George Gordon “Lord” Byron (January 22, 1788 – April 19, 1824)

George Gordon “Lord” Byron (January 22, 1788 – April 19, 1824)

Born in London, he was a Poet who became a leading figure in the literary movement known as romanticism, a British Politician and later a supporter of and a fighter in the Greek Revolution of 1821.

Byron was a renowned Philhellene and a bitter opponent of Lord Elgin, after the latter’s desecration, theft and removal of the Parthenon marbles from Greece, where they were then shipped to London, where they remain today.

After reaching Greece in 1823 first in Kefalonia and then on to Sterea Ellada,, Byron spent much of his own money and resources assisting the Greek fighters in their cause for freedom and felt so strongly that he himself joined the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire.

On April 19, 1824 he died at the age of 36 in Messolonghi from a violent fever.

Byron is revered as a Greek National Hero.