Byng became General Officer Commanding the Eastern District in England in October 1815 before transferring to be General Officer Commanding the Northern District in England in June 1816 . At the Peterloo Massacre of 1819 , he was absent because he had two horses entered at York races that day , and delegated command to his deputy , who failed to control the dangerously large crowd . Promoted to lieutenant general on 27 May 1825 , he was advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in 1828 . He became Commander-in-Chief , Ireland and was admitted to the Privy Council of Ireland later that year . After leaving Ireland , he was elected as a Whig Member of Parliament for Poole in Dorset in October 1831 and was one of the few military men who supported the Reform Bill of 1832 . He was also appointed to the honorary position of Governor of Londonderry and Culmore on 15 June 1832 . In recognition of Byng 's support for the Reform Bill , the Prime Minister , Lord Melbourne , raised him to the peerage as '' ' Baron Strafford ' '' of Harmondsworth on 8 May 1835 , which territorial designation recognised the Earldom borne by his maternal ancestors which had become extinct in 1799 . He was promoted to full general on 23 November 1841 , and on 28 August 1847 he was raised further in the peerage as '' ' Viscount Enfield ' '' and '' ' Earl of Strafford ' '' Also in 1847 , following the death of his eldest brother the Whig MP George Byng ( 1764-1847 ) , he inherited Wrotham Park
Peterloo Massacre
Peterloo Massacre
John Byng, 1st Earl of Strafford