[1] He was the only son of Honorable George Anson Byron and Charlotte Henrietta Dallas, and grandson of the admiral and explorer The Hon.

[2] The couple had seven children: Byron joined the Royal Navy as a volunteer in December 1800, serving in the Napoleonic Wars, and attaining the rank of captain in 1814.

In 1824 Byron was chosen to accompany homewards the bodies of Hawaiian monarchs Liholiho (known as King Kamehameha II) and Queen Kamāmalu, who had died of measles during a state visit to England.

[3] He sailed on HMS Blonde in September 1824, accompanied by several naturalists and, amongst his lieutenants, Edward Belcher.

With the consent of Christian missionaries to the islands, he also removed wooden carvings and other artefacts of the chiefs of ancient Hawaii from the temple ruins of Puʻuhonua O Hōnaunau.