15 May 2012

Lord Byron's Friend, John Cam Hobhouse, in Kensal Green Cemetery, London


'IN MEMORY OF
JOHN CAM HOBHOUSE, BART.
BARON BROUGHTON DE GYFFORD, G. C. B.
BORN JUNE 27TH. 1786. DIED JUNE 3RD. 1869.'

HE WAS EMINENT ALIKE IN POLICTICAL AND LITERARY LIFE
AND FOUND UNBROKEN HAPPINESS IN DOMESTIC REPOSE
WHICH HE ADORNED
BY HIS RARE GIFTS OF SCHOLARSHIP AND ELOQUENCE.

Hobhouse is perhaps best remembered for his relationship with Lord Byron, whose great faithful friend and travel companion he was for a number of years. Canto IV of Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage is dedicated to Hobhouse, 'a friend often tried and never found wanting'. It was Hobhouse who identified Byron's body (his face being unrecognizable) by his deformed foot. And it was Hobhouse who ensured that, because Westminster Abbey refused to accept the remains of the disgraced poet, he should at least have as dignified a burial as possible.

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Lord Byron and Newstead Abbey
Lord Byron in Hucknall
Lord Byron and Sir Walter Scott in Newark on Trent

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