George Gordon, Lord Byron
Lord Byron’s mother, Catherine Gordon, was Scottish, and though it seems that his father married her purely for status and wealth, their separation meant that for his first ten years of his life he lived in Aberdeen, where he attended the Grammar, until he succeeded to his title.
The most glamorous member of the second generation of Romantic poets, he was a prolific writer, led a scandalous life, and died in the Greek war of independence, aged 34.
He wrote in Don Juan:
‘But I am half a Scot by birth, and bred
A whole one, and my heart flies to my head…’.
and in Loch Y Gair:
‘England ! thy beauties are tame and domestic
To one who has roved on the mountains afar…’
Apart from his short lyrics, his poetry is perhaps less read now than his extraordinarily vivid letters and journals; his life continues to intrigue readers, scholars and film-makers.