Lord Byron grew up in Scotland and was educated at Harrow School and Cambridge. He inherited his uncle’s fortune and title in 1809, thus becoming a member of the House of Lords. From 1809 to 1811, he toured Europe and the Middle East. In 1812, he published part of his work Childe Harold, which was very successful, and in the following years he wrote poems which shaped the Byronic myth (The Giaour, The Corsair, Don Juan etc.). During his stay in Italy, he was involved in the Carbonari and other movements.

Lord Byron was a man of his era. His education, upbringing, dedication to liberalism, democracy, and freedom of spirit, made him rather a Philhellene, since he could envision the future Greece as a European national state with European political institutions.

Lord Byron arrived in Mesolonghi on 5 of January 1824, contributed to the organisation of the city’s defence, and maintained a force of 40 Souliots at his own expense. In February, he suffered an epileptic seizure from which it seems he never really recovered. The combination of an unhealthy climate and an unhealthy diet caused his final disease. The doctors finished him off, since five or six of them competed as to who would let more blood out. At the beginning of April, he suffered a high fever and on 7 April 1824 he died. Amidst his delirium, as the end was approaching, his famous last words are considered to be: “Poor Greece”.

Six days following his death, the English ship “Florida” arrived, carrying Edward Blaquiere, who escorted the first loan to Greece. The ship “Florida” carried the remains of Lord Byron to England.

Dionysios Solomos, inspired by the death of Lord Byron, wrote the Ode to the Death of Lord Byron.

#ΕλληνικόςΣτρατός, #HellenicArmy