Novelist, poet, playwright, and politician. Secretary of State for the Colonies 1858-59.
Born in Baker Street and brought up in London. It must have been a dark and stormy night when he met Rosina, who he married in 1827, for 6 years later they separated on very bad terms which got a lot worse, very publicly: she calling him 'Sir Liar-Coward Bulwer Lytton' and accusing him of murdering their daughter; he having her committed to an insane asylum. The scandal-sheet readers of the day must have loved it.
Heir to his mother's fortune he formally added her family name, Lytton, to his when she died in 1843. He was extremely close to her, and the family home, , apparently contains a room kept exactly as it was at her death, at his instructions.
Father of Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton, Viceroy of India. Died at Argyll Hall, Torquay, where he had gone for his health.
And here's a bit of fun: "Founded in 1982 at San Jose State University in California, the challenged entrants to compose opening sentences to the worst of all possible novels." Sadly 2024 saw the last competition but the archive of past winners is a painful delight.
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