Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron Lytton

Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton, was a prominent English figure of the 19th century, excelling as both a writer and a politician. He served multiple terms in Parliament, representing different parties, and held the significant post of Secretary of State for the Colonies. His literary career, which began in his youth, produced a wide array of works across genres like historical fiction, mystery, romance, and the occult. Bulwer-Lytton was also responsible for popularizing several well-known phrases, including "the pen is mightier than the sword" and the famous opening line "It was a dark and stormy night."

His personal life was marked by a tumultuous marriage and later legal separation from Rosina Doyle Wheeler, whose public accusations and eventual confinement in a mental asylum against his will became a significant scandal. Despite these personal difficulties, he continued his political and literary pursuits, eventually inheriting Knebworth House and taking on the Bulwer-Lytton surname. His later years were affected by illness, leading to his death in 1873. His son, Edward Robert Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, achieved high office as Governor-General and Viceroy of British India.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton was a remarkably prolific author whose literary output spanned much of the 19th century and encompassed diverse genres including historical fiction, mystery, romance, the occult, and science fiction. He financed his lifestyle through this varied and extensive writing, sometimes publishing his work anonymously. His novel "Zanoni" (1842) is particularly noted for its inclusion of Rosicrucian and other esoteric themes, leading various esoteric groups to claim him as a "Grand Patron," although he himself expressed surprise at such claims. Despite his protestations, his writings have continued to resonate with those interested in mystical and occult subjects.

Bulwer-Lytton's political career was extensive, beginning as a follower of Jeremy Bentham and serving as a Whig Member of Parliament from 1831 to 1841, and later as a Conservative from 1851 to 1866. He held the important position of Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1858 to 1859, during which time he played a role in the establishment of British Columbia, selecting Richard Clement Moody to lead the Royal Engineers. He was created a baronet in 1838 and later raised to the peerage as Baron Lytton of Knebworth in 1866. His political activities often intertwined with his literary pursuits, and his public life was also marked by a highly contentious separation from his wife, Rosina.