John Byron
Encyclopedia
Vice Admiral
The Hon. John Byron, RN
(8 November 1723 – 10 April 1786) was a Royal Navy
officer. He was known as Foul-weather Jack because of his frequent bad luck with weather.
and Frances Berkeley. He joined the navy in 1731, accompanying George Anson
on his circumnavigation
as a midshipman
. On 14 May 1741, Byron's ship, HMS Wager
, was shipwrecked on the coast of Patagonia
, and the survivors decided to split in two teams, one to make its way by boat to Rio de Janeiro
, the other, John Byron's, to sail North and meet Spaniards. He described his adventures and the Wager Mutiny
in The Narrative of the Honourable John Byron (1768), which sold well enough to appear in several editions. These experiences form the basis of the novel
The Unknown Shore
by Patrick O'Brian
, which closely follows Byron's own account.
Byron was commissioned captain of in December 1746.
two years before. In July of that year he defeated the French flotilla sent to relieve New France
at the Battle of Restigouche
.
Between June 1764 and May 1766 Byron completed his own circumnavigation as captain of HMS Dolphin
. This was the first circumnavigation in less than 2 years. During this voyage he took possession of the Falkland Islands
on the part of Britain, in 1765, on the ground of prior discovery, and his doing so was nearly the cause of a war between Great Britain
and Spain
, both countries having armed fleets to contest the sovereignty of the barren islands. Later Byron discovered islands of the Tuamotus
, Tokelau
and the Gilbert Islands
, and visited Tinian
in the Northern Marianas Islands.
In 1769 he was appointed governor of Newfoundland, an office he held for the next three years. He became rear admiral
on 31 March 1775, and vice admiral
on 29 January 1778. He was made Commander-in-chief of the British fleet in the West Indies in 1778 and 1779 during the American War of Independence. He unsuccessfully attacked a French
fleet under the Comte d'Estaing
at the Battle of Grenada
in July 1779. Byron was then briefly Commander-in-Chief, North American Station from 1 October 1779.
in Cornwall, by whom he had two sons and seven daughters, three of whom died in infancy. Their eldest son, John "Mad Jack" Byron, in turn fathered the poet George Gordon Byron
, the future 6th Baron Byron. John Byron was also the grandfather of George Anson Byron
, who would be another admiral and explorer and the 7th Baron Byron. He was the brother of Hon. George Byron, married to Frances Levett, daughter of Elton Levett
of Nottingham
, a descendant of Ambrose Elton, Esq., High Sheriff of Herefordshire
in 1618 and a surgeon in Nottingham.
|-
Vice Admiral (Royal Navy)
Vice admiral is a flag officer rank of the British Royal Navy. It equates to the NATO rank code OF-8 and is immediately superior to rear admiral and is subordinate to the full admiral rank.The Royal Navy has had vice admirals since at least the 16th century...
The Hon. John Byron, RN
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
(8 November 1723 – 10 April 1786) was a Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
officer. He was known as Foul-weather Jack because of his frequent bad luck with weather.
Early career
Byron was the son of William Byron, 4th Baron ByronWilliam Byron, 4th Baron Byron
William Byron, 4th Baron Byron was Gentleman of the Bedchamber to Prince George of Denmark.-Life:Byron was the son of William Byron, 3rd Baron Byron and the Hon. Elizabeth Chaworth...
and Frances Berkeley. He joined the navy in 1731, accompanying George Anson
George Anson, 1st Baron Anson
Admiral of the Fleet George Anson, 1st Baron Anson PC, FRS, RN was a British admiral and a wealthy aristocrat, noted for his circumnavigation of the globe and his role overseeing the Royal Navy during the Seven Years' War...
on his circumnavigation
Circumnavigation
Circumnavigation – literally, "navigation of a circumference" – refers to travelling all the way around an island, a continent, or the entire planet Earth.- Global circumnavigation :...
as a midshipman
Midshipman
A midshipman is an officer cadet, or a commissioned officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Kenya...
. On 14 May 1741, Byron's ship, HMS Wager
HMS Wager (1739)
HMS Wager was a square-rigged sixth-rate Royal Navy ship of 28 guns. She was built as an East Indiaman in about 1734 and made two voyages to India before being purchased by the Royal Navy in 1739. She formed part of a squadron under Anson and was wrecked on the south coast of Chile on 14 May 1741...
, was shipwrecked on the coast of Patagonia
Patagonia
Patagonia is a region located in Argentina and Chile, integrating the southernmost section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the cordillera to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean...
, and the survivors decided to split in two teams, one to make its way by boat to Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, the other, John Byron's, to sail North and meet Spaniards. He described his adventures and the Wager Mutiny
Wager Mutiny
The Wager Mutiny was the mutiny of the crew of after she was wrecked on a desolate island off the west coast of Chile in 1741 and the subsequent adventures of her crew. The final voyage of Wager was as part of a squadron commanded by George Anson destined to attack Spanish interests in the Pacific...
in The Narrative of the Honourable John Byron (1768), which sold well enough to appear in several editions. These experiences form the basis of the novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
The Unknown Shore
The Unknown Shore
The Unknown Shore is a novel published in 1959 by Patrick O'Brian. It is the story of two friends, Jack Byron and Tobias Barrow who sail aboard HMS Wager as part of Anson's 1740 expedition. The midshipman Byron and somewhat unworldly surgeon's mate Barrow are prototypes for Jack Aubrey and Stephen...
by Patrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian, CBE , born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and centred on the friendship of English Naval Captain Jack Aubrey and the Irish–Catalan physician Stephen...
, which closely follows Byron's own account.
Byron was commissioned captain of in December 1746.
Seven Years War
In 1760 he was in command of a squadron sent to destroy the fortifications at Louisbourg, which had been captured by the BritishSiege of Louisbourg (1758)
The Siege of Louisbourg was a pivotal battle of the Seven Years' War in 1758 which ended the French colonial era in Atlantic Canada and led directly to the loss of Quebec in 1759 and the remainder of French North America the following year.-Background:The British government realized that with the...
two years before. In July of that year he defeated the French flotilla sent to relieve New France
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
at the Battle of Restigouche
Battle of Restigouche
The Battle of Restigouche was a naval battle fought during the French and Indian War on the Restigouche River between the British Royal Navy and the small flotilla of French Navy vessels. The French vessels had been sent to relieve New France after the fall of Quebec...
.
HMS Dolphin (1751)
HMS Dolphin was a 24-gun sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Launched in 1751, she was used as a survey ship from 1764 and made two circumnavigations of the world under the successive commands of John Byron and Samuel Wallis. She was the first ship to circumnavigate the world twice...
. This was the first circumnavigation in less than 2 years. During this voyage he took possession of the Falkland Islands
Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located about from the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago consists of East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 lesser islands. The capital, Stanley, is on East Falkland...
on the part of Britain, in 1765, on the ground of prior discovery, and his doing so was nearly the cause of a war between Great Britain
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, both countries having armed fleets to contest the sovereignty of the barren islands. Later Byron discovered islands of the Tuamotus
Tuamotus
The Tuamotus or the Tuamotu Archipelago are a chain of islands and atolls in French Polynesia. They form the largest chain of atolls in the world, spanning an area of the Pacific Ocean roughly the size of Western Europe...
, Tokelau
Tokelau
Tokelau is a territory of New Zealand in the South Pacific Ocean that consists of three tropical coral atolls with a combined land area of 10 km2 and a population of approximately 1,400...
and the Gilbert Islands
Gilbert Islands
The Gilbert Islands are a chain of sixteen atolls and coral islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are the main part of Republic of Kiribati and include Tarawa, the site of the country's capital and residence of almost half of the population.-Geography:The atolls and islands of the Gilbert Islands...
, and visited Tinian
Tinian
Tinian is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.-Geography:Tinian is about 5 miles southwest of its sister island, Saipan, from which it is separated by the Saipan Channel. It has a land area of 39 sq.mi....
in the Northern Marianas Islands.
In 1769 he was appointed governor of Newfoundland, an office he held for the next three years. He became rear admiral
Rear Admiral
Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. It is generally regarded as the lowest of the "admiral" ranks, which are also sometimes referred to as "flag officers" or "flag ranks"...
on 31 March 1775, and vice admiral
Vice Admiral
Vice admiral is a senior naval rank of a three-star flag officer, which is equivalent to lieutenant general in the other uniformed services. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral...
on 29 January 1778. He was made Commander-in-chief of the British fleet in the West Indies in 1778 and 1779 during the American War of Independence. He unsuccessfully attacked a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
fleet under the Comte d'Estaing
Charles Hector, comte d'Estaing
Jean Baptiste Charles Henri Hector, comte d'Estaing was a French general, and admiral. He began his service as a soldier in the War of the Austrian Succession, briefly spending time as a prisoner of war of the British during the Seven Years' War...
at the Battle of Grenada
Battle of Grenada
The Battle of Grenada took place on 6 July 1779 during the American War of Independence in the West Indies between the British Royal Navy and the French Navy.-Origins:...
in July 1779. Byron was then briefly Commander-in-Chief, North American Station from 1 October 1779.
Family
On 8 September 1748, he married Sophia Trevannion, daughter of John Trevannion of CarhaysSt Michael Caerhays
St Michael Caerhays is a civil parish and village in Cornwall, United Kingdom. The village is situated approximately seven miles south-southwest of St Austell....
in Cornwall, by whom he had two sons and seven daughters, three of whom died in infancy. Their eldest son, John "Mad Jack" Byron, in turn fathered the poet George Gordon Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, later George Gordon Noel, 6th Baron Byron, FRS , commonly known simply as Lord Byron, was a British poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement...
, the future 6th Baron Byron. John Byron was also the grandfather of George Anson Byron
George Byron, 7th Baron Byron
Admiral George Anson Byron, 7th Baron Byron was a British naval officer, and the seventh Baron Byron, in 1824 succeeding his cousin the poet George Gordon Byron in that peerage...
, who would be another admiral and explorer and the 7th Baron Byron. He was the brother of Hon. George Byron, married to Frances Levett, daughter of Elton Levett
Levett
Levett is an Anglo-Norman territorial surname deriving from the village of Livet-en-Ouche, now Jonquerets-de-Livet, in Eure, Normandy. Ancestors of the earliest Levett family in England, the de Livets were lords of the village of Livet, and undertenants of the de Ferrers, among the most powerful of...
of Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
, a descendant of Ambrose Elton, Esq., High Sheriff of Herefordshire
High Sheriff of Herefordshire
The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been transferred elsewhere or are now defunct, so that its functions are now...
in 1618 and a surgeon in Nottingham.
See also
- Baron ByronBaron ByronBaron Byron, of Rochdale in the County Palatine of Lancaster, is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1643, by letters patent, for Sir John Byron, a Cavalier general and former Member of Parliament...
- Cape ByronCape ByronCape Byron is the easternmost point of the mainland of Australia. It is located about northeast of the town of Byron Bay and projects into the Pacific Ocean...
in Australia, named after Byron - List of Newfoundland and Labrador lieutenant-governors
- List of people of Newfoundland and Labrador
- European and American voyages of scientific explorationEuropean and American voyages of scientific explorationThe era of European and American voyages of scientific exploration followed the Age of Discovery and were inspired by a new confidence in science and reason that arose in the Age of Enlightenment...
External links
- Biography of John Byron at thePeerage.com
- Biography at Government House The Governorship of Newfoundland and Labrador
- Ships of the World: An Historical Encyclopedia - HMS Dolphin
|-