William Byron, 5th Baron Byron William Byron, 5th Baron Byron William Byron, 5th Baron Byron (5 November 1722 – 19 May 1798), was a British nobleman, peer, politician, and great uncle of the poet George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron who succeeded him . As a result of a number of stories that arose after a duel, and then because of his financial difficulties, he became known as "the Wicked Lord" and "the Devil Byron". Byron was the son of William Byron, 4th Baron Byron and his wife Hon. Frances Berkeley, a descendant of John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton. He inherited his title
Lord Byron Byron is not a thing of which England should be ashamed ... a bust or a tablet might be put in the Poets' Corner and England be relieved of ingratitude toward one of her really great sons." Robert Ripley had drawn a picture of Boatswain's grave with the caption "Lord Byron's dog has a magnificent tomb while Lord Byron himself has none". This came as a shock to the English, particularly schoolchildren, who, Ripley said, raised funds of their own accord to provide the poet with a suitable memorial. Close to the centre of Athens, Greece, outside the National Garden,