Lytton, Bulwer, pseudonym of Edward George Earle Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (of Knebworth) 1803-73
English novelist, playwright, essayist, poet and politician

He was born in London, the youngest son of General Earle Bulwer (1776-1807) by Elizabeth Barbara Lytton (1773-1843), the heiress of Knebworth in Hertfordshire, and educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge (1822-25), where he won the Chancellor's gold medal for a poem, but left with only a pass degree. His marriage (1827), against his mother's wishes, to the Irish beauty Rosina Wheeler, ended in separation (1836), and the temporary estrangement from his mother forced him to support himself by writing. His enormous output, vastly popular during his lifetime, but now forgotten, includes Eugene Aram (1832), The Last Days of Pompeii (1834) and Harold (1843). Among his plays are The Lady of Lyons (1838), Richelieu (1839) and Money (1840), and his poetry includes an epic, King Arthur (1848-49). MP for St Ives (1831-41), he was created a baronet in 1838, and in 1843 he succeeded to the Knebworth estate and assumed the surname of Lytton. He re-entered parliament as MP for Hertfordshire in 1852, and in the Derby government (1858-59) was Colonial Secretary. He was raised to the peerage in 1866.