Lord Byron’s love of Greece
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A cheque recently found by British paper,
The Observer, sheds new light on Lord Byron‘s generosity and commitment to the Greek War of Independence.
In the cheque, Byron stipulates that £4,000 – roughly £332,000 today – be paid to Giovanni Orlando, a representative of the provisional government that, alarmed by the way the war was going, had approached the British for funds.
The money was to go towards emergency needs – notably financing a fleet to defend Missolonghi from besieging Ottoman Albanians. Both sides agreed it would be repaid against a much bigger loan to be raised in London where Orlando was headed.
19 April 2021 5:04pm
When Lord Byron died in Missolonghi 197 years ago today (19 April, 1824), he was the poet superstar of European letters. His celebrity not only drew world attention to the Greek cause against their Ottoman overlords, but his personal contribution to that cause at the ultimate cost of his life was also huge.
The British newspaper the Observer recently unearthed a bank note of exchange/cheque in the Greek state archives which reflects on the poet’s commitment to the Greek cause and the generosity for which he was famous.
In the note of exchange drawn in Kefalonia (one of the Ionian Islands under British rule) on 12 November, 1823, Lord Byron instructs that £4,000 be paid to the representative of the Greek provisional government, Giovanni Orlando. The amount which is the equivalent of £332,000 ($594,000 Australian) today was to finance the emergency needs of the Greeks.
Revealed: Lord Byron s £4,000 cheque that helped create modern Greece msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.