Captain John Byron (1757 – 2 August 1791) was a British Army officer and letter writer, best known as the father of the poet Lord Byron. In 1824, an obituary of his son gave him the nickname "Mad Jack Byron", and though there is no evidence for this in his own lifetime, it has since stuck – certainly he was called "Jack" by his family members and referred to himself as such.
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Early life
Byron was the sixth child and eldest son of Vice-Admiral Hon. John Byron and Sophia Trevanion and grandson of William Byron, 4th Baron Byron of Rochdale. The earliest record of him is his baptism record, dated 17 March 1757 in Plymouth.
After his family moved to London he was educated at Westminster School.
He gained the rank of captain in the Coldstream Guards and was dispatched with his regiment to Philadelphia, where he managed to accrue considerable debts during the American Revolution.
Marriages
In 1778, Jack became embroiled in an affair with the married Amelia Osborne, Marchioness of Carmarthen, daughter of Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness. Shortly before Christmas they ran away to Rottingdean, where they were discovered in bed together by one of her husband's servants. Her husband, Francis Osborne, later 5th Duke of Leeds, petitioned for divorce on the grounds of adultery in 1779. Byron married Amelia in London on 9 June 1779 and they went on to have three children: Sophia Georgina Byron, an unnamed boy, and Augusta Maria Byron. Sophia and the unnamed boy died in infancy; Augusta Byron went on to marry George Leigh. Amelia died in London in 1784.