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Lord Byron is buried in St. Mary Magdalene Church, Hucknall Torkard,
Nottinghamshire, England.
Memorial Tablet to Lord Byron.
The marble plaque was donated by the King of Greece in 1881. It is
inlaid with brass and set into the chancel floor as near as possible to his
coffin in the vault below.
He had several affairs, both with men and women, including one with his half-sister
Augusta Leigh who gave birth to his daughter and one with Lady Caroline Lamb who
famously referred to him as: 'Bad, mad and dangerous to know.'
In 1816 Byron was forced to leave England for good due to his
scandalous lifestyle. He travelled first to Geneva where he stayed with
Shelley and his wife and Claire Clairmont in a
rented villa. (Claire Clairmont soon became Byron's new mistress.) He spent
a number of years in Venice before moving to Greece in 1824 where he set
up the 'Byron Brigade' and gave money to the Greeks in their war against
Turkey. Before he had a chance to enter the war however he died of a fever
at Missolonghi that he contracted after going for a ride in a rainstorm.
The Greeks subsequently erected a statue to him. Byron's
body was brought back to England but he was refused burial in Westminster Abbey
due to his 'questionable morality'. (His heart may have been removed first
and buried at Missolonghi.) Instead his body was
laid in the family vault at Hucknall Torkard. Many thousands of people turned out to
pay their respects during the funeral procession which extended for a
quarter of a mile.
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