Lord Byron in popular culture from characterisations of Byron. The image of a vampire portrayed as an aristocrat was created by John William Polidori in "The Vampyre", during the summer of 1816 which he spent in the company of Byron. The titled Count Dracula is a reprise of this character. Tom Holland, in his 1995 novel "The Vampyre: Being the True Pilgrimage of George Gordon, Sixth Lord Byron", romantically describes how Lord Byron became a vampire during his first visit to Greece — a fictional transformation that explains much of his subsequent behaviour towards family and friends, and finds support in quotes from Byron poems
William Byron, 5th Baron Byron including that he: These stories contributed to his being nicknamed "the Wicked Lord", a title he very much enjoyed. The stories have been propagated particularly by biographers of Byron's great nephew, the poet. Elizabeth left him in this period after the duel. Upon her departure, Byron took one of the servants as his mistress. The woman's name was Hardstaff, but she was known primarily as "Lady Betty". Byron schemed to resolve his serious financial difficulties through a judicious marriage of William, his son and heir, into a wealthy family. But just before the marriage William eloped with his cousin Juliana