Lytton, Edward George Earle, First Barron Of Lytton

(1803-1873)

   Born in London, the son of William Earle Bulwer of Heydon Hall, Norfolk. His tutor encouraged him to publish a collection of poems, Ismael, in 1820. He graduated M.A. from Trinity Hall in 1835 and received the honorary degree of doctor of laws from both Cambridge and Oxford. In Parliament his speech on the abolition of Negro apprenticeshippublished by the Anti-Slavery Society - raised a furor. He was secretary for the colonies in Lord Derby's ministry (1858-1859) and was largely responsible for the reorganization of British Columbia (where a village is named for him) and for separating Queensland from New South Wales. He was created Baron Lytton of Knebworth in 1866 and died at Hagley, Worcestershire. He wrote historical novels, essays, romances, plays, and an epic poem, King Arthur (1848-1849), and in 1844 translated Schiller's ballads. Some of his other poetry publications: Delmour, or the Tale of a Sylphid, and Other Poems, 1823. Weeds and Wild Flowers, 1825. Eva, the Ill-omened Marriage, and Other Tales and Poems, 1842. Letters to John Bull, Esq., 1851. The Lost Tales of Miletus, 1866. The Odes and Epodes of Horace, 1869.

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. The National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.