View source for John Byron

{{Short description|Royal Navy officer, explorer and colonial administrator}}
{{other people}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2022}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix = [[Vice-Admiral of the White]] [[The Honourable]]
| name          = John Byron
| image         = John_Byron-Joshua_Reynolds-1759.jpg
| caption       = 1759 portrait of Byron by [[Joshua Reynolds]]
| birth_date    = 8 November 1723
| death_date    = 10 April 1786 (aged 62)
| birth_place   = 
| death_place   = London, England
| placeofburial = Church of St Mary the Virgin, [[Twickenham]]
| nickname      = 
| allegiance    = [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]]
| branch        = [[Royal Navy]]
| serviceyears  = 1731–1786
| rank          = [[Vice-Admiral of the White]]
| commands      = [[HMS Siren|HMS ''Siren'']]<br>[[HMS Dolphin (1751)|HMS ''Dolphin'']]<br>[[Leeward Islands Station]]
| battles       = {{Tree list}}
* [[Seven Years' War]]
** [[Battle of Restigouche]]
* [[American War of Independence]]
** [[Battle of Grenada]]
{{tree list/end}}
| laterwork     = 
| spouse        = {{marriage|Sophia Trevanion|8 September 1748}}
| children      = 9 (incl. [[John Byron (British Army officer)|John]])
}}

[[Vice-Admiral of the White]] '''John Byron''' (8 November 1723 – 1 April 1786) was a [[Royal Navy]] officer, explorer and colonial administrator. He earned the nickname "'''Foul-Weather Jack'''" in the British press due to his frequent encounters with bad weather at sea.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brand|first=Emily|title=The Fall of the House of Byron|publisher=John Murray|year=2020|pages=183}}</ref> As a [[midshipman]], Byron sailed in a squadron under [[George Anson, 1st Baron Anson|George Anson]] on his [[George Anson's voyage around the world|voyage around the world]], though Byron's ship, [[HMS Wager (1739)|HMS ''Wager'']], made it only to southern Chile, where it was wrecked. He returned to England with the captain of the ship. 

Byron was appointed [[governor of Newfoundland]] following [[Hugh Palliser]], who left in 1768. He circumnavigated the world as a commodore with his own squadron in 1764–1766. Byron fought in several battles of the [[Seven Years' War]] and the [[American War of Independence]], and rose to vice admiral before his death in 1786. His grandsons include the poet [[Lord Byron]] and the admiral and explorer [[George Byron, 7th Baron Byron]]. One of Byron's great-granddaughters was the mathematician and informatics pioneer [[Ada Lovelace]].

==Early career==
Byron was the second son of [[William Byron, 4th Baron Byron]] and [[Frances Byron, Baroness Byron|Frances Berkeley]], the daughter of [[William Berkeley, 4th Baron Berkeley of Stratton|William, 4th Baron Berkeley]]. After studying at [[Westminster School]] he joined the Royal Navy at the age of 14, making his first voyage aboard HMS ''Romney'' in 1738–40.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brand|first=Emily|title=The Fall of the House of Byron|publisher=John Murray|year=2020|pages=78}}</ref>

==Anson's voyage around the world==
In 1740, he accompanied [[George Anson, 1st Baron Anson|George Anson]] on his [[George Anson's voyage around the world|voyage around the world]] as a [[midshipman]] aboard one of the several ships in the squadron. 

[[File:Wreck of the Wager.jpg|thumb|Wreck of the [[HMS Wager (1739)| ''Wager'']]]]
On 14 May 1741, [[HMS Wager (1739)|HMS ''Wager'']] was shipwrecked on the coast of Chile on what is now called [[Wager Island]] and Byron was one of the survivors.<ref name="dcb">{{cite DCB|url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/byron_john_4E.html|title=Byron, John|first=W. A. B.|last=Douglas|volume=4|accessdate=27 June 2015}}</ref> Under the tenuous command of Captain David Cheape, who was only promoted to the position mid-voyage following the death of his predecessor, the survivors bickered amongst themselves and split into factions. A large group of sailors, including Byron, eventually defied Cheape's authority and sailed east to Portuguese Brazil, targeting Rio Grande do Sul on the Atlantic coast. Days into the journey, Byron and several others returned to the Captain and his remaining small party. 

Cheape's party consisted of 19 men after the deserters rejoined the camp. This included the surgeon Elliot and Lieutenant Hamilton, as well as Byron and fellow midshipman Alexander Campbell. They rowed up the coast but were punished by continuous rain, headwinds and waves that threatened the boats. One night while the men slept on shore, one of the boats was capsized while at anchor and was swept out to sea with its two boatkeepers. One of the men got ashore but the other drowned. As it was now impossible for them all to fit in the remaining boat, four marines were left ashore with muskets to fend for themselves. The winds prevented them from getting around the headland so they returned to pick up the marines only to find them gone. They returned to Wager Island in early February 1742. With one death on the journey, there were now 13 in the group.

[[Martín Olleta]], a [[Chono people|Chono]] chieftain, guided the men up the coast to the Spanish settlements of [[Chiloé Island]] so they set out again. Two men died; after burying the bodies, the six seamen rowed off in the boat never to be seen again while Cheape, Hamilton, Byron, Campbell and the dying Elliot were on shore looking for food. Olleta then agreed to take the remaining four on by canoe for their only remaining possession, a musket. It is likely the party travelled across [[Presidente Ríos Lake]] in inland [[Taitao Peninsula]], a lake Chile regarded as officially discovered in 1945.<ref name=VasquezRicardo>{{cite journal |last1=Vásquez Caballero |first1=Ricardo Felipe |title=Aau, el secreto de los chono |url=http://www.historianaval.cl/publico/publicacion_archivo/publicaciones/13_3.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160323015013/http://www.historianaval.cl/publico/publicacion_archivo/publicaciones/13_3.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-23 |url-status=live |language=es |access-date=24 January 2019}}</ref><ref name=Alvarezetal2015>{{cite journal |last1=Álvarez A. |first1=Ricardo |last2=Navarro P. |first2=Magdalena |last4=Donoso C. |first4=Cristián|last3=Saavedra G. |first3=Gonzalo |date=2015 |title=Referencias exploratorias sobre el lago Presidente Ríos, para sortear el Istmo de Ofqui, Península de Taitao, Región de Aysén |url=https://scielo.conicyt.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0718-22442015000100006 |journal=[[Magallania]]|trans-title=Exploratory references on Presidente Ríos lake, for routes round the Ofqui Isthmus, Taitao Peninsula, Aysén Region, Chile|language=es |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages= 91–101|doi=10.4067/S0718-22442015000100006   |access-date=21 December 2019|doi-access=free }}</ref> Eventually they made it to be taken prisoner by the Spanish. The Spaniards treated them well and they were eventually taken to the inland capital of [[Santiago]] where they were released on parole. The Spaniards heard that Anson had been generous in the treatment of the prisoners he had taken and this kindness was returned.

Byron and the other three men stayed in Santiago till late 1744 and were offered passage on a French ship bound for Spain. Three accepted the passage. Campbell elected to take a mule across the Andes and joined the Spanish [[José Alfonso Pizarro|Admiral Pizarro]] in Montevideo on the ''Asia'' only to find Isaac Morris and the two seamen who had been abandoned in [[Mar del Plata|Freshwater Bay]] on the Atlantic coast. After time in prison in Spain, Campbell reached Britain in May 1746, followed by the other three two months later.

In England, the official court martial examined only the loss of the ''Wager'' in which Baynes, in nominal charge at the time, was acquitted of blame but reprimanded for omissions of duty. Disputes over what happened after the wreck were instead played out as Bulkeley and Cummins, Campbell, Morris, the cooper Young and later Byron published their own accounts, the last of which was the only one that in any way defended Cheap who had since died. Twenty-nine crew members plus seven marines made it back to England.

Byron's account of his adventures and the [[Wager Mutiny|''Wager'' Mutiny]] are recounted in ''The Narrative of the Honourable John Byron'' (1768). His book sold well enough to be printed in several editions.

Byron was appointed captain of {{HMS|Siren|1745|6}} in December 1746.<ref name=dcb/>

==Seven Years' War==
{{Main|Great Britain in the Seven Years' War}}
In 1760, during the Seven Years' War, Byron commanded a squadron sent to destroy the fortifications at [[Louisbourg]], Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, which had been [[Siege of Louisbourg (1758)|captured by the British]] two years before. They wanted to ensure it could not be used by the French in Canada. In July of that year he defeated the French flotilla sent to relieve [[New France]] at the [[Battle of Restigouche]].

== Commodore, governor, and vice admiral ==
In early 1764 the British Admiralty determined that it would require a permanent naval settlement off the South American coast, in order to resupply naval vessels seeking to enter the Pacific via [[Cape Horn]]. Captain Byron was selected to explore the South Atlantic for a suitable island upon which to establish such a settlement. The South American mainland was controlled by Spain, which was hostile to local expansion of British interests; to disguise Byron's mission it was announced that he had been appointed the new Navy [[Commander-in-Chief, East Indies]]. Byron set sail in June 1764, ostensibly to take up the East Indies post. For the voyage he was granted command of the 24-gun frigate {{HMS|Dolphin|1751|6}} and the 16-gun [[sloop-of-war|sloop]] {{HMS|Tamar|1758|6}}.<ref name="Rea">{{cite journal | last = Rea | first = Robert R. | title = Florida and the Royal Navy's Floridas | journal = The Florida Historical Quarterly | volume = 60 | issue = 2 | pages = 187–191 | publisher = [[Florida Historical Society]] | date = October 1981 }}</ref>

[[File:Pepys island.JPG|thumb|left|150px|The mythical [[Pepys Island]], which Byron searched for in 1764–1765. Illustration by William Hacke, 1699.]]

Byron's two-vessel flotilla crossed the Atlantic over the winter of 1764 and made its way slowly down the South American coast. The Admiralty had ordered Byron to first seek [[Pepys Island]], reputedly discovered off the Patagonian coast by the corsair [[Ambrose Cowley]] in 1683. Byron reached the co-ordinates given by Cowley in January 1765, but there was no sign of the island and the search was swiftly abandoned.{{NoteTag|Historian Robert Rea describes Pepys Island as "completely mythical;" Cowley's description of it was either fictional or a mistaken landfall among the Falklands.<ref name="Rea" />}} On 5 February Byron reached the Patagonian settlement of [[Port Desire]] where he resupplied his vessels from the storeship HMS ''Florida''.<ref name="Rea" />

Between June 1764 and May 1766, Byron completed his own circumnavigation of the globe as captain of [[HMS Dolphin (1751)|HMS ''Dolphin'']]. This was the first such circumnavigation that was accomplished in less than 2 years.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.solarnavigator.net/circumnavigation.htm |title=Circumnavigation: Notable global maritime circumnavigations |publisher=Solarnavigator.net |access-date=2009-07-20}}</ref> His actions [[Falklands Crisis (1770)|nearly caused a war]] between [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] and Spain, as both countries had armed fleets ready to contest the sovereignty of the [[Falkland Islands]]. Later Byron encountered islands and extant residents of the [[Tuamotus]] and [[Tokelau]] Islands, and [[Nikunau]] in the southern [[Gilbert Islands]]; he also visited [[Tinian]] in the [[Northern Marianas Islands]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Officer on Board the said Ship|title=Voyage Round the World, in His Majesty's ship the Dolphin, commanded by the Honourable Commodore Byron|url=https://archive.org/details/A020088/page/n5/mode/2up|year=1767|publisher=J. Newbery and F. Newbery|location=London}}</ref> A notable member of Byron's crew was Master's Mate [[Erasmus Gower]] whom Byron chose to 'take a significant part' in the ceremony when he took possession of the [[Falkland Islands]]. Byron had examined Gower for his lieutenant's examination in 1762 and was so impressed that he chose him to accompany him on his own circumnavigation (1764–65) and ensured that he was appointed as lieutenant to Commander [[Philip Carteret]] immediately afterwards in the next circumnavigation (1766–69).<ref>{{cite book |last = Bates |first = Ian M. |title = Champion of the Quarterdeck: Admiral Sir Erasmus Gower (1742-1814) |publisher = Sage Old Books |isbn = 9780958702126 |pages = 28, 35–73 |edition = 1st |url = https://www.sageoldbooks.com/champion_sale.shtml |date = 31 May 2017 }}</ref>

In 1769 he was appointed governor of [[Colony of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]] off the mainland of Canada, an office he held for the next three years.<ref name="dcb" />

He was promoted to [[rear admiral]] on 31 March 1775. In 1779, he served as Commander-in-chief of the [[Leeward Islands Station]]<ref>{{cite book |last = Haydn |first = Joseph |title = The Book of Dignities: Containing Lists of the Official Personages of the British Empire ... from the Earliest Periods to the Present Time ... Together with the Sovereigns and Rulers of Europe, from the Foundation of Their Respective States; the Peerage of England and Great Britain Original 1851 Digitized by the University of Michigan |date = 13 June 2008 |publisher = Longmans, Brown, Green, and Longmans |page = 279 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=aURnAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Admiral+William+O%27Bryen+Drury%22&pg=PA272 |language = en }}</ref> during the [[American War of Independence]]. After being severely injured during a storm on his way to the West Indies, Byron unsuccessfully attacked a French fleet under the [[Charles Hector, comte d'Estaing|Comte d'Estaing]] at the [[Battle of Grenada]] in July 1779.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brand|first=Emily|title=The Fall of the House of Byron|publisher=John Murray|year=2020|pages=183, 187}}</ref> He subsequently resigned his post and returned to England, where he suffered from poor health for the rest of his life.

Byron was briefly [[North America and West Indies Station|Commander-in-Chief, North American Station]] from 1 October 1779.<ref>[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/10320?docPos=1 James Gambier, "John Byron"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''</ref> He was made [[vice admiral]] of the white in September 1780.<ref name="dcb" />

==Family==
[[File:JohnByron 01.jpg|thumb|200px|John Byron Death Notice]]
On 8 September 1748 he married his first cousin Sophia Trevanion, daughter of John Trevanion of [[Caerhays Castle|Caerhays]] in Cornwall and Barbara Berkeley, the sister of his mother.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UJFIAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA255 |title=A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland Vol. I|author=John Burke, Esq.|publisher=[[Henry Colburn]]|page=255|date= 1834|access-date=2018-06-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OpxfAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA47 |title=A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire|author=Sir Bernard Burke, LL.D.|publisher=Harrison, 59, Pall Mall|page=47|date= 1866|access-date=2018-06-13}}</ref> They had two sons and seven daughters:<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brand|first=Emily|title=The Fall of the House of Byron|publisher=John Murray|year=2020|pages=96–102}}</ref>

* Frances Byron (1749–1823), later married Charles Leigh
* Sophia Byron (died in infancy)
* Isabella Byron (died in infancy)
* Juliana Elizabeth Byron (1754–88), later married her cousin Hon. [[William Byron (MP)|William Byron]] (d. 1776, son of [[William Byron, 5th Baron Byron]])
* Sophia Maria Byron (1755–1821), the 'maiden aunt' of the poet [[George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron|George Gordon Byron]]
* [[John "Mad Jack" Byron]] (1757–91), who in turn fathered the poet [[George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron|George Gordon Byron]], the future 6th Baron Byron
* George Anson Byron (1758–93), noted navy officer and father of [[George Byron, 7th Baron Byron|George Anson Byron]] junior, another admiral and explorer and later the 7th Baron Byron
* Charlotte Byron (died in infancy) 
* Augusta Barbara Charlotte Byron (1762–1824), later married Admiral Christopher Parker

John was the brother of Hon. George Byron, married to Frances Levett, daughter of Elton [[Levett]] of [[Nottingham]], a descendant of Ambrose Elton, Esq., [[High Sheriff of Herefordshire]] in 1618 and a surgeon in Nottingham.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QK-4tHp4dzgC&q=elton&pg=PA58 |title=The Genealogy of the Existing British Peerage with Brief Histories of the Family Histories of the Nobility, Edmund Lodge, London, 1832 |access-date=2009-07-20|last1=Lodge |first1=Edmund |year=1832 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/agenealogicalac00mayogoog |page=[https://archive.org/details/agenealogicalac00mayogoog/page/n36 16] |quote=thomas levett lichfield. |title=A Genealogical Account of the Mayo and Elton Families of the Counties of Wilts and Hereford, Charles Herbert Mayo, London, 1882 |publisher=Privately printed by C. Whittingham |year=1882 |access-date=2009-07-20|last1=Mayo |first1=Charles Herbert }}</ref>

==Death and legacy==

According to a note written by his wife Sophia to their financial agent, John Byron died on 1 April 1786 at home in Bolton Row, London (not 10 April, as subsequent biographies claim).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brand|first=Emily|title=The Fall of the House of Byron|publisher=John Murray|year=2020|pages=231}}</ref> On that date nine days later his remains were buried in the Berkeley family vault situated beneath the chancel of the [[St Mary's Church, Twickenham|Church of St Mary the Virgin]], [[Twickenham]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.twickenham-museum.org.uk/detail.asp?ContentID=86 |title=At Twickenham Park, Lord John Berkeley |publisher=The Twickenham Museum |access-date=27 June 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Brand|first=Emily|title=The Fall of the House of Byron|pages=232}}</ref>

John's life was a great inspiration for his grandson the poet [[George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron|George Gordon Byron]], though they never met. The poet both drew from his grandfather's experiences in his writing, using his 'Narrative' for the shipwreck scene in [[Don Juan (poem)|''Don Juan'']], and wrote of the kinship he felt in having such a turbulent, unlucky life: he wrote in an epistle to his half-sister [[Augusta Leigh]] that "he had no rest at sea, nor I on shore".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brand|first=Emily|title=The Fall of the House of Byron|publisher=John Murray|year=2020|pages=77}}</ref>

==In fiction==
John Byron's experiences in the Anson voyage form the basis of the novel ''[[The Unknown Shore]]'' by [[Patrick O'Brian]]. It closely follows Byron's account in ''The Narrative of the Honourable John Byron'' (1768).

In ''[[The Dark Design]]'' by [[Philip José Farmer]], John Byron is a crewmember of the schooner ''The Razzle Dazzle''.

== Bibliography ==

* Emily Brand, ''The Fall of the House of Byron'' (John Murray, 2020)
* James Gambier, "John Byron", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''
* Peter Shankland, ''Byron of the Wager'' (Collins, 1975)
* Violet Walker, ''The House of Byron'' (Quiller Press, 1988)

==See also==
* [[Baron Byron]]
* [[Cape Byron]] in Australia, named after Byron
* [[European and American voyages of scientific exploration]]
* [[List of incidents of cannibalism]]
* [[List of Newfoundland and Labrador lieutenant-governors]]
* [[List of people of Newfoundland and Labrador]]

== Notes ==
{{NoteFoot}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikisource1911Enc|Byron, Hon. John}}
* {{Gutenberg author | id=Byron,+John | name=John Byron}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=John Byron |sopt=t}}
*[http://www.heritage.nf.ca/govhouse/governors/g23.html Biography at Government House ''The Governorship of Newfoundland and Labrador'']
*[http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/ships/html/sh_027600_hmsdolphin.htm Ships of the World: An Historical Encyclopedia - HMS ''Dolphin''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051210083542/http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/ships/html/sh_027600_hmsdolphin.htm |date=10 December 2005 }}
*{{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Byron, John|year=1900 |short=x |notaref=x}}
*{{Citation
 | last1=Hawkesworth | first1=John   | author-link1=John Hawkesworth (book editor)
 | last2=Byron       | first2=John   | author-link2=John Byron
 | last3=Wallis      | first3=Samuel | author-link3=Samuel Wallis
 | last4=Carteret    | first4=Philip | author-link4=Philip Carteret
 | last5=Cook        | first5=James  | author-link5=James Cook       
 | last6=Banks       | first6=Joseph | author-link6=Joseph Banks
 | title=An account of the voyages undertaken by the order of His present Majesty for making discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere, and successively performed by Commodore Byron, Captain Wallis, Captain Carteret, and Captain Cook, in the Dolphin, the Swallow, and the Endeavour drawn up from the journals which were kept by the several commanders, and from the papers of Joseph Banks, esq 
 |title-link = An Account of the Voyages
 | date=1773 
 | publisher=London Printed for W. Strahan and T. Cadell
 }}, [http://southseas.nla.gov.au/journals/hv01/contents.html Volume I], [http://southseas.nla.gov.au/journals/hv23/contents.html Volume II-III]

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{{s-bef|before=[[Hugh Palliser|Sir Hugh Palliser]]}} 
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of lieutenant governors of Newfoundland and Labrador#Commodore-Governors of Newfoundland, 1729–1825|Commodore Governor of Newfoundland]]|years=1769–1771}} 
{{s-aft|after=[[Molyneux Shuldham, 1st Baron Shuldham|Molyneux Shuldham]]}}
|-
{{s-mil}}
{{s-bef | before=[[Samuel Barrington]]}}
{{s-ttl | title=[[Leeward Islands Station|Commander-in-Chief, Leeward Islands Station]] | years=1779}}
{{s-aft | after=[[Hyde Parker (Royal Navy officer, born 1739)|Sir Hyde Parker]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[James Gambier (Royal Navy officer)|James Gambier]]}} 
{{s-ttl|title=[[North America and West Indies Station|Commander-in-Chief, North American Station]]|years=1779}} 
{{s-aft|after=[[Mariot Arbuthnot]]}}
{{S-end}}
{{NLLG}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Byron, John}}
[[Category:1723 births]]
[[Category:1786 deaths]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the French and Indian War]]
[[Category:Royal Navy personnel of the American Revolutionary War]]
[[Category:Byron family|John]]
[[Category:Circumnavigators of the globe]]
[[Category:English explorers]]
[[Category:British explorers of the Pacific]]
[[Category:Lord Byron]]
[[Category:Governors of Newfoundland Colony]]
[[Category:Royal Navy vice admirals]]
[[Category:British sea captains]]
[[Category:Younger sons of barons]]