Hellenic Voice
Hellenic Voice celebrates Greek Culture. In each episode, we explore literature, poetry, archaeology, theater, the Greek language, and the connection of Hellenism with other cultures, as well as with Philhellenes around the world.
Hellenic Voice
LORD BYRON : The Birthplace of His Poetry
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In this episode of the Hellenic Voice Podcast, we are joined by Geoffrey Bond — distinguished Byronist, author, collector, broadcaster, and heritage advocate — to discuss his remarkable book, Byron’s Manor: Birthplace of His Poetry.
Our conversation explores the formative years of Lord Byron and the profound influence of Burgage Manor, the historic home where the young poet wrote much of his early work. Geoffrey Bond shares unique insights into Byron’s life, his poetry, personal correspondence, unpublished material, and the historical significance of Southwell and Newark in shaping one of literature’s most iconic figures.
We also discuss what it is like to live in Burgage Manor itself — walking the same halls and writing in the very rooms once occupied by Byron — and how this extraordinary connection has deepened Geoffrey Bond’s understanding of the poet’s creative spirit and legacy.
The episode further explores the importance of heritage preservation, the lasting cultural influence of Byron in today’s world, and the pivotal figures who supported his literary journey, including Elizabeth Pigot. Rich in history, literature, and personal reflection, this is a captivating discussion for lovers of poetry, culture, history, and the enduring legacy of Lord Byron.
A compelling journey into the birthplace of Byron’s poetry and the world that helped shape one of the greatest Romantic poets of all time.
Music by Evanthia Reboutsika. Used with permission. Thank you for letting us feature your music!
Welcome to Hellenic Voice, the podcast that celebrates Greek culture. In each episode, we explore literature, poetry, archaeology, theatre, the Greek language, and the connections of Hellenism with other cultures as well as with Phil Hellenists around the world. Today I have the pleasure of speaking with Geoffrey Bond, author, collector, and lifelong Pyronist, and we will talk about his latest book, Pyron's Manor, Birthplace of His Poetry. But this isn't just a conversation about literature or historic estate. Geoffrey Bond actually lives at Pyron's Manor, the very place where the young Lord Byron began crafting the verses that will go on to captivate the world. In our discussion, we'll explore what it means to inhabit such a space, to wake each day surrounded by the atmosphere, equals and inspiration of one of the most iconic figures of romantic poetry. Whether you are a dedicated pyron enthusiast or simply drawn to stories where the past speaks vividly to the present, this is an epithet you won't want to miss.
SPEAKER_01Shelley, Keats, Gelleridge, Wordsworth. But Byron really was the most exciting I thought of, particularly with his uh life. So when the house came up for sale with my wife, we decided to buy it. Although when we arrived, I have to say, there wasn't a scintilla of Byron here, nothing. But we know from research and uh uh all the rest of it that uh it has a huge connection to Byron. And now if you come to the house, it's full of Byron. If you look at my latest book, Byron's Man, there's lovely photographs of the house and showing my collections. I'm told I have the largest library of Byron material by him or not him in private hands. So that purchase led me into studying Byron in more detail, joining the Byron Society in London. I, in due course, became the chairman, sat on the Byron Society Board in America. So what it has meant, the house, for me, are lots of friends around the world, uh lots of very interesting visits, and of course, all the time collecting not just borrowed books, but objects and pictures. And the house has generated for me a huge amount of pleasure and interest.
SPEAKER_00Thank you, Geoffrey. I must uh admit that I had the privilege of having a special uh uh tour by yourself, you know, and uh it was such an amazing uh experience. So thank you once more. So, how does uh Baggage Manor itself reflect the character of Byron's poetry and personality?
SPEAKER_01Well, I think the main thing is, and the point of my book is that nobody's really written this before, despite the huge Byron Gannon, that the genesis of Byron's poetry was here in this house, not at Newstead Abbey, which is about 11 miles north of here. Byron's father died when he was three, met Jack Byron, who'd met his mother in Bath. She had a fortune of uh £25,000, the equivalent to there of about five million. And within two years, he'd spent all her money and given her baby Byron, passed off to France, where he died of drink. So Byron never really knew his father, but at the age of 10, he inherited the title as the sixth Lord Byron and came down to Nottingham with his mother. Apart from the fact that New Cindery wasn't in a very good state, he was awarded chancery. And he was not allowed to go and live in Newcinder until he was 21. So after some time living in Nottingham in various places, Catherine Gordon, Byron's mother, found this house. It had just been built, 1802, 1803. So I think she was the first tenant, and she took the house from 1803 to 1809, although Byron left in 1808 on his 21st to go up to Newstead Abbey. And in any event, he used to go and visit Newstead Abbey when he was living here. But in those years he was at Harrow School and at Trinity College, Cambridge. It's where he wrote his first poetry. And as my book tells the reader, we have plenty of evidence to show that the books were written here between about 1806, 1807, and he went over to a nearby town of Newark-on-Trent on the A1, where the Ridge brothers had a very good printing farm. So those factors all combined to give Byron the publication of his juvenile of his first four books when he was here. And of course, it's a house, therefore, of immense significance, as I've told the local authorities of Southwell and York, who had living in this house in the early 19th century, one of the most famous men in Europe of his day, as famous as Napoleon. I think what my book has done is to uh highlight Byron as a potential tourist attraction. He is a tourist attraction, but there's not enough done to promote him, and they're hoping to have in York some form of uh centre where people can learn about Byron and be directed to various places he was connected with. So that's what Burgage Manor means. It's been a huge awakening for me and a huge awakening for a lot of people about the significance of Byron's life here. The first volume of poems he wrote, which was Fugitive Pieces, published in 1806, many of the poems were about the ladies of the town, and therefore they had a great influence on his writing. And a good friend of Elizabeth Pickett, who lived across the road from Byron, she was like an elder sister to Byron, and she assisted him in his writing. Um when the first volume came out, which was called Beauty Pieces, were only 50 copies just published for his friends. Um the Reverend Beecher, who directed him to the uh printers in York, to the ridges, he'd read the poem. He said, Look, young Byron, some of these poems are a bit hot, you know, for the people of Sovle. The poem to Mary in ecstatic posture line that's grateful to feeling as society. He said, Yeah, boy, you know, we must destroy it. So uh they destroyed all those 51st copies except four. And those four copies are held, one at Newstead Abbey, which is incomplete, one in the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York, and one in uh University of Austin, Texas, and one in Private Hands. I mean, if that book ever came on the market, it would touch a fortune. Now, the second book of poems he wrote, again for private private key just fans, was called Poems on Various Occasions in 1807. Uh, and that that that was allowed to continue. And then the third book he wrote was for the public to buy. It was called Hours of Idleness. 500 copies of that were published, and that set him on the road to becoming a well-known poet. Because shortly after that, uh, he left Cambridge and he left to go to London, where in due course he met John Murray, who was to be his publisher for a good deal of his life. So the significance of Southwell and its people and this house on Byron and his poetry, I believe, is very, very important.
SPEAKER_00Now, your book includes images, poems, and letters that shed new light on Byron's life. Could you tell us about the process of gathering these images and any particularly memorable discoveries? And also your book includes unpublished material and historic imagery.
SPEAKER_01Yes, I've been collecting for many years. For example, amongst the episcopary work I have are the letters that John Hansen had as Byron's lawyer with lawyers in Norfolk when he sold on behalf of Byron a piece of land he had in Norfolk, which he successfully sold for quite a lot of money for Byron. Now, those letters they've never been seen before, and they're published in my book. There were some very unusual pictures, for example, uh the picture of Broad Street Aberdeen, uh which we where we found, which was Byron's um house where he lived with his mother in Aberdeen, and we've highlighted that in in the book. And also the poetry in the book at the end, there's a whole series of poems, about 15 poems, which Byron wrote when he's here in Southport, but for one reason or another, I suspect because they were highly personal to the residents, uh, they have been published for the first time. They've been researched by my old friend Dr. Peter Cochrane, and I got permission from his daughter because he died some years ago, Peter. So they are completely new and have never been published uh anywhere before. And there are one or two uh portraits and engravings which are novel to the um uh public. For example, the oil painting of John Hansen, uh Byron's uh lawyer. Uh that's never been uh published before, as far as I know, and I've published that, so there's quite a lot of material which is novel and unique in the book.
SPEAKER_00Thank you, Geoffrey. Now, your earlier book, Dangerous to Show, focused on images of Lord Byron. How does Byron's manner build on it uh on or differ from your previous uh work about him?
SPEAKER_01I'm sorry, I don't quite understand your question.
SPEAKER_00Yes, and uh about you know, um your earlier book, Dangerous to to show. Also focus on images of Lord Byron. How does Byron's manner built on or differ from your previous work about uh him?
SPEAKER_01Well, uh not a lot, really. I mean, I wrote that book, I co-authored it with Dr. Christine Kenyon Jones from College University of London. And again, it's a book. Nobody had ever written a book on all the portraits and images and busts and things of Byron. And then Peach did a very scholarly piece in the Warpol review in I think 2000. There was no book on the subject, and and uh Kristen and I talking all evening both shared the passion for portraiture of Byron and said, well, come on, we'll do it together. And that I think uh was very well received. It doesn't do any damage, if you like, if the right word, to my book on Byron and Burgage Manor, because Byron Burgage Manor only endorses, if you like, uh some of the earlier portraits of Byron uh in uh the work uh Dangerous to Show. So I I think there's a degree of synergy between the two, uh, and that you can I could write Byron at Burgage Manor the better for having done uh Dangerous to Show and studied and looked at all the portraits of Byron and when they were done and all the rest of it. And my book, uh Byron's Manor, has a very good painting of uh uh Mrs. Byron, of his mother, Catherine Gordon. And that is owned by John and Virginia Murray in London in London. Uh but the and I'm very pleased to say they allowed my artist who does work for me to copy it. Because I'd never get a picture of Mrs. Byron. So that's sitting in my house here, and that's in uh my book uh about uh Byron's manor. And it I don't think it's been shown very much before, and of course, it wouldn't have been in Dangerous to show because that was about Byron and not his uh mother or his relatives in any way.
SPEAKER_00So also Papa Byron's manor uh marks Byron's Bicidentary Year. What do you hope readers would take away from the celebration of his life and works in Byron's Manor?
SPEAKER_01Well, what I want them to take away from Byron's Manor is the realization that this small uh cathedral town of Southwell in Nottinghamshire was the genesis of Byron's poetry. This is where it all began. Elizabeth Pickett, who lived across the road and is a well-known character in the Byron drama, if you like. Uh Byron used to go across the road to talk to her when he was at Harrow and at Trinity. And in 1804, he went across to talk to her, and she was writing some poetry. And he said, Well, you know, I I like writing poetry. He said, Well, come on, bring it across and let's have a look at it. And from there on he never looked back. And that's when one of her relatives, Beecher, said to Byron, Look, young Byron, if you're writing this stuff and it's worth publishing, I can introduce you to the printers in Europe, Samuel Ridge and his brother, and they will do the publications for you. So that's a really pretty important aspect of Byron's life. He never came back to Southwell, and he said some nasty things about it when he lived here, because he was always riding with his mum, who's a mercurial little Scotswoman. But later in life, 1811, he writes to a friend and recommends Byron as being such a town as uh a distressed gentle folk could retire to with good conversation and cheek calls.
SPEAKER_00This is amazing, thank you. Now, uh Geoffrey, as a renowned Byronist, how do you think Byron's cultural influence continues to resonate today?
SPEAKER_01Well, I think there's two aspects of Byron. There's his first, but also Byron was, of course, quite unusual amongst the aristocrats of his day. He was what we'd call a democrat. He believed in democracy and demos, and he said that nation shouldn't oppress nation. He spoke in the House of Lords in support of the Catholic Emancipation Bill, in support of the framework knitters who were being persecuted here in Nottinghamshire. And that's often forgotten. Bertrand Russell, the great philosopher, wrote a book, History of Western Philosophy, and he gives a whole chapter to Byron. Such was Russell's view of the importance of Byron on, particularly in the early 19th century, on democratic and political thought. Today, those aspects of his life are still studied. As I am told, in terms of his poetry, he spawns more English literature PhDs than any other poet. But there are Byron societies all over the world, about 47 all over the world. There's still a great interest in Byron, notwithstanding that we live in the 21st century. And I think that's because he was he had so many aspects of his life people could relate to him. He's born almost into a one-parent family, he was born in a call, as we call it. His father died when he was young. He was born with a disability. He liked men as much as women. He had an incestuous relation with his relationship with his half-sister. And all these characters mean that he is attractive to quite different sections of society. And I found that women and feminists rather like Byron, notwithstanding his uh perhaps his attitude uh to women. And this people say to me, Jeffrey, do you have any gory details of Byron in bed and all that? And I said, No. Byron never commented on his sexual life. He would comment on women he knew and he liked them, but he never went into those kinds of uh details.
SPEAKER_00Okay. No. That's interesting. Now, uh Joffrey, you've had extensive uh experience with heritage, conservation, and education. In your view, what is the importance of preserving historical homes like Burgage Manor?
SPEAKER_01Well, here I am in Burgage Manor after 33 years. I'm lucky to say it's a beautiful house, it's got wonderful things in it, and quite a lot of my friends say, Jeffrey, well, you know, you've got to leave this house to the nation. It's a wonderful locus and a wonderful representation of Byron and his work. But I'm afraid, I'm afraid, Vasula, that's uh perhaps a request too far. Apart from anything else, if you leave a property to the nation, for example, the National Trust, you have to leave it with a substantial endowment. So sadly, uh I don't think I can do that. But at the same time, um I'm happy that I've done what I've done and that uh it's put Bayern on the map in South Hour. I feel confident that those who here who have read my book and taken up my request to promote Bayern will bring to this town and New York more sense of information about him. So that I think will carry on into the future.
SPEAKER_00Well, I think it's really, really important to preserve, you know, places like this, uh, because it's cultural, you know, and uh thanks to you. I mean, some people like myself, you know, we had the opportunity to, you know, to live such an amazing experience, uh, which I think it would be great if many other people, uh, you know, especially the young generation.
SPEAKER_01Uh the young love coming here and I love to hear about uh Barn. Uh I I think I should have to get see whether the Greeks want to buy it.
SPEAKER_00I love the you know, when we came to your place, you had the British flag and the Greek flag, you know. You're such a hospitable person, you know. So I think it is good, I mean, for everyone. It's a unique experience, and I think the nation needs to help you to carry on with this amazing job.
SPEAKER_01Well, I'd be open to suggestions if the nation in some way wanted to acquire it, but I have to remember that it's an important asset in my state for my family when I'm gone.
SPEAKER_00So you are a very busy person, Geoffrey. You've been uh involved in numerous pro-bono initiatives, including the National Law Museum and educational scholarship programs. How do you balance your dedication to heritage with your commitment to you know your so many other commitments or interests?
SPEAKER_01I like working, I like being busy, I like people, and all my heritage and intellectual interests all feed off each other, if you like. So I'm chairman of a number of trusts, and they reach out into the community. And one of my great passions is helping young people in their education. That's one of my great interests, whether it's education in the world of literature or as in some cases in engineering apprenticeships. I feel very strongly about that. And of course, I realize that um I might be seen as a polymath, a lovely Greek word, and I suppose in some ways I am. But I've been very fortunate to have been a lawyer, a businessman, a broadcaster, a writer. So all of them uh uh feed off each other, and it gives me huge connections of people who I know in different worlds, which is very useful.
SPEAKER_00And you still have this uh amazing enthusiasm about the things, you know, which is which is so beautiful, it's amazing. Yes, I'm boringly enthusiastic. No, this is uh uh charismatic, you know, it's a charisma. Now, where do we uh we find your book? Where can we look for it? How would do we get it?
SPEAKER_01You can get my book at Waterstones selling it, and uh and on um and on uh um what's the what's the uh uh thing you buy books on online? Um Amazon.
SPEAKER_00Amazon yes, it's on Amazon.
SPEAKER_01If you put my name in Amazon, the book will come up and it's on Amazon. I think it's uh it's not £25, it's £19.99. And uh similarly at Waterstone. So those are two places where you can buy the book. Well if you can't get one, just get in touch with me, and I've got copies I can send to people.
SPEAKER_00And to your website, please?
SPEAKER_01Yes, my website you can look up and find all my sins. Jeffrey G-E-O-F-F-R-Y, Jeffreybondbooks.com. All one word, jeffreybondbooks.com will show you all my different activities and all the books that I've done and so on.
SPEAKER_00Thank you. And what is next, uh, Geoffrey, before I let you go? Any plans? I'm sure you will never stop.
SPEAKER_01Uh much to my wife's horror. I'm thinking about another book on Byron, again on a subject that's not really been written about very much, and would lend itself to a book that could be really well illustrated and attractive for people to read. I don't write heavily academic books. I write books I think that are interesting to people and let Byron speak for himself. And of course, the way to know Byron, undoubtedly, is to read his poetry. And if you think of his some of his poetry, for example, he was made famous in 1812 by the publication of the first two cantos of Child Harold. But in 1819 he started in Venice, he started writing Don Juan. And uh that went to 17 volumes, and I think that's one of the greatest, just not me, many people think it's one of the greatest pieces of satirical writing in the English language. So Byron is important and a heavyweight in quite a number of areas, both the English literature and his writing on democracy. And of course, the reason he went to Greece and died for Greece is to help the Greeks get rid of the Ottoman Turk because he didn't believe nations should oppress nations. And subsequently, although it was after Byron's death at the Battle of Navarino, I think in 1828, Greece was free after over 400 years of the burden of the Ottoman Turk. So Byron, I think, was very instrumental in getting all that going and helping them with his money as well. Just very sad that on the 19th of April 1824 he died in Messalonghi, as you know. But he started everything going, and it's very nice to see how much today the Greeks respect and uh look up to and and love Byron really and for what he did.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Thank you so much. It's been such a pleasure chatting with you again, Geoffrey. And I'm looking uh forward to our next chat when you have your new book ready, but till then uh I I will uh it's a great pleasure to speak to you.
SPEAKER_01And uh I have to say I do get interviewed by various people, but you're by far your streets ahead is the most charming person I had to speak to.
SPEAKER_00Thank you. Thank you so much. Now, what a privilege it's been to step inside Byron's world, not just through his poetry and letters, but through the lived experience of someone who calls his former home home. A huge thank you to Geoffrey Bond for sharing his insights, his passion, and the stories behind Byron's manner, birthplace of his poetry. It's not every day we get to explore history through the eyes of someone living in its heart. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe, share it with fellow lovers of poetry and history, and check out Geoffrey's book for an even deeper dive into the early world of Lord Byron. Until next time, thank you for listening and keep seeking the stories behind the worlds.
SPEAKER_01Thank you. Bye-bye.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for listening to Hellenic Voice. If you enjoyed this episode, please support us by sharing it, leaving your comments, and following us on social media so we can continue this journey through Greek culture together. Until the next episode, the voice of Hellenism continues.