Lord Byron was born on 22 January 1788 in City of Westminster. An English Romantic poet, Byron became famous overnight with the first cantos of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage in 1812, and also wrote the satirical epic Don Juan, which he left unfinished. He was born with a clubfoot and inherited a title as a boy. His glamorous image and scandalous private life, including the break-up of his marriage, led him to leave England in 1816, and he spent his later years in Switzerland and Italy, where he knew Percy and Mary Shelley. He took up the cause of Greek independence and died of fever in Missolonghi in 1824. The Byronic hero became a literary type.
Before and after
- 25 September 1787Constitutional Convention
- 1788Auld Lang Syne
- from 1788 to 1789Sino-Nepalese War
- 1788James Hutton presents his Theory of the Earth
- 22 January 1788Birth of Lord Byron
- 26 January 1788Founding of Sydney
- from February 1788 to August 1791Austro-Turkish War of 1788–1791
- 22 February 1788Birth of Arthur Schopenhauer
- 1789Discovery of zirconium
More in Art, literature & culture
- 1792Publication of Dream of the Red Chamber
- 21 February 1848Publication of The Communist Manifesto
- 18 September 1851Founding of The New York Times
- 1857Rise of Symbolism
- 28 December 1895The Lumiere brothers hold the first public film screening
- 1909Rise of Futurism
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 18th century.