Earl of Lytton
Encyclopedia
Peerage of the United Kingdom
The Peerage of the United Kingdom comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Act of Union in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great Britain...
. It was created in 1880 for the diplomat and poet Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Baron Lytton
Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton
Edward Robert Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton, GCB, GCSI, GCIE, PC was an English statesman and poet...
. He was Viceroy of India from 1876 to 1880 and British Ambassador to France from 1887 to 1891. He was made Viscount Knebworth, of Knebworth in the County of Hertford, at the same time he was given the earldom, also in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Robert Bulwer-Lytton was the son of the poet, novelist and politician Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton PC , was an English politician, poet, playwright, and novelist. He was immensely popular with the reading public and wrote a stream of bestselling dime-novels which earned him a considerable fortune...
. Edward was the author of numerous popular novels, poems and dramas and also served as Secretary of State for the Colonies
Secretary of State for the Colonies
The Secretary of State for the Colonies or Colonial Secretary was the British Cabinet minister in charge of managing the United Kingdom's various colonial dependencies....
under the Earl of Derby
Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby
Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, KG, PC was an English statesman, three times Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and to date the longest serving leader of the Conservative Party. He was known before 1834 as Edward Stanley, and from 1834 to 1851 as Lord Stanley...
between 1858 and 1859. Born Edward Bulwer, he was the third and youngest son of General William Earle Bulwer and his wife Elizabeth Barbara, daughter of Richard Warburton Lytton of Knebworth House
Knebworth House
Knebworth House is a country house in the civil parish of Knebworth in Hertfordshire, England.-History and description:The home of the Lytton family since 1490, when Thomas Bourchier sold the reversion of the manor to Sir Robert Lytton, Knebworth House was originally a genuine red-brick Late Gothic...
, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
(through which marriage the Knebworth estate came into the Bulwer family). He was created a Baronet, of Knebworth House in the County of Hertford, in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom, in 1838, and in 1866 he was raised to the Peerage of the United Kingdom as Baron Lytton, of Knebworth in the County of Hertford. In 1844 he also assumed by Royal license the additional surname of Lytton.
The first Earl of Lytton was succeeded by his son, the second Earl. He was also a politician and served as Under-Secretary of State for India
Under-Secretary of State for India
This is a list of Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State and Permanent Under-Secretaries of State at the India Office during the period of British rule between 1866 and 1948, and for Burma from 1858-1948....
from 1920 to 1922 and as Governor of Bengal
Governor of Bengal
From 1690, a governor represented the British East India Company in Bengal, which had been granted the right to establish a trading post by the local rulers, the nawabs of Murshidabad, who were nominal vassals of the Mughal emperor in Delhi....
from 1922 to 1927. Lord Lytton married Pamela Plowden, remembered as the first great love of Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
. Their two sons, Antony Bulwer-Lytton, Viscount Knebworth
Antony Bulwer-Lytton, Viscount Knebworth
Edward Antony James Bulwer-Lytton, Viscount Knebworth , was a British pilot and Conservative politician.Knebworth was the eldest son of Victor Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Earl of Lytton, and his wife Pamela, daughter of Sir Trevor Chichele-Plowden. Lady Hermione Lytton was his sister. He was educated at...
, and Alexander Bulwer-Lytton, Viscount Knebworth, both predeceased them. Their daughter Lady Hermione Lytton
Hermione Cobbold
Hermione Cobbold, Baroness Cobbold known as Lady Hermione Bulwer-Lytton until 1930 was the British matriarch of Knebworth House and wife of Cameron Fromanteel Cobbold, 1st Baron Cobbold.Born in, 1905 she was the daughter of Victor Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Earl of Lytton and Pamela...
married Cameron Cobbold, 1st Baron Cobbold
Cameron Cobbold, 1st Baron Cobbold
Cameron Fromanteel Cobbold, 1st Baron Cobbold KG, GCVO, PC, DL was a British banker. He served as Governor of the Bank of England from 1949 to 1961 and as Lord Chamberlain from 1963 to 1971.-Early life and career:...
, and through this marriage Knebworth House came into the Cobbold family (see the Baron Cobbold
Baron Cobbold
Baron Cobbold, of Knebworth in the County of Hertford, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1960 for the banker Cameron Cobbold. He was Governor of the Bank of England from 1949 to 1961. the title is held by his son, the second Baron, who succeeded in 1987...
). Lord Lytton was succeeded by his younger brother, the third Earl. He was a portrait and landscape painter. In 1899 he married Judith Blunt, 16th Baroness Wentworth
Judith Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness Wentworth
Judith Anne Dorothea Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness Wentworth also known as Lady Wentworth was a British peeress, Arabian horse breeder and tennis player...
, daughter of the poet Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Wilfrid Scawen Blunt was an English poet and writer. He was born at Petworth House in Sussex, and served in the Diplomatic Service from 1858 to 1869. His mother was a Catholic convert and he was educated at Twyford School, Stonyhurst and at St Mary's College, Oscott...
and his wife Anne, 15th Baroness Wentworth
Lady Anne Blunt
Anne Isabella Noel Blunt, née King-Noel, 15th Baroness Wentworth , known for most of her life as Lady Anne Blunt, was co-founder, with her husband the poet Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, of the Crabbet Arabian Stud. The two married on 8 June 1869...
and great-granddaughter of Lord Byron (see the Baron Wentworth
Baron Wentworth
Baron Wentworth is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1529 for Thomas Wentworth, who was also de jure sixth Baron le Despencer of the 1387 creation. The title was created by writ, which means that it descends according to the male-preference cognatic...
for earlier history of this title). This marriage was dissolved in 1923.
Lord Lytton and Lady Wentworth were both succeeded by their son, the fourth Earl and sixteenth Baron. He assumed by deed poll
Deed poll
A deed poll is a legal document binding only to a single person or several persons acting jointly to express an active intention...
the additional surname of Milbanke in 1925 but discontinued by deed poll the use of this surname in 1951. As of 2007 the titles are held by his eldest son, the fifth Earl, who succeeded in 1985.
Another member of the family was the Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
politician, diplomat and writer Henry Bulwer, 1st Baron Dalling and Bulwer
Henry Bulwer, 1st Baron Dalling and Bulwer
Henry Lytton Earle Bulwer, 1st Baron Dalling and Bulwer GCB, PC was a British Liberal politician, diplomat and writer.-Background and education:...
. He was the elder brother of the first Baron Lytton.
Barons Lytton (1866)
- Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron LyttonEdward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron LyttonEdward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton PC , was an English politician, poet, playwright, and novelist. He was immensely popular with the reading public and wrote a stream of bestselling dime-novels which earned him a considerable fortune...
(1803–1873) - Edward Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Baron LyttonRobert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of LyttonEdward Robert Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton, GCB, GCSI, GCIE, PC was an English statesman and poet...
(1831–1891) (created Earl of Lytton in 1880)
Earls of Lytton (1880)
- Edward Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of LyttonRobert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of LyttonEdward Robert Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton, GCB, GCSI, GCIE, PC was an English statesman and poet...
(1831–1891)- Edward Roland John Bulwer-Lytton (1865–1871)
- Hon. Henry Meredith Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1872–1874)
- Victor Alexander George Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Earl of LyttonVictor Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Earl of LyttonVictor Alexander George Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Earl of Lytton KG, GCSI, GCIE, PC, DL , styled Viscount Knebworth until 1891, was a British politician and colonial administrator...
(1876–1947)- (Edward) Antony James Bulwer-Lytton, Viscount KnebworthAntony Bulwer-Lytton, Viscount KnebworthEdward Antony James Bulwer-Lytton, Viscount Knebworth , was a British pilot and Conservative politician.Knebworth was the eldest son of Victor Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Earl of Lytton, and his wife Pamela, daughter of Sir Trevor Chichele-Plowden. Lady Hermione Lytton was his sister. He was educated at...
(1903-1933) - Alexander Edward John Bulwer-Lytton, Viscount Knebworth (1910-1942)
- (Edward) Antony James Bulwer-Lytton, Viscount Knebworth
- Neville Stephen Bulwer-Lytton, 3rd Earl of LyttonNeville Bulwer-Lytton, 3rd Earl of LyttonNeville Stephen Bulwer-Lytton, 3rd Earl of Lytton, OBE was a British military officer and artist.He was a son of Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton and grandson of the famous novelists, Edward Bulwer-Lytton and Rosina Doyle Wheeler. Neville Lytton was born in India while his father served...
(1879–1951) - Noel Anthony Scawen Lytton-Milbanke, 4th Earl of LyttonNoel Lytton, 4th Earl of LyttonNoel Anthony Scawen Lytton, 4th Earl of Lytton was a British Army officer, Arabian horse fancier and writer....
(1900–1985) - John Peter Michael Scawen Lytton, 5th Earl of LyttonJohn Lytton, 5th Earl of LyttonJohn Peter Michael Scawen Lytton, 5th Earl of Lytton, FRICS, MCIArb is a British surveyor and member of the House of Lords.He graduated from the University of Reading with a BSc honours degree in Estate Management in 1972; after spending 13 years in the Inland Revenue Valuation Office and some...
(b. 1950)
The heir apparent
Heir apparent
An heir apparent or heiress apparent is a person who is first in line of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting, except by a change in the rules of succession....
is the present holder's son Philip Anthony Scawen Lytton, Viscount Knebworth (b. 1989)