Lord Byron

My Dearest Friends,
My name is George Gordon Lord Byron - poet, philosopher, politician, revolutionary freedom fighter.
I was born in London at 16 Holles Street with a congenital malconformation of my left foot and leg. It was deformed and turned inwards, and the leg was smaller and shorter than the right one. For the most part, I had around 200 pounds on my 5'8 frame, so this added to the discomfort.
I spent a few early years in Aberdeen on Queen Street, then 64 Broad Street (attending the Aberdeen Grammar School and battling a bout of scarlet fever) before moving back to England - specifically, Newstead Abbey in Nottinghamshire. I became the Sixth Baron of Byron of Rochdale in 1798. I went to Dr. Glennie's Boarding School in Dulwich, then Harrow on the Hill (about 11 miles northwest of London), then Trinity College at Cambridge. Around this time, I wrote Fugitive Pieces and Hours of Idleness. I took a seat in the House of Lords, wrote English Bards and Scotch Reviewers, and set out to travel in 1809 with my friend John Hobhouse through Portugal, Spain, Albania and Greece. You should read his letters. During those travels, I wrote the first two cantos of Childe Harold.
Over the next few years, I wrote several works and met many women, one of which - Annabella Milbanke - I married and had a daughter with (Augusta Ada) in 1815. Unfortunately, that relationship didn't last.
I left England for the last time in 1816 amidst scandal. After journeying up the Rhine, I spent the summer in Geneva Switzerland with Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, Claire Clairmont and Dr. John Polidori. I stayed in a beautiful home named the Villa Diodati on Lac Leman. Shelley and I toured the lake visiting Evian, Meillerie, Vevey, Ouchy, St. Gingolph, Chillon Castle at Montreaux and Lausanne. During this time, I wrote the third canto of Childe Harold and The Prisoner of Chillon. Mary began Frankenstein.
Later that year, I traveled on to Italy with Hobhouse, living in Venice and visiting Rome and Florence. It was a grand, turbulent time. In 1817, Claire had our daughter, Allegra, but I rarely saw her. Allegra died in 1822 and is buried near the entrance of St. Mary's Parish Church in Harrow -- not far from the Peachey Stone where I used to spend so many hours of idleness.
Over the next couple of years, I wrote Manfred, Childe Harold canto four, Don Juan I and II and Beppo.
In 1821, the Greek War of Independence broke out. I went to Pisa and wrote Vision of Judgement, Don Juan III, IV and V and Cain. My friend Shelley drowned near Lerici in 1822. We had a funeral pyre at the beach, and Edward Trelawney reached in an snatched Shelley's heart. Leigh Hunt was also there. Shelley's heart was eventually buried alongside his son in the parish church in Bournemouth. Percy's ashes were buried in the Protestant cemetary in Rome.
In 1823, I left for Greece to lend my efforts to their fight for freedom. I tried to organize funds, supplies, artillery and troops, spending much energy and money. On April 9, I fell gravely ill, and on April 19, in Missolonghi, I died. Dr. Bruno had been with me much of the time until then. Fletcher was with me when I finally said,"I want to sleep now." I was mourned as a national hero by the Greeks and eventually buried in my family vault just before 4pm on July 16, 1824 at the St. Mary Magdalene Hucknall Torkard Church in Nottinghamshire. They never fail who die for a great cause.
My soul is finally at rest, and I thank Gina for keeping my legacy alive here on MySpace for all of you. Best and be well!
Yours ever truly,
Byron

My works (dates approximate):
Fugitive Pieces (Poems on Various Occasions)- 1806
Hours of Idleness - 1807
English Bards and Scotch Reviewers - 1809
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (Cantos I and II) - 1812
The Giaour - 1813
The Bride of Abydos - 1813
The Corsair - 1814
Lara - 1814
Hebrew Melodies - 1815
The Siege of Corinth - 1816
Parisina - 1816
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (Canto III) - 1816
The Prisoner of Chillon - 1816
Manfred - 1817
Beppo - 1818
Don Juan (Cantos I and II) - 1819
Mazeppa - 1819
Don Juan (Cantos III-V) - 1819-1820
Marino Faliero - 1821
Don Juan (Cantos III-V) - 1821
Cain - 1821
The Two Foscari - 1821
Sardanapalus - 1821
Vision of Judgment - 1822
Don Juan (Cantos VI-XIV) - 1823
Don Juan (Cantos XV-XVI) - 1824 (never completed due to death)
Premade Layouts