Lord Byron additional surname "Gordon", becoming "John Byron Gordon", and he was occasionally styled "John Byron Gordon of Gight." Byron himself used this surname for a time and was registered at school in Aberdeen as "George Byron Gordon." At the age of 10 he inherited the English Barony of Byron of Rochdale, becoming "Lord Byron", and eventually dropped the double surname. Byron's paternal grandparents were Vice-Admiral the Hon. John "Foulweather Jack" Byron, and Sophia Trevanion. Vice Admiral John Byron had circumnavigated the globe and was the younger brother of the 5th Baron Byron, known as "the Wicked Lord". He was christened at
William Byron (MP) with his cousin Juliana Elizabeth Byron, daughter of Admiral John Byron. Byron contested Morpeth at the 1774 general election on the Carlisle interest. He was defeated, but seated as Member of Parliament on petition on 28 January 1775. There is no record of any vote or speech by him in the eighteen months he was in Parliament. Byron as heir was due to inherit the Barony, but he died on 22 June 1776. His son was killed by cannon fire in 1794 while fighting in Corsica and the barony ultimately went to the poet Lord Byron. William Byron (MP) Hon.