The Dastardly Deeds of Captain John “Mad Jack” Byron

The father of the poet and scandal magnet, Lord George Gordon Byron, was notorious in his own right

Captain John “Mad Jack” Byron — Public Domain, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16639331

Emily Brand, the author of The Fall of the House of Bryon states that when writing and researching her book, she sought to rehabilitate the Byron family. This was achievable for Lord George Gordon Bryon, the renowned Romantic poet, to a certain extent…but his father, Captain John (known as Jack while alive) Byron was an entirely different matter. On the plus side, his story does make for entertaining reading. As Brand declares:

“As it turned out, rehabilitating the poet’s father — who was posthumously dubbed ‘Mad Jack’ Byron — was made impossible not only by the accounts of those who knew him, but by his own damning words.”

Brand, Emily, “Fall of the House of Bryon”

His letters and diaries show a man devoid of empathy, who despised women and children, and was solely interested in what he could get away with that would keep him in the matter “to which he had become accustomed”. His famous son may have been a reprobate of cosmic proportions, but at least he had charm, intelligence, and the capacity to understand what his actions did to others.