John Byron

Vice-Admiral John Byron, RN (November 8, 1723 – April 10, 1786) was an English vice-admiral. Byron was the sixth child of William Byron, 4th Baron Byron of Rochdale (4 January 1669/70 – 8 August 1736), and the third child (second son) William Byron had with his second wife Hon. Frances Berkeley. He was known as "Foul-weather Jack" because of his frequent bad luck with weather.

He joined the navy at a young age, accompanying Baron Anson on his circumnavigation as a midshipman. On 14 May 1741, Byron's ship, "HMS Wager", was shipwrecked on the coast of Patagonia, and the survivors decided to split in two teams, one to make its way by boat to Rio de Janeiro, the other, John Byron's, to sail North and meet Spaniards. He wrote of his adventures in "The Narrative of the Honourable John Byron" (1768), which sold well enough to appear in several editions. These experiences form the basis of the novel "The Unknown Shore" by Patrick O'Brian, which closely follows Byron's own account.

In 1760 he was in command of a squadron sent to destroy the fortifications at Louisbourg. In July of that year he defeated the French flotilla sent to relieve New France at the Battle of Restigouche.

Between June 1764 and May 1766 Byron completed his own circumnavigation as captain of HMS "Dolphin". In 1765 he took possession of the Falkland Islands on the part of Britain on the ground of prior discovery, and his doing so was nearly the cause of a war between Great Britain and Spain, both countries having armed fleets to contest the sovereignty of the barren islands. On this voyage, Byron discovered islands of the Tuamotus, Tokelau and the Gilbert Islands, and visited Tinian in the Northern Marianas Islands.

In 1769 he was appointed governor of Newfoundland, an office he held for the next three years. He became rear admiral on 31 March 1775, and vice admiral on 29 January 1778. He was made Commander-in-chief of the British fleet in the West Indies in 1778 and 1779 during the American War of Independence. He unsuccessfully attacked a French fleet under the Comte d'Estaing at the Battle of Grenada in July 1779.

On 8 September 1748, he married Sophia Trevannion, daughter of John Trevannion of Carhays in Cornwall, by whom he had two sons and seven daughters, three of whom died in infancy. Their eldest son, John "Mad Jack" Byron, in turn fathered the poet Lord Byron. John Byron was also the grandfather of George Anson Byron, another admiral and explorer. He 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. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=QK-4tHp4dzgC&pg=PA58&lpg=PA58&dq=levett+anson&source=web&ots=zKcxR_LQWi&sig=mybsbbQ3Ajc8g3n9VxY32A9TzJY&hl=en The Genealogy of the Existing British Peerage with Brief Histories of the Family Histories of the Nobility, Edmund Lodge, London, 1832] ] [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=rmEBAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA16&lpg=PA16&dq=%22thomas+levett%22+lichfield&source=web&ots=s-stLqZkQR&sig=KrKV9NiTNzM2lNgJmkG5Ga0oK-A&hl=en#PPA16,M1 A Genealogical Account of the Mayo and Elton Families of the Counties of Wilts and Hereford, Charles Herbert Mayo, London, 1882] ]

See also

* Governors of Newfoundland
* List of people of Newfoundland and Labrador
* Cape Byron in Australia, named after Byron

Refences

* [http://www.thepeerage.com/e686.htm Biography of John Byron at thePeerage.com]

External links

* [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"]