Lineage

Robert James Byron (born 5 April 1950) is the current and thereby 13th Baron Byron. He is not directly descended from the poet Lord Byron, but rather the descendant of George Anson, 7th Baron Byron (1789–1868), who was a cousin of the poet  Lord Byron (22 January 1788 - 19 April 1824) had only one legitimate offspring, Ada, who, of course, could not inherit or pass on the baronial title. 

Byron, however, did recognise having an illegitimate son with his favourite Newstead housemaid, Lucy, whose present-day descendant via bloodline expires with me. More about that later.

Meanwhile, the current holder of the peerage, Robert James Byron, was born to Lt Col Richard Geoffrey Gordon Byron (later 12th Baron Byron), and Dorigen Margaret Esdaile. He was educated at Wellington College in Berkshire, England, and studied law at Trinity College, Cambridge.

Robert James Byron married Robyn Margaret McLean in 1979. She became Lady Byron when her husband inherited the barony on 15 June 1989. The couple have four children:

    The Hon Caroline Anne Victoria Byron (1981)

    The Hon Emily Clare Byron (1984)

    The Hon Sophie Georgina Byron (1986)

    The Hon Charles Richard Gordon Byron (28 July 1990); heir apparent.

The 13th Baron Byron is not directly connected by blood to George Gordon, 6th Baron Byron.

Baron 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. The peerage was created with remainder to the heirs male of his body, falling to his six brothers: Richard, William, Thomas, Robert, Gilbert, and Philip, and the heirs male of their bodies. Lord Byron died childless and was succeeded according to the special remainder by his next eldest brother Richard, the second Baron.

The latter's great-grandson, the fifth Baron, killed his cousin and neighbour William Chaworth in a duel on 26 January 1765. He was brought before his peers in the House of Lords, but under the statute of Edward VI he was found guilty only of manslaughter and forced to pay a small fine. Byron henceforth became known as "the Wicked Lord" and "the Devil Byron."

He was succeeded by his great-nephew, George Gordon Byron, the sixth Baron, the famous Romantic poet, who was the son of John "Mad Jack" Byron, son of Vice-Admiral the Hon John "Foulweather Jack" Byron, second son of the fourth Baron and the younger brother of the fifth Baron. Lord Byron died without male issue and was succeeded by his first cousin, the seventh Baron, who was an Admiral in the Royal Navy.

On the death of his great-grandson, the eleventh Baron (who had succeeded his first cousin once-removed in 1949), this line of the family expired. The late Baron was succeeded by his distant relative (his fifth cousin), the twelfth Baron. He was the great-great-great-grandson of Reverend the Hon Richard Byron, third son of the fourth Baron. As of 2009 the title is held by his second son, the thirteenth Baron, who succeeded in 1989.

From the 16th century until 1818, the family residence of the Lords Byron was Newstead Abbey in Nottinghamshire. The Byron Family Tomb is located in the nearby Church of St Mary Magdalene, Hucknall Torkard.