(1664 - 1733), Admiral, of Southill, Beds; e. s. of John Byng of Wrotham, Kent; m. 1691 Margaret Master; Kt. 1704; MP 1705 - 21; cr. Bt. 1715 and Vct. Torrington 1721; adml. of the fleet 1718; KB 1725.
1718 - 20 Naples (1 - 6 Aug. 1718), Sicily, Naples (2 Nov. 1718 - 29 Aug. 1719) with absences at sea (2 Feb. - 4 Apr., 17 May - 11 Jul., 28 Jul. - 23 Aug.), Genoa (7 Sep. - 14 Oct. 1719), Naples (Feb. - 17 Jul. 1720) with visits to Sicily, Leghorn (by 13 Aug.), Florence, Bologna, Verona [Greenwich 11 Nov. 1720]
Admiral Byng had served in the Mediterranean in 1693 - 5 and 1706 - 7 before taking command of the Mediterranean fleet in 1709 and again in 1718 - 20, when he was sent to obstruct Spanish designs on Naples and Sicily, and to act as plenipotentiary to the Italian States.
He had arrived in the Bay of Naples on 1 August 17181 and stayed in Naples at the Duke de Matalone's palace. An opera was performed in his honour and he visited the Grotto del Cane and the Solfo Terra on 4 August. On the 6th he sailed to Messina, prior to defeating the Spanish fleet off Cape Passero. He returned to Naples on 2 November, vested with plenipotentiary powers (which his son Pattee had brought back from England in October). On 13 May 1719, one of the Feast days of St Januarius, he attended the liquefaction of the Saint's blood, but his presence, it was alleged, delayed the miracle. On 29 August, with his son Pattee (who was acting as his interpreter) he left for Genoa, where he gave entertainments with the British consul, George Henshawe;2 they viewed the principal Palaces and were joined by Robert Byng, the fourth of the Admiral's sons, from Turin (where he had been attending the Academy). The Admiral was back in Naples in February and June 1720, but was then based principally in Sicily, where he stayed latterly in the Castro Reale, near Palermo. He finally left Naples with his sons Pattee and Robert on 17 July 1720, visiting Leghorn on 13 August on his way home. See Pattee Byng.
It appears that Byng patronised the painter Paolo de Matteis in Naples, and a set of four Italian panoramas of Naples, attributed to dal Po, remains at Wrotham.2
1. See T. Corbett, The Expedition to Sicily, etc. and J.L. Cranmer-Byng (ed.), Pattee Byng's Jnl.1718 - 20. 2. Cf. F. Haskell, Patrons and Painters, 200n5. F. Russell, CL, 25 Apr. 1985, 1149.