William Byron, 5th Baron Byron

At 17 he was also listed as a founding Governor of the Foundling Hospital, a popular charity project to look after abandoned babies that had previously been championed by his mother.

[7][8][9][10] On 26 January 1765, Byron killed his distant cousin and neighbour, William Chaworth, in a dispute at the 'Star and Garter' tavern (on the site of the Carlton Club), Pall Mall, in London.

Chaworth lived until the following day, expressing his disgust that he had not been of sound enough mind to insist they fight in a location outfitted with better lighting before finally succumbing to his injury.

[11][12] Lord Byron already had a poor reputation at the time of Chaworth's death – but as he awaited his trial at the Tower of London, Horace Walpole described how countless malicious stories about him were 'revived or invented'.

These first appear in the 1820s and 1830s, some of which appear to have been invented by the American writer Washington Irving, including:[citation needed] The stories have been propagated particularly by biographers of Byron's great-nephew, the poet.

Far from becoming a recluse, immediately after the duel, Byron planned a holiday to the Belgian town of Spa with his wife and sister, Isabella, Lady Carlisle.

[16] In around 1778, he was forced to sell off the majority of his effects at Newstead Abbey, in what became known as the "Great Sale" – this included artistic masterpieces, hunting gear, furniture and even toothpicks.