If you've only heard of the poet, there's a lot you're missing out on about the Byron family - and this book sets out to change that. I had come across Admiral Byron before - but only in passing in history lectures. But it turns out there's a scandalous sister and a profligate baron who fought in a duel. I enjoyed this, and it's clearly very well researched, but I found it sometimes quite hard to keep track of the large cast of characters (who often share names) and I found the jumps forward and backwards a little confusing - but that may just be the way that it was formatted in the advance e-copy I had. But if you like histories of aristocratic families, this is worth your while - there is so much going on here in so few generations. And if you're interested in the poet, then this has valuable insight into his family and backstory - although not a huge amount about him.

Review
Wow Just Wow!
Impossible to summarise in this short review, but this is for anyone who may want to learn more about Lord Byron and the history of his familial home, how he came to be so famous, his relationships and the impact the family’s past influenced his life and poetry.

Tip: if you are planning to read this, find a nice quiet place to tuck yourself away in and totally absorb yourself in it. Not the easiest book to read without interruptions.

I rate this book 4 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Thanks.
Thank you to the author and publishers John Murray Press for an advanced copy of this ebook in exchange for an independent review.

The book starts in late summer, 1798 and takes readers on a grand tour. The writing is exquisite and the content is rich. I very much like that we meet Joe, a long time steward and readers will then be treated to a tour of Newstead Abbey and into its past and of its priory and monks. The grand tour is written so well, that even if you haven’t been there before, you get a real sense of the Abbey and its grounds and the history each room holds. It’s almost as though you are there on the tour itself. The Abbey is steeped in history, in George’s ancestry, love and scandal.
It’s interesting to learn a bit more about the tragic Frances. In 1726 There was another baby born into the Byron family and such congratulations from Thorsebury Hall and Welbeck Abbey (which can still be visited too) and many more high-standing people such as the Duke of Newcastle at Clumber Park (it is a fine and lovely Nottinghamshire park. I played there as child and walked round with the tread of adult feet).

This book is about Newstead Abbey and the Byrons. It isn’t so much about the life and death of the poet Lord Byron, who we all know, but more how they came to have Newstead Abbey and about the generations of Byrons, perhaps the stories that are less familiar and less told. It is however no less interesting, scandalous and emotional. The author has also told of some of the politics of the time (thankfully not too much). As much as I may have liked to read a bit more about the Lord Byron we know more about and about Newstead Abbey, this is still a very good book. It’s perhaps more unique than that of what has been done before, because there is certainly no reason why all the Byrons shouldn’t be written about. Everything is also put into context very neatly as it also looks at a wide scope of social and political history too. It all adds interest to them and to Newstead Abbey, which is steeped in history, even from the angle Emily Brand has taken. I recommend it.

The book tells of the successes in battle out at sea and of love, as well as the tragedies and ultimately their downfall. The book takes readers, of course to Newstead Abbey itself, but also to other places around Nottinghamshire in England and up to Scotland and abroad, in what is a book so well-written that it feels so remarkably easy to read. The facts are all there, but in such a form that flows even easier than the water mentioned throughout the book. The chapters are named after parts of Newstead Abbey itself, which not only ties in the abbey, although the book also talks about other places, it also feels like this writer is respectful in doing this.

The book then moves onto time spent in London, a far cry from leafy Sherwood Forest, and its new developments and re-builds after the Great Fire of London and the coronation of a new king. There is a well-written contrast between London and the beauty and the nature within Newstead Abbey.

The education of the children is also mentioned and you can feel some of the anguish around it. You learn a great deal about the Byrons and their early life and as their lives develop, sometimes also colliding with tragic times.

The Byron’s certainly were busy as they got involved in shipping on trade and business voyages. There’s also a tragic disappearance of a ship.

Slight political elements are mentioned and this, apart from being interesting as they formed the Byron’s lives, it also firmly, but informally, places useful timelines on what was happening in the wider world too as it goes into events on the fields of Flanders and Scottish clans, as well as skirmishes and worse, that was happening in Edinburgh, Scotland and further up to Culloden, Inverness and up to Aberdeen as this was Jacobean times, before turning attentions back onto Newstead Abbey and the renovations and additions, William introduced to the exterior and interior. I like that someone said the Byron’s were good landlords. There is however, much scandal, including murder. This book really does seem to cover it all, as well as certain ways Lord Byron voted. However, it seems to be Newstead Abbey that is a love and he seems drawn back to Nottinghamshire and his visions for it.

Newstead Abbey 1
Pic of Newstead Abbey – taken by Louise – writer of this blog
The Upper Lake takes readers back to sea, documenting the life and trials there and it’s certainly rough and nothing about it is romantic. I feel the author speaks of a truth and authenticity about the realities of being out at sea.

The Great Dining Hall is back on land with George Byron at Halanby Hall, on his honeymoon as he wed Annabelle Millbanke. He seems romantic, but prone to a temper. Readers can also learn how Byron’s sister became the Countess of Carlisle and her pregnancy and of the entertainment. The writing changes tone, from that of the sea. It has a more romantic air, but each draws you in nearer and yet there always seems to be heartbreak and troubled, tortured times, in amongst the better days.

Folly’s Castle takes readers to the time Lord Byron spent there with fellow poet companions, such as Shelley. The chapter also goes into more revolutionary times and was also happening in America as New York became under British control. Again, however all is not well back at Newstead as it tells of how things were auctioned off at a nearby Mansfield auction house and back at sea was treacherous. The detail put into this, is interesting. It also looks at what was happening in France at the time, with a new Princess being born into Versailles, all the while ensuring attentions are also focussed on Newstead and the Byrons and more scandal over love affairs, this time with Amelia and Jack and their child. I get the feeling times would not have been dull, working within the properties the Byrons used, as a footman was about to find out.
This part also shows Daws in Lancashire and how his property is also somewhat failing .

The Great Gallery is fascinating about the changing fashions in music as Mozart bursts into the music scene and man is starting to conquer the skies, it alludes almost to the Byrons having to try to catch up due to them actually slowing down, which in earlier chapters seemed quite impossible to imagine and yet their reputation seemed to preceed them. There are also by now, new friends readers will meet and of course more highs and lows to encounter. It also takes readers to when Sophia is in Bath, the society and her troubles there. I love that the attention again goes back to the state of Newstead Abbey. It’s interesting to read what locals at the time, thought of the statues being installed there.

The Chapel not only looks at some financial and health issues, but also an incredible storm in 1787. The description, brief as it is, of what happened to part of Newstead Abbey is powerful. There is great sadness however over deaths and a dwindling generation, that is written with great sensitivity, whilst telling the facts.

The Epilogue – Cloisters is interesting and mentions Joe and his wish to be buried by Boatswain. I can tell you, because I have seen it, there is a memorial to Boatswain in the grounds, with the most beautiful poem on it. The Epilogue also provides a very well written conclusions about to those who made up the Byrons and their depth of character.

There is a beautiful, but somewhat emotional poem in the appendix.

As I finish the book, in some ways, I didn’t quite want to end it and in some ways there is an overriding sense of satisfaction and also a mysterious calm, when you do reach the end, that I had not expected. Perhaps because there is so much heartbreak and anguish within the book.
It is so well researched and written that it is in many ways, lavish, yet not unrealisitically so. It feels like Emily Brand has done this justice. It isn’t dramatic or sensational in any way. What there is however, is a sense of satisfaction and of knowing more about the Byrons than you might have done previously to reading this book.

The review can also been seen (with pictures of Newstead Abbey and the cover), on my blog - Bookmarks and Stages

Lord Byron was famously mad, bad and dangerous to know. He left a trail of broken hearts in his wake. Turns out that it was in his genes his ancestors were every bit as scandalous. They squandered the family fortune and scandalised polite society. Emily Brand introduces us to a cast of characters that could have stepped straight out of a novel. We meet a shipwrecked explorer, a Merry Widow with a taste for younger men and lecherous gamblers intent on squandering the family fortune.

I voluntarily read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

This is a first time author for me
I know bits and pieces about Byron but nothing in great detail

This is well researched and immersive - really enjoyed it - it was written in a very accessible way which I am sure enhanced my enjoyment

Would recommend

Many readers will have heard of Lord George Byron aristocratic (family home Newstead Abbey) and poet. In 1816 he, still young, but reputedly “mad, bad and dangerous to know” would leave Britain for the last time following yet another scandal around incest with a half sister and an illegitimate child. Do not expect to find a great deal about him in this book – because it appears that he was merely a branch that had fallen not far from the family tree of outrageous behaviour, excess and scandal,. But living in a slightly different time as social expectations hardened was going to find condemnation for behaviour openly tolerated throughout much of the 18th century and detailed in the chapters of this book. With the proliferation of both “penny dreadfuls” and newspapers catering to interest in the foibles (and worse) of royalty, the aristocracy and others lurid tales were widely distributed often through the weekly “Town and Country Magazine” and plagiarised newspaper texts. Brand has taken advantage of these and her access to a broad range of private historic family archives to build an extraordinary tale of the Gordon family across the previous three generations.
The key word to be applied to that lifestyle could be excess. Excess of wealth, privilege and power that means rules and standards often applied to others can be ignored. It will be necessary to read the book to understand the scale and extent of this and how it played out. Against the poverty of so many in the country particularly against the background of regular war, changing agricultural and industrial processes and extremes of weather it is depicted here in graphic detail. His great uncle’s home Newstead Abbey was developed as a glorious “big house” with grounds and eye watering international art collections – but all had been demolished within two generations.
Family estates generally passed down the male line, so we get a glimmer of a look at the younger sons and the impact that would have on their careers and futures. Girls would need to marry (and “marry well”). Childbirth would follow usually in close order and if the woman survived, by thirty she could have a houseful and a disinterested husband to boot, together with a need to fill the rest of her life. Often as we see here with lovers (sometimes incestuous), family, “high life” gardens and travel. With early death others of the family would marry two or three times crating complicated wefts of family relationships – not always amicable. Brand has unravelled great strands of this behaviour often linked to families alive today.
For those of greatest male power a seat in the House of Lords could follow – allowing crimes identified to be tried by one’s “equals”. For those further down the family tree professional jobs in politics, the church, or the Services could follow. Byron’s grandfather John started life as a teenager in the navy and being stranded in South America (and believed dead) took several years to work his way home. In later years with more extensive experience and higher rank he headed the fleet off North America during the Wars of Independence. Privilege has little impact on the weather, so he gained a reputation more for ill luck than skill. His solid professional career and his travels of exploration were rarely taken seriously. In the meantime his sister Isabella was gallivanting around France with poorer gigolo/lovers. Documents show that family attempts to bring her back were largely unsuccessful until abject poverty called. Her daughters and sons meanwhile were either “pillars of the establishment” or indulging in “modish dissipation”.
This book is stuffed with huge amounts of detail. Brand will tend to follow an individual for a while, but the sheer extent of other stories will often draw her away from this main line. This is of course fascinating, but makes this less than an easy read in places. It touches on so many things other than the (well documented) people in “interesting times”, but there are times when this reader was left almost aghast if not at the behaviour of the individuals, but that the family documents telling it still survive! I suspect that this is a book to read slowly – and if it links to your other areas of research or interest- it might give you a perspective on so much more of what is being identified but not fully explored. But the overall impression left with me is the extent of extreme public and unabashed excess of spending and behaviour – at a time when there were increasing calls for more equality, respect and social change. At variance too we get hints of some of the changes in creative art, literature, explorations and travel with new studies of animals plants and lands. All those needed negotiating through the same hands of power and influence. The past is surely a “foreign country”.

Living in Nottingham and therefore knowing Newstead Abbey well, I’m always interested in books which relate to its history and the people associated with it. Although Newstead is forever welded to the sixth Baron, Byron George Gordon Barber (the infamous poet), I was interested to learn more about the people who had inhabited in ti or were associated with the place and put their world in context.

The Fall of the House of Byron begins with the arrival of young George and his determined mother to a less than pristine Newstead Abbey, then slips back into the past and his ancestors.

Reading about their many escapades and adventures, brought the expression of “the apple not falling far from the tree” to mind. That Lord Byron of literary renown was considered to be “mad, bad and dangerous to know” seems to align well with the activities of his forebears.

But The Fall of the House of Byron is far from a sensationalist take on the family and more a well-researched, interesting and detailed read which lends itself more to an academic text than a “bodice-ripping” expose of a family who clearly knew how to live life to the full.

Prepare yourself with a pen and paper before you begin to read, as well as the ability to use the internet. The timeline does move around backwards and forwards, which can make it a little bit confusing if you’re not paying attention. That the nobility had the tendency to name their children after themselves leads to quite a few people of the same name cropping up in the different generations.

The sheer volume of information will require a halt to the reading to put the book to once side, think about it and then come back to it again after consulting your notes and Google to get the timeline and family tree straight.

For anyone wanting a thorough insight into the mores of the upper classes in the eighteenth century and their relationship to the world at large, The Fall of the House of Byron is an excellent book to delve into and a useful work of reference.

Interesting and well researched. Not a part of history that I have particularly followed but this was an accessible look at an important figure

I can't resist anything to do with Byron and this book is one of the best. It weaves a spell that does nothing to shatter its subject's mystique. Loved it.

Excellent book. I loved all the delicious gothic details. Very well written, dripping with the very well research the writer has done.
I learned a lot and definitely enjoyed my time.

Thanks so much to NG nad the publisher for this copy.

I found this book a real chore to read. In theory the story of the downfall of the Byrons should have been really exciting as there was murder, incest, gambling, shipwrecks... Somehow this book just struggled to hold my interest. I think one of the largest issues that I had with the book was the way that it was structured meant that we followed one sibling continuously for a long period of time before following another sibling for a long period of time. Whilst the siblings' paths did diverge at times they also converged so some events were repeated in multiple chapters; it also meant that by the time the book moved to later stages in the Bryons' lives, some key events in their lives had been forgotten. Brand uses a large quantity of contemporary quotes throughout the book which I found jarring.

I went into this book with no knowledge about any of the Bryon family history; this book may be more enjoyable to readers more familiar with their stories, looking for further depth.

If you have enjoyed the work of Lord George Byron and know of his escapades you will love this history of his family.
The house of Byron and it inhabitants have played a part in the history of Great Britain during the late 1700 and first half of the 1800 with heroes and scandals from all areas of this wide dynasty.
Well researched and easy to read,

The debonair Lord Byron (6th) is infamous as the romantic poet who was “mad, bad and dangerous to know” so we could be forgiven for thinking that he was an enigmatic anomaly in his noble family. With this lively ancestral memoir Emily Brand demonstrates that young George Gordon Byron was a juicy apple that didn’t fall far from a rather fruitful tree. It turns out that the fecund Byron clan had been causing raised eyebrows, fluttered fans, snide asides and thinly veiled gossip column accusations for decades before Gorgeous George set hearts a quiver.

Apparently, Emily Brand became interested in the Byron family after being drawn to an enigmatic Gainsborough portrait of Lord George Gordon Byron’s great-aunt Isabella, Lady Carlisle. Having read her biography of this remarkable family I can understand why it was Isabella who sparked such a flame of curiosity in a modern writer. Isabella appears to be a woman who was born in the wrong era but was judged by the strict values of her time. Whilst reading about her you alternate between wishing she would invite you to one of her parties and feeling sorry for her (often self-made) problems.

For many generations before the late 18th Century The Byrons had been famous for military courage and sensual exploits; this delightful chronicle introduces the reader to the activities of the two ill-famed generations preceding the only Byron of which most of us have actually heard. This account details star-crossed sea captains, dreamy dowagers, louche lords and spurned spouses. Not to mention more nods to incest than the average reader wants to acknowldege. Imagine a soap-opera script-written by Daniel Defoe or a reality TV show (Keeping up with The Byrons) produced by Thackery and you have some idea of what this extraordinary family had to offer.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publishers for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Fascinating subject and fluidly and entertainingly written. Seduction, sensation and mystery was exactly what I needed right now - thank you!

This is a well written, well researched and entertaining book. I didn't know anything about Byron's family and it was interesting to learn about this extraordinary characters.
I liked how the book is told and how vivid the background is.
A very good read, recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Unfortunately I found this book to be a terrible slog once I realised it was non-fiction.
Although I loved the themes and find the life of Lord Byron to be very fascinating, I find biographies to be very dull and difficult to read, so was saddened to have discovered this was not fiction based on history.
I’m sure it is better than I make out, this is just coming from someone who really can’t stand non-fiction and it is likely I would not have chosen to read this book should I have known.
I will say however that Emily Brand is very well written and I can see where her talent lies, and this is no reflection of her as a writer.

The author Emily Brand has certainly done her homework for this book. Packed with so much information.
I grew up not far from Newstead Abbey and many weekends as a child we’re spent in the grounds. Even sneaking in after hours as a teenager.
The Abbey has held mystical thoughts for many. The author managed to bring the generations to life in this book. I now understand the connections of the household and why many streets got their names.
The book does not concentrate on Lord Byron the poet but the ancestors before him and the lives they lived.
Admittedly at times I did get confused with the family connections and did have to resort to google to explain them.
Only criticism and it’s a minor one. I would have loved more images. Portraits are referred to in the book and it would have been great if the images could have been included. Also pictures of the Abbey. I reviewed this from an ARC so hopefully the print edition may have them.
I hope to see this book in the Abbey gift shop when I next visit.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the arc in return for an honest review
#thefallofthehouseofbyron #emilybrand #netgalley #newsteadabbey

A very well researched story about the notorious Byron family. tree. Lots of scandal and sexual exploits. Moved from success and approbation to failure and disgrace.. Fascinating read.

I enjoyed learning about the Byron family in this very accessible read.

The Byrons are a fascinating assembly of characters, rich, spoilt and wasteful - yet countered by a few heroes, I particularly enjoyed reading about the Admiral and his escapades at sea.

Inevitably, with everyone being named after relatives, it gets hard to retain who's who, but I clung to the main characters easily enough throughout.

If you're looking for a personal history of the poet Byron, this isn't it - but it's so much more, a wealth of information on a fascinating family.

“Mad, bad, and dangerous to know” - Lady Caroline Lamb's verdict on her lover, the 6tth Lord Byron, could apply to any one of the poet's family who whirl around this carousel of high living and low scandal in the later years of Georgian society.

The book's title echoes Edgar Allan Poe's “Fall of the House of Usher”, and the tale here is almost as much about Byron's ancestral home at Newstead Abbey as it is about his ancestors themselves. Curiously, the most famous Byron of all is no more than a bit player in the book, though the wild antics of his ancestors more than make up for relegating the poet to cameos and chapter-heads.

Newstead Abbey was a casualty of the Dissolution of the monasteries, and it slept quietly as a family home of the Byrons until the fireworks started in the early 18th century, when the “Wicked Lord” Byron came into his inheritance. If only half the stories here are true, he richly deserved the nickname - when his son William eloped with a lady who was not his father's choice, the Wicked (and furious) Lord took his revenge by destroying the estate so that there would be nothing to inherit. Stabbing a neighbour who had belittled him, he went to trial by the House of Lords. When his wife left him (and who could blame her ?) he took up with one of his servants and outlived his son and his grandson. The younger William, meanwhile, joined the army to deal with the Jacobite rising, but prudently resigned his commission when the army reached Aberdeen on its way to Culloden.

John Byron, “Foulweather Jack” was just as colourful – sailing south with Admiral Anson, he was shipwrecked in the south Atlantic, landed in Chile, survived mutiny and the journey by foot across Latin America before promotion in the Kings' Navy, the governorship of Newfoundland, and a second trip south, to claim the Falkland Islands for Great Britain.

Then there's Isabella of Castle Howard, sister of the poet's grandfather and yet another figure dancing around among the Williams, the Sophies and Sophias, the Johns and the Jacks of the Byron family as they riot their way through society here and in France (a family tree would have been a useful appendix to the book). Isabella must have been one of those relatives, embarrassing at any time, who was just too much for the family to endure. When her husband died, his will left her the entire estate; provided she never married again. Permission, as if she needed it, for a disastrous series of cross-Channel affairs. A second eventual marriage ended when the poor husband shot himself. No wonder that she mourned, “There is a Planet overrules some Familys (sic) & blasts every Prospect.” Ignore her and enjoy the Byron merry-go-round.