Letters and Journals of Lord Byron
Lord Byron to John Murray, 10 December 1821
“Pisa, December 10th, 1821.
“This day and this hour (one, on the clock,) my daughter is six years old. I wonder when I shall see her
again, or if ever I shall see her at all.
“I have remarked a curious coincidence, which almost looks
like a fatality.
“My mother, my wife, my daughter, my half-sister, my sister’s mother, my natural daughter (as far at least as I am concerned), and myself, are all only children.
“My father, by his
first marriage with Lady Conyers (an only child), had
only my sister; and by his second marriage with
an only ![]()
| A. D. 1821. | LIFE OF LORD BYRON. | 565 |
![]()
child, an only child again. Lady Byron, as you know, was one also, and so is my
daughter, &c.
“Is not this rather odd—such a complication of only
children? By the way, send me my daughter Ada’s miniature. I have only the print, which gives little or no
idea of her complexion.
“Yours, &c.
“B.”
Allegra Byron (1817-1822)
Byron's illegitimate daughter by Claire Clairmont.
Amelia Byron, baroness Darcy (de Knayth) [née Darcy] (1754-1784)
Daughter and heir of Robert D'Arcy, fourth earl of Holdernesse; in 1773 she married
Francis Osborne, marquess of Carmarthen, who divorced her following her affair with Captain
John Byron whom she married in 1779. She was the mother of Augusta Byron, the poet's
half-sister.
John Byron [Mad Jack] (1756-1791)
The son of Admiral John Byron; he was the father of Lord Byron, and of Augusta Byron by a
prior marriage with Amelia Darcy, Baroness Darcy (1754-84).
Hon. Augusta Mary Leigh [née Byron] (1783-1851)
Byron's half-sister; the daughter of Amelia Darcy, Baroness Conyers, she married
Lieutenant-Colonel George Leigh on 17 August 1807.
John Murray II (1778-1843)
The second John Murray began the
Quarterly Review in 1809 and
published works by Scott, Byron, Austen, Crabbe, and other literary notables.
