Richard Byron, 12th Baron Byron to the title of 12th Baron Byron in 1983 upon the death of his fifth cousin Rupert Frederick George Byron, 11th Baron Byron, in Australia. Lord Byron died on 15 June 1989 at age 89, whereupon his surviving son Robert Byron became the 13th Baron. Richard Byron, 12th Baron Byron Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Geoffrey Gordon Byron, 12th Baron Byron DSO (3 November 1899 – 15 June 1989) was a British nobleman, peer, politician, and army officer. He was a descendant of a cousin of Romantic poet and writer, George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron. Byron was the son of Col. Richard
Lord Byron and the Blessingtons. Lady Blessington based much of the material in her book, "Conversations with Lord Byron", on the time spent together there. This book became an important biographical text about Byron’s life just prior to his death. Byron was living in Genoa when, in 1823, while growing bored with his life there, he accepted overtures for his support from representatives of the movement for Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire. At first, Byron did not wish to leave his twenty-two-year-old mistress Countess Teresa Guiccioli who had abandoned her husband to live with him; ultimately Guiccioli's father, Count Gamba was