in his orders when the French, having extended in line of battle, could be seen to number twenty-five sail of the line instead of sixteen. The attack was thus made in a scrambling, disorderly manner, in which several of the leading ships, being comparatively unsupported, were very roughly handled. The English afterwards succeeded in forming their line of battle parallel to the French, and for a short time the action became general; but D'Estaing had no wish to fight it out. He had got Grenada, and the result of the first shock of the battle, by disabling several of the English ships, seemed sufficient to prevent any serious attempt at its recapture. So the French wore and stood back into the bay. That they had had the best of the fighting, so far as it went, was certain; but their neglecting to push their advantage and their hasty withdrawal left them with no claim to victory. The solid gain, however, remained with them, for Byron found himself too weak to attempt to regain the island, and with the greater part of his shattered fleet went back to St. Christopher's. He was lying there, in Basseterre Roads, on 22 July, when D'Estaing made his appearance. The French fleet was more numerous by one-fourth than the English; but D'Estaing having stood in within random gunshot, wore, stood out again, and disappeared. After this there seemed no immediate prospect of any further operations, and Byron, being in a weakly state of health, and suffering from ‘a nervous fever,’ availed himself of a provisional permission to return home, turning the command over to Rear-admiral Parker. He arrived in England on 10 Oct. 1779.
Byron was beyond question a brave man, a good seaman, and an esteemed officer; but nature had not given him the qualifications necessary for a great discoverer, and the peculiar service in which so much of his time was passed gave him no experience in the conduct of fleets. It is very doubtful whether he ever saw a fleet extended in line of battle before he saw the French fleet on the morning of 6 July 1779. Any knowledge which he may have had of naval tactics was purely theoretical, and when wanted in practice lost itself, giving place to the untrained combative instinct. That he was not thoroughly beaten at Grenada was due to the incapacity of his antagonist, and not to any skill on his part. It is said that, after the peace, he was offered the command in the Mediterranean, but declined it. He had thus no further employment, and died vice-admiral of the white on 10 April 1786. A fine portrait by Reynolds, painted in 1759, the property of William Byron, was exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery in the loan collection of Reynolds's works, 1883–4.
He married in August 1748 Sophia, daughter of John Trevannion of Carhays in Cornwall, by whom he had two sons and seven daughters, three of whom died in infancy. Of the sons, the eldest, John, was father of Lord Byron the poet; the second, George Anson, captain in the navy, while in command of the Andromache frigate, had the honour of bringing to Sir George Rodney intelligence of the sailing of the French fleet from Martinique on 8 April 1782, and of thus contributing to the decisive victory off Dominica four days later.
[Charnock's Biog. Nav. v. 423; Ralfe's Nav. Biog. i. 60; Beatson's Nav. and Mil. Memoirs; Chevalier's Hist. de la Marine Française pendant la Guerre de l'Indépendance Américaine.]
BYRON, Sir THOMAS (d. 1644), commander of the Prince of Wales's regiment during the civil war, was fifth son of Sir John Byron of Newstead, Nottinghamshire, by Anne, daughter of Sir Richard Molineux of Sefton, Lancashire, and brother of John, first Lord Byron [q. v.] Clarendon, who characterises him as a ‘very valuable and experienced officer,’ states that the Prince of Wales's regiment, ‘the titular command whereof was under the Earl of Cumberland,’ was ‘conducted and governed’ by him (History (1849), App. 2, n. 5). Wood mentions that a degree was conferred on him at Oxford in 1642, but ‘of what faculty’ he ‘knows not.’ While in command of his regiment at the battle of Hopton Heath, near Stafford, 19 March 1642–3, he was so severely wounded by a shot in the thigh as to be compelled to leave the field (Clarendon, History, vi. 281). ‘Sir Thomas Byron, at the head of the prince's regiment, charging their foot, broke in among them, but they having some troops of horse near their foot fell upon him, and then he received his hurt, bleeding so that he was not able to stay on the field’ (‘The Battaile on Hopton Heath’). On 7 Dec. 1643 he was attacked in the street at Oxford by Captain Hurst of his own regiment, owing to a dispute about pay (Dugdale, Diary; Carte, Letters, i. 27, Trevor tells the story to Ormonde). Hurst was shot on 14 Dec. Byron died of the wound on 5 Feb. 1643–4 (Dugdale, Diary). He was buried on 9 Feb. 1643–4 in Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, ‘on the left side of the grave of Wm. Lord Grandison in a little isle joyning on the south side of the choir’ (Wood, Fasti, ii. 42). By his wife Catherine, daughter of Henry Braine, he had two sons, who predeceased him. His wife was buried in Westminster Abbey on 11 Feb. 1675–6.
