Allegra Byron 1819 poem "Julian and Maddalo: A Conversation": In the next stanza he imagines her grown to a woman: "A wonder of this earth ... Like one of Shakespeare's women." Allegra Byron Clara Allegra Byron (12 January 1817 – 20 April 1822) was the illegitimate daughter of the poet George Gordon, Lord Byron and Claire Clairmont. Born in Bath, England, she was initially named Alba, meaning "dawn", or "white", by her mother. At first she lived with her mother, her mother's stepsister, Mary Shelley, and Mary's husband Percy Bysshe Shelley. When she was fifteen months old, she was turned over to
Early life of Lord Byron This experience affected Byron greatly, as he described in his poetry, especially his memory of the mountain of Lochnagar and a girl named Mary. He soon fell in love with another Mary, a cousin, and would still think of her until he was 27. On 21 May 1798, the death of Byron's great-uncle, the "wicked" Lord Byron, allowed the 10-year-old to become the 6th Baron Byron; he inherited the Rochdale estate in Lancashire, and Newstead Abbey in Nottinghamshire, coming under the care of his relative, Frederick Howard, Earl of Carlisle. Byron noticed no difference in how he was treated until