Hon. William Byron (27 October 1749 – 22 June 1776)''The Register of Births & Baptisms in the Parish of St James within the Liberty of Westminster Vol. IV. 1741-1760''. 31 October 1749. was a British politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

from 1775 to 1776. Byron was the son of William Byron, 5th Baron Byron and his wife Elizabeth Shaw, daughter of Charles Shaw of Besthorpe Hall, Norfolk, and was born on 27 October 1749 and baptised at St James's Church, Piccadilly on the 31 October 1749. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI of England, Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. i ...

from 1763 to 1766. In 1768 he was in France running up bills on his father's account. His father was in serious financial difficulties which he hoped to resolve by obtaining a wealthy bride for William. However William eloped to Gretna Green with his cousin Juliana Elizabeth Byron, daughter of Admiral John Byron.J. V. Beckett, (with Sheila Aley) "Byron and Newstead: The Aristocrat and the Abbey" University of Delaware Press, 2001 p. 66 Byron contested Morpeth at the 1774 general election on the Carlisle interest. He was defeated, but seated as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

on petition on 28 January 1775. There is no record of any vote or speech by him in the eighteen months he was in Parliament. Byron as heir was due to inherit the

Barony Barony may refer to: * Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron * Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron * Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...

, but he died on 22 June 1776. His son was killed by cannon fire in 1794 while fighting in

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

and the barony ultimately went to the poet

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Byron, William 1749 births 1776 deaths Eldest sons of British hereditary barons People educated at Eton College Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1774–1780