George Byron, 7th Baron Byron
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Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...
George Anson Byron, 7th Baron Byron (8 March 1789 – 2 March 1868) was a
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
nobleman,
naval officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent ...
, peer, politician, and the seventh Baron Byron, in 1824 succeeding his cousin the poet George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron in that peerage. As a career naval officer, he was notable for being his predecessor's opposite in temperament and lifestyle.


Parentage and ménage

He was the only son of Honorable George Anson Byron and Charlotte Henrietta Dallas, and grandson of the admiral and explorer The Hon. John Byron, who circumnavigated the world with George Anson in 1740–44. He married Elizabeth Mary Chandos Pole on 18 March 1816. She was the daughter of Sacheverell Pole Esq., of Radbourne Hall, b. 16 June 1769. During this man's lifetime, he became of representative of Sir
John Chandos Sir John Chandos, Viscount of Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte, Saint-Sauveur in the Cotentin Peninsula, Cotentin, Constable of Aquitaine, Seneschal of Count of Poitiers, Poitou, (c. 1320 – 31 December 1369) was a medieval English knight who haile ...
, K.G., and by sign manual, or
deed poll A deed poll (plural: deeds poll) is a legal document binding on a single person or several persons acting jointly to express an intention or create an obligation. It is a deed, and not a contract, because it binds only one party. Etymology Th ...
assumed the additional surname of Chandos. Elizabeth was descended from a well-documented long line of the Pole family, including Cardinal Pole, who at the time of
Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...
, was the last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury and the son of the last Yorkist heiress, Margaret, countess of Salisbury. Elizabeth's mother, Mary, was the daughter of the Rev. Henry Ware, D.D., Rector of Balrothey. The couple had seven children: * The Hon. Mary Anne Byron (c.1817–1885) *
Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...
George Anson Byron, 8th Baron Byron (1818–1870) * The Hon. Francis Xavier Byron (1820–??) * The Hon. Frederick Byron (1822–1861) * The Hon. Georgiana Byron (1824–1893) * The Rev. Hon. Augustus Byron (1828–1907) * The Rev. Hon. William Byron (1831–1907)


Naval career

Byron joined the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
as a volunteer in December 1800, serving in the
Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...
, and attaining the rank of captain in 1814. In 1824 Byron was chosen to accompany homewards the bodies of Hawaiian monarchs Liholiho (known as King
Kamehameha II Kamehameha II (November 1797 – July 14, 1824) was the second king of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Kingdom of Hawaii from 1819 to 1824. His birth name was Liholiho and full name was Kalaninui kua Liholiho i ke kapu ʻIolani. It was lengthened to Kala ...
) and Queen Kamāmalu, who had died of
measles Measles (probably from Middle Dutch or Middle High German ''masel(e)'', meaning "blemish, blood blister") is a highly contagious, Vaccine-preventable diseases, vaccine-preventable infectious disease caused by Measles morbillivirus, measles v ...
during a state visit to England. He sailed on in September 1824, accompanied by several naturalists and, amongst his lieutenants, Edward Belcher.Dunmore, p 45 He toured the islands and recorded his observations. With the consent of Christian missionaries to the islands, he also removed wooden carvings and other artefacts of the chiefs of
ancient Hawaii Ancient Hawaii is the period of Hawaiian history preceding the establishment in 1795 of the Kingdom of Hawaii by Kamehameha the Great. Traditionally, researchers estimated the first settlement of the Hawaiian islands as having occurred sporad ...
from the temple ruins of Puuhonua O Hōnaunau. On his return journey in 1825, Lord Byron discovered and charted
Malden Island Malden Island, sometimes called Independence Island in the 19th century, is a low, arid, uninhabited atoll in the central Pacific Ocean, about in area. It is one of the Line Islands belonging to the Kiribati, Republic of Kiribati. The lagoo ...
, which he named after his surveying officer; also the island of Mauke which he named "Parry Island" in honour of Sir William Edward Parry, and Starbuck Island.Dunmore, p 46 Starbuck was named in honour of Capt. Valentine Starbuck, an American whaler who had sighted the island while carrying the Hawaiian royal couple to England in 1823–1824, but had probably been previously sighted by his cousin and fellow-whaler Capt. Obed Starbuck in 1823. Malden may have been the island sighted by another whaling captain William Clark in 1823, aboard the ''Winslow''.Quanchi & Robson, p 30 & 39 Byron became a rear-admiral in 1849, a vice-admiral in 1857 and retired as admiral in 1862.


Arms


See also

*
European and American voyages of scientific exploration The 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. Maritime expeditions in the Age of Discovery were ...
*


Notes


References

* Dunmore, John (1992); ''Who's Who in Pacific Navigation'', Australia:Melbourne University Press, * Quanchi, Max & Robson, John, (2005); ''Historical Dictionary of the Discovery and Exploration of the Pacific Islands'', USA: Scarecrow Press, * Bloxam, Andrew (1925), ''Diary of Andrew Bloxam: naturalist of the "Blonde" on her trip from England to the Hawaiian islands, 1824-25'' Volume 10 of Bernice P.
Bishop Museum The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, designated the Hawaii State Museum of Natural and Cultural History, is a museum of history and science in the historic Kalihi district of Honolulu, Hawaii, Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu. Founded in 1 ...
special publication
George Byron, 7th Baron Byron
at thepeerage.com (accessed 26 November 2009) {{DEFAULTSORT:Byron, George Anson Byron, 7th Baron 1789 births 1868 deaths 18th-century Royal Navy personnel 19th-century Royal Navy personnel 19th-century British explorers Permanent Lords-in-Waiting British explorers of the Pacific Royal Navy admirals Hawaiian Kingdom George Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Barons Byron