Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton
Encyclopedia
Edward Robert Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton, GCB
, GCSI
, GCIE
, PC
(8 November 1831 – 24 November 1891) was an English
statesman and poet. He served as Viceroy of India between 1876 and 1880, including during the Second Anglo-Afghan War, 1878–1880 and the Great Famine of 1876–78
.
An extremely accomplished diplomat, who made friends wherever he served, Lytton was afforded the extraordinarily rare tribute - especially for an Englishman - of a state funeral in Paris. While some have questioned his handling of the Indian famine, his diplomatic career was otherwise highly praised and his son, Victor Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Earl of Lytton
, followed him to India as Governor of Bengal and, for a time, as acting Viceroy. Meanwhile, his son-in-law, and one of Britain's most outstanding architects, Edwin Lutyens
, played a major role in the creation of New Delhi
.
and Rosina Doyle Wheeler
. He was educated at Harrow School
and at the University of Bonn
.
, who was Minister at Washington, DC
. It was at this time he met Henry Clay
and Daniel Webster
. He began his salaried diplomatic career in 1852 as an attaché to Florence
, followed by Paris
in 1854 and The Hague
in 1856 . In 1858 he was transferred to St Petersburg, Constantinople
and Vienna
. In 1860 he was appointed British Consul General at Belgrade
.
In 1862 Lytton was promoted to Second Secretary in Vienna, but his success in Belgrade led to Lord Russell
appointing him Secretary of the Legation at Copenhagen
in 1863. During this time he twice acted as Chargé d'Affaires
in the Schleswig-Holstein
conflict. In 1864 he was transferred to the Greek
court to advise the young Danish Prince. In 1865 he advanced to Lisbon
where he concluded a major commercial treaty with Portugal
.
After an appointment to Madrid
he became Secretary to the Embassy at Vienna and, in 1872, Paris. By 1874 he was appointed British Minister Plenipotentiary
at Lisbon where he remained until being appointed Governor General and Viceroy of India
in 1876.
There is a very interesting permanent exhibition in Knebworth House
, Hertfordshire, dedicated to Robert Bulwer-Lytton's diplomatic service in India. Knebworth House also contains many other fascinating artefacts which illuminate different periods, characters, including Charles Dickens
and Winston Churchill
, and episodes associated with the Lytton family's long and ongoing residence in what remains one of England's greatest stately homes.
In 1877, Lord Lytton convened a durbar (imperial assembly) in Delhi which was attended by around 84,000 people including princes and title holders. In 1878, he promulgated the Vernacular Press Act, which empowered him to confiscate the press and paper of a local language newspaper publishing 'seditious material'. The act resulted in public outcry in Calcutta led by the Indian Association and Surendranath Banerjee.
His implementation of Britain's trading policy has been blamed for increasing the severity of the famine. However, his many letters reveal a man who, in his own mind, was undoubtedly acting for the best. Indeed, it can be argued, as Aurelia Brooks Harlan has done in her book, Owen Meredith, that, where Lord Lytton's policies were adhered to, the famine was ameliorated to a degree, whereas it was more severe in those parts of India where the Viceroy's authority was weakest. Always sensitive to others' situations, Robert Lytton made – and kept – friends with as much facility as he wrote verse (he was a successful poet
under the pen name
of Owen Meredith). He was also credited in the years after the famine with implementing new arrangements in the running of India which ensured that such a severe famine never occurred again.
n empire
and British India. In September 1878, Lytton sent an emissary to Afghanistan who was refused entry. The Amir
of Afghanistan, Sher Ali Khan
, was perceived at this point to have sided with Russia above Britain. Considering himself left with no real alternative, in November 1878, Lytton ordered an invasion which sparked the Second Anglo-Afghan War
. Britain won virtually all the major battles of this war, and in the final settlement, the Treaty of Gandamak
, saw a government installed which was both by personality and law receptive to British demands; however, the human and material costs and relative brutality of the brief guerilla war (the war resulted in great loss of life on all sides, including civilians) became major issues in the defeat of Disraeli's Conservative government by Gladstone
's Liberals in 1880.
The war was seen at the time as an ignominious but barely acceptable end to the "Great Game", closing a long chapter of conflict with the Russian Empire
without even a proxy engagement. The Pyrrhic victory of British arms in India was a quiet embarrassment which played a small but critical role in the nascent scramble for Africa
; in this way, Lytton and his war helped shape the contours of the 20th century in dramatic and unexpected ways. Lytton resigned with the Tory government, the last Viceroy of India to govern an open frontier.
at Malvern
, where he had been with his father as a boy". He saw this as an antidote to the otherwise indulgent lifestyle that came with his career, and used his sojourn there to undertake a critique of a new volume of poetry by his old friend Wilfrid Blunt. In 1887 he was appointed Ambassador to Paris, after the post was made vacant by the resignation of Lord Lyon
. Having previously expressed an interest in the post, Lytton accepted, finding himself "once more back in his old profession".
When Lytton was twenty-five years old, he published in London
a volume of poems under the name of Owen Meredith. He went on to publish several other volumes under the same name. The most popular one is "Lucile
", a story in verse published in 1860. Although not much read today, his poetry was extremely popular in his own day. His facility with verse was extraordinary and he was a great experimenter with form, although possibly to the detriment of finding his own style. Some of his best work is very beautiful, and much of it is of a melancholy nature, as this short extract from a poem called "A Soul's Loss" shows, where the poet bids farewell to a lover who has betrayed him:
Child, I have no lips to chide thee./
Take the blessing of a heart/
(Never more to beat beside thee!)/
Which in blessing breaks. Depart./
Farewell! I that deified thee/
Dare not question what thou art.
Lytton was highly thought of by other literary personalities of the day and Oscar Wilde
dedicated Lady Windermere's Fan
to him.
His publications included:
|-
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
, GCSI
Order of the Star of India
The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1861. The Order includes members of three classes:# Knight Grand Commander # Knight Commander # Companion...
, GCIE
Order of the Indian Empire
The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1878. The Order includes members of three classes:#Knight Grand Commander #Knight Commander #Companion...
, PC
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...
(8 November 1831 – 24 November 1891) was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
statesman and poet. He served as Viceroy of India between 1876 and 1880, including during the Second Anglo-Afghan War, 1878–1880 and the Great Famine of 1876–78
Great Famine of 1876–78
The Great Famine of 1876–1878 was a famine in India that began in 1876 and affected south and southwestern India for a period of two years...
.
An extremely accomplished diplomat, who made friends wherever he served, Lytton was afforded the extraordinarily rare tribute - especially for an Englishman - of a state funeral in Paris. While some have questioned his handling of the Indian famine, his diplomatic career was otherwise highly praised and his son, Victor Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Earl of Lytton
Victor Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Earl of Lytton
Victor 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...
, followed him to India as Governor of Bengal and, for a time, as acting Viceroy. Meanwhile, his son-in-law, and one of Britain's most outstanding architects, Edwin Lutyens
Edwin Lutyens
Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, OM, KCIE, PRA, FRIBA was a British architect who is known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era...
, played a major role in the creation of New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
.
Background and education
He was a son of novelists Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron LyttonEdward 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...
and Rosina Doyle Wheeler
Rosina Bulwer Lytton
Rosina Bulwer Lytton wrote and published fourteen novels, a volume of essays and a volume of letters. Her husband was Edward Bulwer-Lytton, a novelist and politician...
. He was educated at Harrow School
Harrow School
Harrow School, commonly known simply as "Harrow", is an English independent school for boys situated in the town of Harrow, in north-west London.. The school is of worldwide renown. There is some evidence that there has been a school on the site since 1243 but the Harrow School we know today was...
and at the University of Bonn
University of Bonn
The University of Bonn is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in its present form in 1818, as the linear successor of earlier academic institutions, the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number...
.
Diplomatic career
In 1849 he entered the Diplomatic Service, aged 18, when he was appointed as attaché (private secretary) to his uncle, Sir Henry BulwerHenry 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:...
, who was Minister at Washington, DC
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. It was at this time he met Henry Clay
Henry Clay
Henry Clay, Sr. , was a lawyer, politician and skilled orator who represented Kentucky separately in both the Senate and in the House of Representatives...
and Daniel Webster
Daniel Webster
Daniel Webster was a leading American statesman and senator from Massachusetts during the period leading up to the Civil War. He first rose to regional prominence through his defense of New England shipping interests...
. He began his salaried diplomatic career in 1852 as an attaché to Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, followed by Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1854 and The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
in 1856 . In 1858 he was transferred to St Petersburg, Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
and Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. In 1860 he was appointed British Consul General at Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
.
In 1862 Lytton was promoted to Second Secretary in Vienna, but his success in Belgrade led to Lord Russell
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, KG, GCMG, PC , known as Lord John Russell before 1861, was an English Whig and Liberal politician who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century....
appointing him Secretary of the Legation at Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
in 1863. During this time he twice acted as Chargé d'Affaires
Chargé d'affaires
In diplomacy, chargé d’affaires , often shortened to simply chargé, is the title of two classes of diplomatic agents who head a diplomatic mission, either on a temporary basis or when no more senior diplomat has been accredited.-Chargés d’affaires:Chargés d’affaires , who were...
in the Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...
conflict. In 1864 he was transferred to the Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
court to advise the young Danish Prince. In 1865 he advanced to Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
where he concluded a major commercial treaty with Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
.
After an appointment to Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
he became Secretary to the Embassy at Vienna and, in 1872, Paris. By 1874 he was appointed British Minister Plenipotentiary
Plenipotentiary
The word plenipotentiary has two meanings. As a noun, it refers to a person who has "full powers." In particular, the term commonly refers to a diplomat fully authorized to represent his government as a prerogative...
at Lisbon where he remained until being appointed Governor General and Viceroy of India
Governor-General of India
The Governor-General of India was the head of the British administration in India, and later, after Indian independence, the representative of the monarch and de facto head of state. The office was created in 1773, with the title of Governor-General of the Presidency of Fort William...
in 1876.
Viceroy of India
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, dedicated to Robert Bulwer-Lytton's diplomatic service in India. Knebworth House also contains many other fascinating artefacts which illuminate different periods, characters, including Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
and 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...
, and episodes associated with the Lytton family's long and ongoing residence in what remains one of England's greatest stately homes.
Midway on his journey [to India] he met, by prearrangement, in Egypt, the Prince of WalesEdward VII of the United KingdomEdward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
, then returning from his tour through India. Immediately on his arrival in Calcutta he was sworn in as Governor General and Viceroy, and on 1 January 1876, surrounded by all the Princes of HindustanHindustanHindustan or Indostan, literal translation "Land of River Sindhu ", is one of the popular names of South Asia. It can also mean "the land of the Hindus"...
, he presided at a spectacular ceremony on the plains of DelhiDelhiDelhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
, which marked the Proclamation of her Majesty, Queen Victoria, as Empress of India. After this the Queen conferred upon him the honor of the Grand Cross of the civil division of the Order of the BathOrder of the BathThe Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
. In 1879 an attempt was made to assassinate Lord Lytton, but he escaped uninjured. The principal event of his viceroyality was the Afghan warSecond Anglo-Afghan WarThe Second Anglo-Afghan War was fought between the United Kingdom and Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880, when the nation was ruled by Sher Ali Khan of the Barakzai dynasty, the son of former Emir Dost Mohammad Khan. This was the second time British India invaded Afghanistan. The war ended in a manner...
. (New York Times 1891.)
In 1877, Lord Lytton convened a durbar (imperial assembly) in Delhi which was attended by around 84,000 people including princes and title holders. In 1878, he promulgated the Vernacular Press Act, which empowered him to confiscate the press and paper of a local language newspaper publishing 'seditious material'. The act resulted in public outcry in Calcutta led by the Indian Association and Surendranath Banerjee.
Indian Famine
Lord Lytton arrived as Viceroy of India in 1876. In the same year, a famine broke out in south India which claimed between 6.1 million and 10.3 million people.His implementation of Britain's trading policy has been blamed for increasing the severity of the famine. However, his many letters reveal a man who, in his own mind, was undoubtedly acting for the best. Indeed, it can be argued, as Aurelia Brooks Harlan has done in her book, Owen Meredith, that, where Lord Lytton's policies were adhered to, the famine was ameliorated to a degree, whereas it was more severe in those parts of India where the Viceroy's authority was weakest. Always sensitive to others' situations, Robert Lytton made – and kept – friends with as much facility as he wrote verse (he was a successful poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
under the pen name
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
of Owen Meredith). He was also credited in the years after the famine with implementing new arrangements in the running of India which ensured that such a severe famine never occurred again.
Second Anglo-Afghan War, 1878–1880
Britain was deeply concerned throughout the 1870s about Russian attempts to increase its influence in Afghanistan, which provided a buffer state between the RussiaRussia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n empire
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
and British India. In September 1878, Lytton sent an emissary to Afghanistan who was refused entry. The Amir
Emir
Emir , meaning "commander", "general", or "prince"; also transliterated as Amir, Aamir or Ameer) is a title of high office, used throughout the Muslim world...
of Afghanistan, Sher Ali Khan
Sher Ali Khan
Sher Ali Khan was Amir of Afghanistan from 1863 to 1866 and from 1868 until his death in 1879. He was the third son of Dost Mohammed Khan, founder of the Barakzai Dynasty in Afghanistan....
, was perceived at this point to have sided with Russia above Britain. Considering himself left with no real alternative, in November 1878, Lytton ordered an invasion which sparked the Second Anglo-Afghan War
Second Anglo-Afghan War
The Second Anglo-Afghan War was fought between the United Kingdom and Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880, when the nation was ruled by Sher Ali Khan of the Barakzai dynasty, the son of former Emir Dost Mohammad Khan. This was the second time British India invaded Afghanistan. The war ended in a manner...
. Britain won virtually all the major battles of this war, and in the final settlement, the Treaty of Gandamak
Treaty of Gandamak
The Treaty of Gandamak officially ended the first phase of the Second Anglo-Afghan War. Afghanistan ceded various frontier areas to Britain to prevent invasion of further areas of the country....
, saw a government installed which was both by personality and law receptive to British demands; however, the human and material costs and relative brutality of the brief guerilla war (the war resulted in great loss of life on all sides, including civilians) became major issues in the defeat of Disraeli's Conservative government by Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
's Liberals in 1880.
The war was seen at the time as an ignominious but barely acceptable end to the "Great Game", closing a long chapter of conflict with the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
without even a proxy engagement. The Pyrrhic victory of British arms in India was a quiet embarrassment which played a small but critical role in the nascent scramble for Africa
Scramble for Africa
The Scramble for Africa, also known as the Race for Africa or Partition of Africa was a process of invasion, occupation, colonization and annexation of African territory by European powers during the New Imperialism period, between 1881 and World War I in 1914...
; in this way, Lytton and his war helped shape the contours of the 20th century in dramatic and unexpected ways. Lytton resigned with the Tory government, the last Viceroy of India to govern an open frontier.
Politics and return to diplomatic career
In 1880 he resigned his Viceroyality simultaneously with the Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, and was created Earl of Lytton, in the County of Derby, and Viscount Knebworth, of Knebworth in the County of Hertford. On 10 January 1881, Lytton made his maiden speech in the House of Lords, in which he joined others in attacking Gladstone's Afghan policy. In the summer session of 1881, he joined others in opposing Gladstone's second Irish Land Bill. As soon as the summer session was over, he undertook "a solitary ramble about the country. He visited Oxford for the first time, went for a trip on the Thames, and then revisited the hydropathic establishmentHydrotherapy
Hydrotherapy, formerly called hydropathy, involves the use of water for pain-relief and treating illness. The term hydrotherapy itself is synonymous with the term water cure as it was originally marketed by practitioners and promoters in the 19th century...
at Malvern
Malvern, Worcestershire
Malvern is a town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, governed by Malvern Town Council. As of the 2001 census it has a population of 28,749, and includes the historical settlement and commercial centre of Great Malvern on the steep eastern flank of the Malvern Hills, and the former...
, where he had been with his father as a boy". He saw this as an antidote to the otherwise indulgent lifestyle that came with his career, and used his sojourn there to undertake a critique of a new volume of poetry by his old friend Wilfrid Blunt. In 1887 he was appointed Ambassador to Paris, after the post was made vacant by the resignation of Lord Lyon
George Burnett (officer of arms)
George Burnett, LLD, WS was a long-serving Scottish officer of arms. He was the second son of John Burnett, Fifth Laird of Kemnay. He was appointed Lord Lyon King of Arms in 1866 and served in that post until his death in 1890. He also served as Ambassador to Paris for 19 years, resigning the...
. Having previously expressed an interest in the post, Lytton accepted, finding himself "once more back in his old profession".
Owen Meredith
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
a volume of poems under the name of Owen Meredith. He went on to publish several other volumes under the same name. The most popular one is "Lucile
Lucile (poem)
Lucile was a verse novel written by Robert Bulwer-Lytton writing under the pen name Owen Meredith, and published in 1860. The poem is a narrative told in an anapaest meter...
", a story in verse published in 1860. Although not much read today, his poetry was extremely popular in his own day. His facility with verse was extraordinary and he was a great experimenter with form, although possibly to the detriment of finding his own style. Some of his best work is very beautiful, and much of it is of a melancholy nature, as this short extract from a poem called "A Soul's Loss" shows, where the poet bids farewell to a lover who has betrayed him:
Child, I have no lips to chide thee./
Take the blessing of a heart/
(Never more to beat beside thee!)/
Which in blessing breaks. Depart./
Farewell! I that deified thee/
Dare not question what thou art.
Lytton was highly thought of by other literary personalities of the day and Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
dedicated Lady Windermere's Fan
Lady Windermere's Fan
Lady Windermere's Fan, A Play About a Good Woman is a four act comedy by Oscar Wilde, first produced 22 February 1892 at the St James's Theatre in London. The play was first published in 1893...
to him.
His publications included:
- Clytumnestra and other poems, 1855
- The Wanderers, 1859
- Lucile, 1860.
- The Ring of Ainasis, 1863
- Fables in Song, 1874
- Speeches of Edward Lord Lytton with some of his Political Writingss, Hitherto unpublished, and a Prefactory Memoir by His Son, 1874
- The Life Letters and Literary Remains of Edward Bulwer, Lord Lytton, 1863
- Glenaveril, 1885
- After Paradise, or Legends of Exile, 1887
Marriage and children
On 4 October 1864 Lytton married Edith Villiers. She was the daughter of Edward Ernest Villiers (1806–1843) and Elizabeth Charlotte Liddell and the granddaughter of George Villiers. They had at least seven children:- Edward Rowland John Bulwer-Lytton (1865–1871)
- Lady Elizabeth Edith "Betty" Bulwer-Lytton (12 June 1867 – 28 March 1942). Married Gerald Balfour, 2nd Earl of BalfourGerald Balfour, 2nd Earl of BalfourGerald William Balfour, 2nd Earl of Balfour PC , known as Gerald Balfour until 1930, was a British nobleman and Conservative politician.-Background and education:...
- Lady Constance Georgina Bulwer-Lytton (1869–1923)
- Henry Meredith Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1872–1874)
- Lady Emily Bulwer-Lytton (1874–1964). Married Edwin LutyensEdwin LutyensSir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, OM, KCIE, PRA, FRIBA was a British architect who is known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era...
. Associate of KrishnamurtiJiddu KrishnamurtiJiddu Krishnamurti or J. Krishnamurti or , was a renowned writer and speaker on philosophical and spiritual subjects. His subject matter included: psychological revolution, the nature of the mind, meditation, human relationships, and bringing about positive change in society... - Victor 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) - Neville 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...
(6 February 1879 – 9 February 1951)
External links
- The LUCILE Project an academic effort to recover the publishing history of Lucile (which went through at least 2000 editions by nearly 100 publishers).
- His profile in ancestry.com
|-