £40.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
3 August 1811
arrives at Newstead Abbey; Charles Skinner Matthews drowns at Cambridge.
Source: Leslie A. Marchand:
Byron's Letters and Journals
☞ LETTER
August 1811
London
John Hanson to The Morning Herald
A death notice for Catherine Byron,
presumably by John Hanson, addressed to the Morning
Herald.
Source: John Murray Archive
Margaret Keith Abercromby (1754-1831) The youngest daughter of General James Abercromby (1706-81) of Glasshaugh, Banffshire;
she was a correspondent and probably a relation of Catherine Byron through the Duffs of
Fetteresso.
Thomas St Clair Abercromby (d. 1823) The eldest surviving son of General James Abercromby (1706-81) of Glasshaugh, Banffshire;
educated at Marischal College, Aberdeen, he was chaplain to the 12th Regiment of Foot (1774) and died at Rome.
Ali Pasha of Yannina (1740-1822) An Albanian warlord who expanded his territories during the Napoleonic wars but was
eventually suppressed by the Ottoman Turks; he entertained Byron in 1809.
Richard Barrow (1748 c.-1838) Educated at Sedbergh School and at St John's College, Cambridge, he was the schoolmaster
at Southwell, Nottinghamshire and vicar-choral of Southwell (1776-1838). He was the father
of William Hodgson Barrow MP (1784-1865)
John Thomas Becher (1770-1848) Born in Cork, Ireland, and educated at Westminster and at Christ Church, Oxford, he was
vicar-general of Southwell (1818) and rector of Barnburgh, Yorkshire (1830). He wrote on
political economy and was a friend of Byron, the Pigots and the Leacrofts.
William Henry Cavendish Cavendish-Bentinck, third duke of
Portland (1738-1809) The son of the second duke (d. 1762); allied with William Pitt, he was lord lieutenant of
Ireland (1782), chancellor of Oxford University (1792), home secretary (1794-1801), and
prime minister (1783, 1807).
John Birch (d. 1812) He was John Hanson's law partner in Chancery Lane to 1810.
Sir Joseph Birch, first baronet (1755-1833) The son of Thomas Birch, a wealthy Liverpool merchant, he was a Whig MP for Nottingham
(1803-03, 1818-30) and Ludgershall (1812-18).
John Bowers [Bodsy] (1750-1820) John Bowers (or Bower) was Byron's first Aberdeen schoolmaster; a genealogy list reports
that he married an Ann Touch in 1784.
William Lisle Bowles (1762-1850) An English poet and critic; he wrote of Fourteen Sonnets, elegiac and
descriptive, written during a Tour (1789), edited the Works of
Alexander Pope, 10 vols (1806), and issued pamphlets contributing to the
subsequent Pope controversy.
Francis Boyce (1783 c.-1807 fl.) He was Byron's valet at Cambridge, who he had transported for theft in 1807.
John Chambré Brabazon, tenth earl of Meath (1772-1851) The son of the eighth earl of Meath (d. 1790); he succeeded his brother in 1797 and was
lord lieutenant of County Dublin. He was made a British peer in 1831.
Hon. Juliana Brabazon, countess of Meath [née Chaworth] (1655 c.-1692) The daughter of Patrick Chaworth, third viscount Chaworth; in 1682 she married Chambre
Brabazon, fifth earl of Meath (d. 1715).
John Bridge (1755-1834) With his partner Philip Rundell he was jeweller to the royal family.
Benjamin Brothers (1840 fl.) He was the Nottingham upholsterer who furnished Newstead Abbey, one of Byron's major
creditors. The firm was dissolved in 1840, possibly by Brothers' son, also named
Benjamin.
Mary Brunton [née Balfour] (1778-1818) Scottish novelist; daughter of Colonel Thomas Balfour, she married Alexander Brunton in
1798 and resided in Edinburgh; her first novel, Self-Control, was
published in 1811.
George Butler (1774-1853) Educated at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, he succeeded Joseph Drury as headmaster at
Harrow (1805-29) after a contentious election and was dean of Peterborough
(1842-1853).
Catherine Byron [née Gordon] (1764-1811) The daughter of George Gordon of Gight; she married Capt. John Byron 12 May 1785 and was
the mother Lord Byron.
Hon. Elizabeth Byron, baroness Byron [née Chaworth] (1632-1682) The daughter of the second viscount Chaworth; in 1660 she married William Byron, third
baron Byron.
Lady Elizabeth Byron [née Shaw] (1726 c.-1788) Elizabeth Shaw married in 1747 the fifth lord Byron, from whom she later separated. She
was given a government pension. Birth date from unsourced genealogy sites.
Lady Frances Byron [née Berkeley] (1704 c.-1757) The daughter of William Berkeley, fourth baron Berkeley of Stratton (d. 1741) she was the
third wife of William, fourth baron Byron, married 1720.
Hon. Frances Byron [née Levett] (1736 c.-1822) The daughter of Elton Levett, M.D. of Nottingham; she married the Hon. George Byron, son
of the fourth baron Byron. She was apparently the “cursed old woman” of Swine Green who was
the satirical object of Byron's first extant poem.
George Gordon Byron, sixth baron Byron (1788-1824) The author of Childe Harold and Don
Juan.
Admiral John Byron [Foulweather Jack] (1723-1786) The son of the fourth Baron Byron; in 1741 he was shipwrecked while serving as a
midshipman in the Pacific under Commodore Anson, an account of which he published as The Narrative of the Hon. John Byron (1768).
John Byron [Mad Jack] (1756-1791) The dissolute son of Admiral John Byron; educated at Westminster School, he served in the
Coldstream Guards and was the father of Lord Byron and of Augusta Byron by a prior marriage
with Amelia Darcy, Baroness Darcy (1754-84).
Juliana Elizabeth Byron (d. 1788) The daughter of Admiral John Byron; in 1771 she married William Byron, son of William
Byron, fifth Baron Byron; in 1783 she married Sir Robert Wilmot, second baronet. She was
Lord Byron's aunt.
Sophia Byron [née Trevannion] (1730-1790) The daughter of John Trevannion of Carhays, Cornwall; she married Admiral John Byron 8
September 1748. She was a friend of Hester Thrale Piozzi and knew Dr. Johnson.
William Byron, fifth baron Byron (1722-1798) Byron's misanthropic great-uncle, from whom he inherited Newstead Abbey. He was the son
of the fourth baron (d. 1736) and as a young man served in the navy.
Hon. William Byron (1749-1776) The son of William Byron, fifth Baron Byron; educated at Eton College, he was MP for
Morpeth (1774).
William Byron (1772-1794) The son of William Byron (d. 1776) and grandson and heir of the fifth Lord Byron; he was
killed in action at Calvi in Corsica in July 1794.
Christiana Cary, viscountess Falkland [née Anton] (d. 1822) She married Captain Charles John Cary, ninth viscount Falkland in 1802; their third
child, born 5 October 1808, was named “Byron” after Lord Byron—who was much shaken when the
father was killed in a duel a few months later.
William Cavendish, fifth duke of Devonshire (1748-1811) Whig peer, the son of William Cavendish, fourth duke of Devonshire (d. 1764); a
fabulously wealthy but unsocial peer, in 1764 he married Lady Georgiana Spencer, who as
duchess became a renowned society hostess.
Anne Chaworth [née Bainbridge] (d. 1829) The daughter of a farmer, in 1785 she married George Chaworth of Annesley Park (d. 1791)
and was the mother of Byron's early love, Mary Ann Chaworth (1785-1832).
William Chaworth, second viscount Chaworth (1605-1644) He was born before 1619 and married Elizabeth Noel; he was the father of the Elizabeth
Chaworth (1632-1683) who married the third baron Byron.
Hewson Clarke (1787-1845 fl.) The Cambridge-educated son of a barber, the editor of The Scourge
(1811-12) and contributor to The Satirist (1807-14) was an early
mocker of Lord Byron; later in life he wrote a continuation of Hume's History of England, 2 vols (1832).
Mr Clay (1605-1644) Not identified; he was the tenant at Newstead Abbey, 1801-02.
Helen Clerk [née Duff] (d. 1812) The daughter of James Duff of Craigston; in 1761 she married the Edinburgh physician
David Clerk (1724-68).
James Clerk-Rattray (1763-1831) The son of the Edinburgh physician David Clerk (1724-68); he was a Scottish advocate,
sheriff-depute of Edinburgh (1794-1809), baron of the exchequer (1809) and friend of Sir
Walter Scott.
Mary Darcy, countess of Holderness [née Doublet] (1721 c.-1801) Mary Doublet married Robert Darcy, fourth earl of Holderness in 1743; she was the
grandmother of Augusta Leigh.
Scrope Berdmore Davies (1782-1852) Byron met his bosom friend while at Cambridge. Davies, a college fellow and professional
gambler, lent Byron funds to pay for his travels in Greece and Byron acted as second in
Davies' duels.
James Dearden (1774-1828) Of The Orchard, near Rochdale; in 1823 he purchased the Rochdale property from Lord
Byron, which he had been mining throughout the interminable lawsuit. Catherine Byron
described him as “the greatest Scoundrel on Earth.”
Henry Joseph Thomas Drury (1778-1841) The eldest son of Joseph Drury, Byron's headmaster; he was fellow of King's College,
Cambridge and assistant-master at Harrow from 1801 to 1841. In 1808 he married Ann Caroline
Tayler, whose sisters married Drury's friends Robert Bland and Francis Hodgson.
Joseph Drury (1751-1834) Educated at Westminster and at Trinity College, Cambridge, he was Byron's instructor at
Harrow School where he was headmaster from 1784 to 1805.
Mary Duff [née Morison] (1768 c.-1833) The daughter of George Morison of Haddo; in 1789 she married Lord Byron's godfather,
Robert William Duff (1767-1834). Her portrait was painted by Henry Raeburn.
James Farquhar (1764-1833) Of Johnston Lodge, Laurencekirk; educated at Aberdeen University, he was proctor of
Doctors’ Commons (1788-1833) and a Tory MP for Aberdeen Burghs (1802-18) and Portarlington
(1824-30). He assisted Catherine Byron in her son's affairs.
William Fletcher (1773-1841 fl.) Byron's valet, the son of a Newstead tenant; he continued in service to the end of the
poet's life, after which he was pensioned by the family. He was last heard of in
1841.
Thomas France (1779 c.-1859) He was a solicitor who worked in the office of John Hanson and afterwards in partnership
with William Henry Palmer. He retired in 1852.
Sir William Garrow (1760-1840) English barrister; educated at Lincoln's Inn, he was a Whig MP for Gatton (1805),
solicitor-general (1812), attorney-general (1813), and baron of the Exchequer
(1817-32).
King George III of Great Britain (1738-1820) He was king of Great Britain (1760-1820) succeeded by his son George IV who was regent
from 1810.
George Gordon, third earl of Aberdeen (1722-1801) The son of the second earl (d. 1746); he was a Scottish representative peer, succeeded by
his grandson, the statesman.
Margaret Duff- Gordon of Gight [née Duff] (1720-1801) The daughter of Patrick Duff of Craigston; she married Alexander Gordon of Gight, who
drowned in 1760. She did not approve of her granddaughter's marriage to Mad Jack Byron but
was reconciled after his death.
Sir James Grant, eighth baronet (1738-1811) Scottish agricultural improver; educated at Westminster School and at Christ's College,
Cambridge, he was MP for Elgin and Forres (1761-68) and Banff (1790-95), and
lord-lieutenant of Invernessshire (1794-1809).
Sir William Grant (1752-1832) After education at King's College, Aberdeen and military service in Canada he was a Tory
MP (1790-1812) and master of the rolls (1801-17).
Mary Gray (1800 fl.) She was Lord Byron's nurse, replacing her sister Agnes; her abusive treatment of her
charge came to light when in 1799 discussed the matter with John Hanson.
William Gray (1764-1846) He was a jeweler and culter in New Bond Street in partnership with his brother Robert;
their clients included the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York.
Henry Francis Greville (1760-1816) The son of Fulke Greville (1717-1805), he was a military officer, man of fashion, and
founder of the Pic-Nic Society and the Argyle Institution (1808).
Elizabeth Hanson (1766-1819) The spouse of Lord Byron's longtime solicitor and business agent; they were married in
1787.
Hargreaves Hanson (1788 c.-1811) Byron's classmate at Harrow, he was the son of Byron's longtime solicitor and business
agent. He died young of consumption.
John Hanson (1755-1841) He was Lord Byron's longtime solicitor and business agent, notorious for neglecting his
affairs. In 1798 he was appointed one of Byron's guardians; in 1824 he would be one of
Byron's executors.
Mr Hendrie Possibly a son of the London perfumer Lewis Hendrie (d. 1790); the family firm existed
well into the nineteenth century.
Catherine Hepburn [née Gordon] (1823 fl.) The daughter of Alexander Gordon, Lord Rockville (1739-92); in 1800 she married
Robert Hepburn of Clerkington (1766-1846).
Robert Hepburn (1766-1846) Of Clerkington, Midlothian, the son of Robert Hepburn (d. 1798); he was a landowner and philanthropist.
John Cam Hobhouse, baron Broughton (1786-1869) The founder of the Cambridge Whig Club, after traveling with Lord Byron in the orient he
was a radical MP for Westminster (1820-33) and MP for Nottingham (1834-47) and Harwich
(1848-51). He was Byron's executor.
George Hodgkinson (1761-1822) He was a Southwell, Nottinghamshire attorney. His sister Mary (d. 1801) married the Rev.
Richard Barrow. His diaries were published in 2011.
Francis Hodgson (1781-1852) Provost of Eton College, translator of Juvenal (1807) and close friend of Byron. He wrote
for the Monthly and Critical Reviews, and was
author of (among other volumes of poetry) Childe Harold's Monitor; or
Lines occasioned by the last Canto of Childe Harold (1818).
Frederick Howard, fifth earl of Carlisle (1748-1825) The son of the fourth earl (d. 1758); he was appointed Lord Byron's guardian in 1799;
they did not get along. He published a volume of Poems (1773) that
included a translation from Dante.
Hon. Isabella Howard, countess of Carlisle [née Byron] (1721-1795) The second wife of the fourth earl of Carlisle (1694-1758); she was the daughter of
William Byron, fourth lord Byron. In 1759 she was remarried to Sir William Musgrave, sixth
baronet (1735-1800).
John Hunter (1728-1793) A Scottish surgeon, the brother of the celebrated physician William Hunter
(1718-1783).
Francis Jeffrey, Lord Jeffrey (1773-1850) Educated at Glasgow University and at Edinburgh University, he was a barrister, Whig MP,
and co-founder and editor of the Edinburgh Review (1802-29). As a
reviewer he was the implacable foe of the Lake School of poetry.
Frances Lauder (d. 1822) The daughter and co-heir of Cornelius Launder (d. 1806) who was high sheriff of
Nottingham in 1775; she and her sister Ursula (afterwards Norton) were tenants of Newstead
Abbey in 1802-03.
John Laurie (1756-1830) Of Bartholomew's Close, London; he was a manufacturer of medical instruments who made the
truss for Byron's foot. He married Fanny, an illegitimate daughter of Sir John Guise,
baronet, of Highnam Court, Gloucestershire. Marchand gives his name as “Maurice.”
Hon. Augusta Mary Leigh [née Byron] (1783-1851) Lord Byron's half-sister; the daughter of Amelia Darcy, Baroness Conyers, she married
Lieutenant-Colonel George Leigh on 17 August 1807.
Frances Leigh [née Byron] (1749 c.-1823) The daughter of Admiral John Byron and Sophia Trevanion; in 1770 she married General
Charles Leigh (d. 1815). She was Byron's aunt and Augusta Leigh's mother-in-law.
George Leigh (1771-1850) Educated at Eton, he was an officer in the 10th Light Dragoons, gambler, and boon
companion of the Prince of Wales; he married Augusta Byron in 1807.
Edward Noel Long (1788-1809) Byron's classmate at Harrow, afterwards ensign in the Coldstream Guards; an ensign in the
Coldstream Guards, he drowned on the way to join his company in the Peninsular
Campaign.
Elizabeth Hawksmore Massingberd [née Waterhouse] (1777-1840) A Nottinghamshire woman, she was the widow of the naval captain Thomas Massingberd when
in 1802 Catherine Byron rented from her in Piccadilly. When Byron stayed with her in 1806
she led him into entanglements with money-lenders.
Charles Skinner Matthews (1785-1811) The libertine friend of Byron and Hobhouse at Trinity College, Cambridge; he was drowned
in the Cam.
Thomas Maurice (1754-1824) A poet and orientalist educated under Samuel Parr at Stanmore, and at Oxford; he was
assistant-keeper of manuscripts in the British Museum.
Owen Mealey (d. 1823) Byron's steward at Newstead Abbey, who lived at the gatehouse, known as the “Hutt.” He
was appointed by John Hanson in 1798 and dismissed in 1815. His will was proved 22 August
1823.
William Richard Beckford Miller (1769-1844) An Albemarle-Street bookseller who began publishing in 1790; shortly after he rejected
Byron's Childe Harold in 1811 his stock and premises were purchased
by John Murray.
James Milne (d. 1834) A London tailor in Lower Grosvenor-Street, he was one of Lord Byron's creditors. In 1786
he had bailed Byron's father out of King's Bench Prison.
Hannah More (1745-1833) English bluestocking writer and advocate for Christian morality; a founder of the
Religious Tract Society (1799) and author of Coelebs in Search of a
Wife (1808).
Sir Charles Morgan, first baronet (1726-1806) Educated at Westminster School and at Christ Church, Oxford, he was an English barrister
and MP for Brecon borough (1778-87) and Brecknockshire (1787-1806). He changed his name
from Gould to Morgan when he succeeded his brother-in-law in 1792.
Joe Murray (1736 c.-1820) Byron's elderly steward at Newstead Abbey who had served under the previous lord
Byron.
John Musters (1777-1849) Of Colwick Hall, Nottinghamshire; educated at Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford, he
married Mary Chaworth, the then object of Byron's affections, in 1805. His mother, a
society beauty painted by Joshua Reynolds, had a scandalous reputation.
Mary Ann Musters [née Chaworth] (1785-1832) The daughter of George Chaworth (d. 1791) and grand-niece of the Chaworth killed by
“Wicked Jack” Byron; she was the object of Byron's affections before and after she married
John Musters in 1805.
Ursula Norton [née Lauder] (1760 c.-1845) The daughter and co-heir of Cornelius Launder of Elton, Nottinghamshire (d. 1806); in
1807 she became the first wife of William Fletcher Norton (1781-1865), an illegitimate son
of the second baron Grantley.
William Norton, second baron Grantley (1742-1822) Of Grantley Hall, the son of the first baron (d. 1789); educated at Harrow and at St
John's College, Cambridge, he was minister to Switzerland (1765-83) and MP for Richmond
(1768-74), Wigtown Burghs (1774-75), Richmond (1775-80), Guildford (1782-84), and Surrey
(1784-89).
William Fletcher Norton (1781-1865) Of Elton Hall, Nottinghamshire, an illegitimate son of the second baron Grantley; he was
a director of the Nottingham Canal Company.
Catherine Osborne, duchess of Leeds [née Anguish] (1764-1837) The daughter of Thomas Anguish; in 1788 she became the second wife of Francis Godolphin
Osborne, fifth duke of Leeds. She was governess to Princess Caroline (1813) and mistress of
the robes to Queen Adelaide.
Augustus Parkyns (1755-1814 c.) The third son of George Parkyns, and grandson Sir Thomas Parkyns, second baronet, of
Bunny; he served as major in the Derbyshire militia and died in debt in or before
1814.
Elizabeth Ann Parkyns (1778 c.-1842 c.) The daughter of the Nottingham painter George Isham Cooper; she and her cousin Frances
Parkyns were childhood friends of Byron.
Frances Bridget Parkyns (1783-1842 c.) A childhood friend of Lord Byron who stayed with the Parkyns family in 1799 while his
foot was being tended. She was the daughter of Augustus Parkyns, nephew of Sir Thomas
Parkyns of Bunny Hall, whose wife Frances was the sister of Sir John Borlase Warren.
Elizabeth Bridget Pigot (1783-1866) Byron's early friend who lived with her mother and brothers at Southwell Green where
Byron visited his mother at Burgage Manor.
John Margaret Becher Pigot (1785 c.-1871) Byron's early correspondent who lived with his sister Elizabeth at Southwell Green before
pursuing medical studies in Edinburgh. He was a freemason and mayor of Nottingham
(1840-41).
Margaret Pigot [née Becher] (1750 c.-1811 fl.) She was the widow of the physician John Hollis Pigot and the mother of Lord Byron's
correspondents Elizabeth and John Pigot.
William Pitt the younger (1759-1806) The second son of William Pitt, earl of Chatham (1708-1778); he was Tory prime minister
1783-1801 and from 1804-06.
Lady Elizabeth Pringle [née Macleod] (d. 1826) The daughter of Norman MacLeod of MacLeod (1706-72) by his second wife; in
1767 she married Sir James Pringle of Stichill, fourth baronet (1726-1809).
Philip Rundell (1746-1827) With his partner John Bridge he was jeweller to the royal family. His worth at death was
said to have been nearly £1,500,000
Robert Rushton (1790 c.-1827 fl.) The son of a Newstead tenant, he was Byron's English servant who accompanied him as far
as Gibraltar on Byron's first journey.
Samuel Rushton (1760 c.-1814 fl.) The father of Byron's servant, Robert Rushton; he a tenant farmer at Newstead Abbey who
left when Thomas Claughton raised rents in 1814.
George Sanders (1774-1846) A Scottish portrait painter educated in Edinburgh; he made several portraits of Lord
Byron.
Samuel Elias Sawbridge (1769-1850) Of Olantigh, Kent, the son of a former lord mayor of London and nephew of Catherine
Macaulay; educated at Harrow and at Eton, he was a landowner and Whig MP for Canterbury
(1796-97, 1807). He was the militia colonel who loaned Byron money for his first journey to
Greece.
John Scott, first earl of Eldon (1751-1838) Educated at Oxford and at the Middle Temple, he was a barrister, MP (1783-99), and lord
chancellor (1801-27). He was legal counsel to the prince of Wales and an active opponent of
the Reform Bill.
Sir Walter Scott, baronet (1771-1832) Scottish poet, novelist, antiquary, biographer, editor, and sheriff.
Anna Seward [the Swan of Lichfield] (1742-1809) An English poet, patron, and letter-writer who was the center of a literary circle at
Lichfield. Her Poetical Works, 3 vols (1810) was edited by Walter
Scott.
Timothy Sheldrake (1758 c.-1836) He was a London instrument-maker who constructed an apparatus for Byron's lame
foot.
James Sykes (1774 c.-1816) Of Arundel Street, London, Navy agent; he was the brother of Admiral John Sykes
(1773–1858); in 1801 his sister Sarah married Rear-Admiral Richard Byron (1769-1837). John
Addington Symonds was a grandson.
John Charles Wallop, third earl of Portsmouth (1767-1853) The son of the second earl (d. 1797); he married in 1799 Grace Norton (d. 1831) and in
1814 Mary Anne Hanson, daughter of Byron's solicitor. In 1823 he was declared to be of
unsound mind and his second marriage was annulled in 1828. As a boy he had been tutored by
Jane Austen's father.
John William Ward, earl of Dudley (1781-1833) The son of William Ward, third viscount Dudley (d. 1823); educated at Edinburgh and at
Oxford, he was an English MP, sometimes a Foxite Whig and sometimes Canningite Tory, who
suffered from insanity in his latter years.
Hugh Watson of Torsonce (1776 c.-1834) He was writer to the signet in Edinburgh (1797) and Catherine Byron's Scottish
solicitor.
James Watson (1747-1805) He was writer to the signet in Edinburgh (1770) and Catherine Byron's Scottish
solicitor.
William Wylde (1773-1848) Educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, he was a landowner, magistrate, militia colonel
and from 1806 a Southwell banker in partnership with his son John Charles.
Henry Edward Gould Yelverton, nineteenth baron Grey de
Ruthyn (1780-1810) The lessee of Newstead Abbey; baptized Henry Edward Gould, he changed his name to
Yelverton in 1799 when he succeeded his grandfather in the title. He married Ann Maria
Kelham, 21 June 1809.