Lord Byron

Born in London on 22nd January 1788, the poet Lord Byron, or George Gordon Lord Byron - Sixth Baron Byron of Rochdale, was the archetypal Regency buck.

Byron's poems delivered a message of liberation, and were inspired by his own loves and griefs. He wrote of 'the gorgeous east', the wonders of Italy and Greece, where he spent much of his life.

His works Childe Harold, Lara, and Manfred and Don Juan demonstrate the work of poet whose ego knew no bounds.

His romantic nature and passion for politics saw him set sail to Greece to aid the Greeks against the Ottoman overlords, but before he could see any serious conflict, he died of a fever on 19th April 1824.

Byron lives on not only in his poetry, but also in his creation of the 'Byronic hero' - the persona of a brooding melancholy young man, forever pondering a dark mysterious past. How much of this brooding personality was down to the darker forces Byron no doubt knew existed is debatable, but in death he still fights for liberation of a greater kind, as one of the defenders of Albion.