Byng, John (1743 -1813)

John Byng was the younger son of George Byng, 3rd Viscount Torrington, of Southill Park in Bedfordshire. The paternal seat of Southill Park had been sold by his elder brother (the 4th Viscount), for the repayment of debt. John Byng thus found himself a viscount without an estate.
Before 1812 he was known as The Hon. John Byng. On 14 December 1812 he succeeded in the viscountcy left by the 4th Viscount Torrington, but himself died before he had the opportunity of being introduced into the House of Lords.

A notable English diarist, his fifteen extant diaries, covering the years 1781–1794, describe his travels on horseback throughout England and Wales during twelve summers. He was a great-uncle of the politician Lord John Russell. In 1767 he married Bridget Forrest, daughter of Commodore Arthur Forrest (d. 1770), of the Royal Navy by his wife Juliana Frederica Marina Cecila Lynch (1722–1804). With Bridget he had 14 children, 13 of whom survived infancy.