It was created in 1643 by letters patent for Sir John Byron, a Cavalier general and former Member of Parliament.

Lord Byron died childless and was succeeded according to the special remainder by his next eldest brother Richard, the second Baron.

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.

Lord Byron died without male issue and was succeeded by his first cousin, the seventh Baron, who was an admiral in the Royal Navy.

Most of the Byrons—including the sixth baron's daughter, the famed mathematician Ada Lovelace—are buried in the family vault in the nearby Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Hucknall.