Revealed: Lord Byron’s £4,000 cheque that helped create modern Greece

The poet's generosity 200 years ago helped to pave the way to independence, and he is still seen as a hero

Racked by fever, prone to fits of delirium, consumed by his last great passion - the liberation of Greece - Lord Byron lay on his sickbed. It was 18 April 1824. The great Romantic poet would be dead the next day.

I have given her [Greece] my time, my means, my health," he is recorded as saying in a moment of lucidity. And now I give her my life! What could I do more?"