They came to Number 3
Lord Byron’s visit to Berrys’ London Shop
George Gordon Byron was a leading figure in British poetry and indeed a leader
for the Romantic Movement itself. Among his best known works are the short
poems 'She walks in beauty' and 'When We Two Parted' and the narratives
‘Childe Harold's Pilgrimage’ and ‘Don Juan’. He is just
as famous however for his many indulgences, numerous love affairs, his debts
and his general prominence as 'bon viveur'; he was famously described by Lady
Caroline Lamb (with whom he had a highly public and scandalous affair) as "mad,
bad, and dangerous to know".
Despite his many and varied excesses; from dining heartily on meat and three
bottles of fine claret or simply making do with 'a damned anchovy sandwich',
George Gordon Byron was nevertheless as obsessed with his weight as many of us
are today. His struggle with corpulence is well documented and inextricably
linked to Berry Bros. & Rudd as it was on our scales where he learned the
results of his dieting efforts. When first weighed at the age of 17 'in boots
but no hat' he came in at a splendid 13 stone 12, quite an achievement for a
chap at 5'8".
Sorties up to London with his friends to explore the demi-monde and gambling
hells (one of the most fashionable was to be found in Pickering Square behind
the shop) made him a familiar figure in St James's and on his return to Number
Three he was registered on the scales at 10 stone, much more the ideal for a
man of his height and much to his delight. Indeed writing from the Gordon Hotel
in Albermarle St he expresses his satisfaction to a lady confidante:
"One thing I do not regret, which is having pared off sufficient quantity of
flesh to enable me to slip into an eel skin and vie with the slim beaux of
modern times... as violent exercise in London is impracticable; I attribute the
phenomenon to our evening squeezes at public and private parties"
Opening Hours
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Saturdays: 10am to 5pm
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3 St. James's Street
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Tel: +44 (0)800 280 2440
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