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 heiress of Gight in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The Byron family had a spotted history, with a history of inconstancy and debt, and the fifth Lord Byron gained reputations of being a whoremaster and a murderer. The poet's father, John Byron, was the first child of Vice-Admiral John "Foulweather Jack" Byron, the second son of the fourth Lord Byron. Like the rest of his family, his personal history was one of turmoil; he was one of nine children and was sent to a military school when it became clear that he was unfit for academia. He gambled profusely until his parents refused