Admiral John Byng was shot under the Articles of War, his family kept his estate, and no pardon has been granted

After Minorca was lost in 1756, Admiral John Byng was court-martialed aboard HMS St George at Portsmouth from 28 December 1756. On 27 January 1757 the court acquitted him of cowardice. It convicted him under the 12th Article of War for failing to do his "utmost", an offence for which death was the only sentence, and unanimously recommended mercy. Admiral John Forbes refused to sign the death warrant. George II refused clemency, and Byng was shot on the quarterdeck of HMS Monarch on 14 March 1757. He never married. In 1754 he had commissioned Wrotham Park in Hertfordshire. He left it to his nephew, the eldest son of his brother Robert. Byng was buried in the family vault at Southill, Bedfordshire. Descendants asked for a posthumous pardon. The Ministry of Defence refused in 2007^†, and the family renewed the request in 2013^†. No pardon had been granted by 2026^†. Wrotham Park, a 2,500-acre estate 17 miles from Hyde Park Corner, is the Byng family home in 2026.