Following the death of Lord Byron in April 1824, various interested parties met at the house of John Murray on 17th May of that year. These included John Murray [II], Thomas Moore, John Cam Hobhouse and representatives of both Lady Byron and Augusta Leigh. After a discussion, the group decided that the manuscript containing the memoirs of Lord Byron should be burned and they proceeded to do so in the drawing room fireplace. This act caused great controversy and the items in this folder all relate to the event.

The items are all housed in a folder entitled ‘Destruction of the Byron Memoirs’. It contains loose material including letters, copies of letters and press cuttings, as well as a manuscript account of John Cam Hobhouse relating to the destruction.

Letter of John Cam Hobhouse to John Murray [II], 1824: folios 1-2;

Letters of Sir Robert John Wilmot-Horton to John Cam Hobhouse, 1824: folios 3-6;

Letters of Thomas Moore to John Cam Hobhouse, 1824: folios 7-14;

Agreement between Thomas Moore and John Murray [II] drawn up by Douglas Kinnaird and annotated by John Cam Hobhouse, 1824: folio 15;

Letter of Hester Anne Murray to John Murray [III], with a related press cutting possibly of the Athenaeum, 1853: folios 16-19;

Letter of John Murray [III] possibly to Charles Appleton as editor of 'The Academy', 1869: folios 20-21;

Letters of George Parkyns, Baron Rancliffe, to John Cam Hobhouse, 1824: folios 22-23;

Note relating to the memoirs of Lord Byron, 1826: folio 24;

Press cuttings relating to the destruction of the Memoirs of Lord Byron, 1824: folios 25-29;

Proofs, possibly for the Quarterly Review, of a printed transcript of a letter of John Murray [II] to Sir Robert Wilmot Horton, ?1853: folios 30-31;

Notebook containing the manuscript for Appendix I in Volume III of ‘Recollections of a Long Life’ by Hobhouse, edited by Lady Dorchester, entitled ‘Narrative of events connected with the destruction of Lord Byron’s Memoirs’: folios 32-106, with folios 85-106 being blank.