Francis Byng, 5th Earl of Strafford

He remained vicar of St Peter's, which became fashionable ("His fine presence, his beautiful voice and his high birth made him a favourite of the couples that were going to get married.

"[2]) through 1889; and kept up a long correspondence with the former organist of St. Peter's, Sir Arthur Sullivan.

[citation needed] In 1889 Byng reportedly suddenly resigned all his benefices and left London, supposedly owing to trouble over a gambling debt (he was said to be "addicted to cards").

He succeeded to the earldom in May 1899 when his brother, Henry Byng, 4th Earl of Strafford, was decapitated in a railroading accident, a year after inheriting the title from their childless elder brother, George Byng, 3rd Earl of Strafford, the Liberal politician.

He was succeeded on his death by his second son, (the first, Arthur, having died in infancy) Edmund Byng, 6th Earl of Strafford.