Engraving of Lord Byron's father, Captain John 'Mad Jack' Byron, date unknown

Captain John Byron (7 February 1756 – 2 August 1791) was a British army officer, best known as the father of poet George Gordon Byron.

He was the son of Vice-Admiral Hon. John Byron and Sophia Trevannion^[1] and grandson of William Byron, 4th Baron Byron of Rochdale. He was educated at Westminster School. He gained the rank of Captain in the service of the Guards.^[2] Captain John Byron also went by the nick-name of "Mad Jack."

In 1778 he eloped with Amelia Osborne, Marchioness of Carmarthen to Europe and they married after she obtained a divorce from Francis Osborne, 5th Duke of Leeds^[3]. Amelia Osborne died in 1784. He married Baroness Darcy (de Knayth), daughter of Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness and Mary Doublet, on 1 June 1779 at London, England.

Byron then married Catherine Gordon, heiress of Gight in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, daughter of George Gordon and Catherine Innes, on 12 May 1785. She was the mother of George Gordon Byron, who would much later become the 6th Baron Byron.^[4] In order to claim his wife's estate in Scotland, Captain Byron took the surname Gordon.^{[citation needed]} After he had squandered most of her fortune and deserted her, Mrs. Byron took her infant son to Aberdeen, Scotland, where they lived in lodgings on a meager income.

"Mad Jack" died in 1791 at age 35, at Valenciennes. Later, Lord Byron would tell friends that his father had cut his own throat. It is more likely he died from tuberculosis or an overdose.^{[citation needed]}

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