whom Collins and other writers have called his fourth, but who was in
fact his illegitimate son. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in
1579, and his eldest son, Sir Nicholas, served with distinction in
the wars of the Netherlands. When the great rebellion broke out
against Charles I., he was one of the earliest who armed in his
defence. After the battle of Edgehill, where he courageously
distinguished himself, he was made Governor of Chester, and gallantly
defended that city against the Parliamentary army. Sir John Byron,
the brother and heir of Sir Nicholas, was, at the coronation of James
I., made a Knight of the Bath. By his marriage with Anne, the eldest
daughter of Sir Richard Molyneux, he had eleven sons and a daughter.
The eldest served under his uncle in the Netherlands; and in the year
1641 was appointed by King Charles I., Governor of the Tower of
London. In this situation he became obnoxious to the refractory
spirits in the Parliament, and was in consequence ordered by the
Commons to answer at the bar of their House certain charges which the
sectaries alleged against him. But he refused to leave his post
without the king's command; and upon' this the Commons applied to the
Lords to join them in a petition to the king to remove him. The
Peers rejected the proposition.

On the 24th October, 1643, Sir John Byron was created Lord Byron of
Rochdale, in the county of Lancaster, with remainder of the title to
his brothers, and their male issue, respectively. He was also made
Field-Marshal-General of all his Majesty's forces in Worcestershire,
Cheshire, Shropshire and North Wales: nor were these trusts and
honours unwon, for the Byrons, during the Civil War, were eminently
distinguished. At the battle of Newbury, seven of the brothers were
in the field, and all actively engaged.