Edward Bulwer-Lytton: Difference between revisions

|honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]

|name             = The Lord Lytton

|honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|PC}}

|image           = Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton by Henry William Pickersgill.jpg

| caption = Portrait by [[Henry William Pickersgill]], 1831

|party           = [[Whigs (British political party)|Whig]] (1831–1841)<br />[[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] (1851–1866)

|monarch1         = [[Queen Victoria|Victoria]]

|primeminister1  = [[Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby|The Earl of Derby]]

|office1         = [[Secretary of State for the Colonies]]

|term_start1     = 5 June 1858

|predecessor1     = [[Edward Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby|Lord Stanley]]

|term_end1       = 11 June 1859

|successor1       = [[Henry Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne|The Duke of Newcastle]]

|birth_name       = Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer<ref name="ODNBLytton"/>

|birth_date       = {{birth date|1803|5|25|df=y}}

|birth_place     = London, England

|death_date       = {{death date and age|1873|1|18|1803|5|25|df=y}}

|death_place     = [[Torquay]], England

|spouse           = {{marriage|[[Rosina Bulwer Lytton|Rosina Doyle Wheeler]]|1827}}

|children         = 2, including [[Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton|Robert]]

|parents         = William Earle Bulwer<br />[[Elizabeth Bulwer-Lytton|Elizabeth Barbara Warburton-Lytton]]

|alma_mater       = [[Trinity College, Cambridge]]<br />[[Trinity Hall, Cambridge]]

|module           = {{Infobox writer|embed=yes

'''Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|ʊ|l|w|ər}}; 25 May 1803 – 18 January 1873) was an English writer and politician. He served as a [[Whigs (British political party)|Whig]] member of Parliament from 1831 to 1841 and a [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] from 1851 to 1866. He was [[Secretary of State for the Colonies]] from June 1858 to June 1859, choosing [[Richard Clement Moody]] as founder of British Columbia. He was created Baron Lytton of Knebworth in 1866.<ref name="ODNBLytton">{{Cite ODNB |title=Lytton, Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer [formerly Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer], first Baron Lytton |last=Brown |first=Andrew |date=23 September 2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/17314}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=23137 |date=13 July 1866 |page=3984}}</ref>

Bulwer-Lytton's works were well known in his time. He coined famous phrases like "pursuit of the [[almighty dollar]]", "[[the pen is mightier than the sword]]", "[[Guardian of the Threshold|dweller on the threshold]]", "the great unwashed", and the opening phrase ([[incipit]]) "[[It was a dark and stormy night]]." <!--Yet his standing declined and he is little read today.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} -->The sardonic [[Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest]], held annually from 1982 to 2024, claims to seek the "opening sentence of the worst of all possible novels".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2012/may/17/dickens-browning-lear-reputation |title=Dickens, Browning and Lear: what's in a reputation? |first=Robert |last=McCrum |newspaper=The Guardian |date=17 May 2012 |via=www.theguardian.com |access-date=28 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180329054238/https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2012/may/17/dickens-browning-lear-reputation |archive-date=29 March 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |author=Christopher John Murray |title=Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era, 1760–1850 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8GS8DWMLRYEC&pg=PA139 |year=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1135455798 |pages=139–}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://io9.gizmodo.com/an-appreciation-of-lord-bulwer-lytton-5780430 |title=An Appreciation of Lord Bulwer-Lytton |first=Jess |last=Nevins |website=io9 |date=10 March 2011 |access-date=13 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190213024137/https://io9.gizmodo.com/an-appreciation-of-lord-bulwer-lytton-5780430 |archive-date=13 February 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>https://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/13/us/wonderfully-terrible-writers-discovered.html {{dead link|date=June 2022}}</ref>

The death of Bulwer's mother in 1843 meant his "exhaustion of toil and study had been completed by great anxiety and grief," and by "about the January of 1844, I was thoroughly shattered."<ref name="LyttonWaterpatient">{{Cite book |title=in Pamphlets and Sketches |chapter=Confessions of a Water-Patient |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/pamphletsandsket00lyttuoft#page/48/mode/2up |author=Lord Lytton |edition=[[Knebworth House|Knebworth]] |year =1875 |publisher=George Routledge and Sons |location=London |pages=49–75 |access-date=28 November 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324090403/http://archive.org/stream/pamphletsandsket00lyttuoft#page/48/mode/2up |archive-date=24 March 2012 |url-status=live }} Full text at Internet Archive (archive.org)</ref><ref name="Bulwersletter">{{Cite book |last=Bulwer |editor=R. T. Trall |title=The Herald of Health, and The Water-cure journal (see title page of January edition, p. 5) |chapter=Bulwer's Letter on Water-Cure |volume=35–36 |date=April 1863 |pages=149–154 (see p. 151) |publisher=R. T. Trall & Co |location=New York |chapter-url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015066610265;q1=captain;start=1;size=100;page=root;view=image;seq=141;num=149 |access-date=26 November 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119070157/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015066610265;q1=captain;start=1;size=100;page=root;view=image;seq=141;num=149 |archive-date=19 November 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In his mother's room at [[Knebworth House]], which he inherited, he "had inscribed above the mantelpiece a request that future generations preserve the room as his beloved mother had used it." It remains hardly changed to this day.<ref>{{Citation |title=Knebworth House Antique Photographs |chapter=Mrs. Bulwer-Lytton's Room |chapter-url=http://www.knebworthhouse.com/specialtours/antiquephotos/page7.html |access-date=28 November 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713162832/http://www.knebworthhouse.com/specialtours/antiquephotos/page7.html |archive-date=13 July 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>

By chance, Bulwer-Lytton encountered a copy of "[[Captain R. T. Claridge|Captain Claridge]]'s work on the "[[water cure (therapy)|Water Cure]]", as practised by [[Vincent Priessnitz|Priessnitz]], at Graefenberg" and, "making allowances for certain exaggerations therein", pondered the option of travelling to Graefenberg, but preferred to find something closer to home, with access to his own doctors in case of failure: "I who scarcely lived through a day without leech or potion!".<ref name="LyttonWaterpatient" /><ref name=Bulwersletter /> After reading a pamphlet by Doctor James Wilson, who operated a hydropathic establishment with [[James Manby Gully]] at [[Malvern, Worcestershire|Malvern]], he stayed there for "some nine or ten weeks", after which he "continued the system some seven weeks longer under Doctor Weiss, at [[Petersham, London|Petersham]]", then again at "Doctor Schmidt's magnificent hydropathic establishment at Boppart" (at the former Marienberg Convent at [[Boppard]]), after developing a cold and fever upon his return home.<ref name="LyttonWaterpatient"/>

The English [[Rosicrucian]] society, founded in 1867 by [[Robert Wentworth Little]], claimed Bulwer-Lytton as their "Grand Patron", but he wrote to the society complaining that he was "extremely surprised" by their use of the title, as he had "never sanctioned such."<ref>R. A. Gilbert, "The Supposed Rosy Crucian Society", in Caron et al., eds., ''Ésotérisme, Gnoses et Imaginaire Symbolique'', Leuven: Peeters, 2001, p. 399.</ref> Nevertheless, a number of esoteric groups have continued to claim Bulwer-Lytton as their own, chiefly because some of his writings – such as the 1842 book ''[[Zanoni]]'' – have included Rosicrucian and other esoteric notions. According to the [[Fulham Football Club]], he once resided in the original [[Craven Cottage]], today the site of their stadium.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fulham-fc.co.uk/stadium/ |title=The Stadium History of Fulham FC |date=23 July 2020 |access-date=19 April 2024}}</ref>

Bulwer-Lytton had long suffered from a disease of the ear, and for the last two or three years of his life lived in [[Torquay]] nursing his health.<ref name="mitchell(2003)pp232"/> After an operation to cure [[deafness]], an abscess formed in the ear and burst; he endured intense pain for a week and died at 2&nbsp;am on 18 January 1873, just short of his 70th birthday.<ref name="mitchell(2003)pp232">{{Cite book |last=Mitchell |first=Leslie George |title=Bulwer Lytton: The Rise and Fall of a Victorian Man of Letters |year=2003 |publisher=Hambledon Continuum |location=London; New York |isbn=1852854235 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/bulwerlyttonrise0000mitc }}</ref> The cause of death was unclear but it was thought the infection had affected his brain and caused a fit.<ref name="mitchell(2003)pp232"/> Rosina outlived him by nine years. Against his wishes, Bulwer-Lytton was honoured with a burial in [[Westminster Abbey]].<ref name="Westminster">{{cite web |url=http://www.westminster-abbey.org/history-research/monuments-gravestones/people/32932 |title=Famous people / organisations |first=PixelToCode |last=pixeltocode.uk |website=Westminster Abbey |access-date=29 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080107172839/http://www.westminster-abbey.org/history-research/monuments-gravestones/people/32932 |archive-date=7 January 2008 |url-status=live }}</ref> His unfinished history ''Athens: Its Rise and Fall'' was published posthumously.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

Bulwer was created a [[baronet]], of Knebworth House in the County of Hertford, in the [[Baronetage of the United Kingdom]], in 1838.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=19631 |date=3 July 1838 |page=1488}}</ref> In 1841, he left Parliament and spent much of his time in travel.{{sfn |Waugh |1911 |p=186}} He did not return to politics until 1852, when, having differed from [[John Russell, 1st Earl Russell|Lord John Russell]] over the [[Corn Laws]], he stood for [[Hertfordshire (UK Parliament constituency)|Hertfordshire]] as a [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]]. Bulwer-Lytton held that seat until 1866, when he was raised to the [[peerage]] as '''Baron Lytton''' of Knebworth in the County of Hertford. In 1858, he entered [[Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby|Lord Derby]]'s [[Second Derby–Disraeli ministry|government]] as [[Secretary of State for the Colonies]], thus serving alongside his old friend [[Benjamin Disraeli]]. He was comparatively inactive in the [[House of Lords]].{{sfn |Waugh |1911 |p=186}}

When news of the [[Fraser Canyon Gold Rush]] reached London, Bulwer-Lytton, as Secretary of State for the Colonies, requested that the War Office recommend a field officer, "a man of good judgement possessing a knowledge of mankind", to lead a Corps of 150 (later increased to 172) Royal Engineers, who had been selected for their "superior discipline and intelligence".<ref name="Jean Barman p. 71">Jean Barman, The West Beyond the West: A History of British Columbia, (Toronto: University of Toronto), p. 71.</ref> The War Office chose [[Richard Clement Moody]], and Lord Lytton, who described Moody as his "distinguished friend",<ref name="Rambling Recollections"/> accepted the nomination in view of Moody's military record, his success as Governor of the Falkland Islands, and the distinguished record of his father, [[Thomas Moody (1779–1849)|Colonel Thomas Moody, Knight]] at the Colonial Office.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=5715 |title=Entry for Richard Clement Moody in Dictionary of Canadian Biography |year=2002 |access-date=11 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011185856/http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=5715 |archive-date=11 October 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> Moody was charged to establish British order and transform the newly established [[Colony of British Columbia (1858–66)|Colony of British Columbia]] into the British Empire's "bulwark in the farthest west"<ref>Donald J. Hauka, McGowan's War, Vancouver: 2003, New Star Books, p. 146.</ref> and "found a second England on the shores of the Pacific".<ref name="Jean Barman p. 71"/> Lytton desired to send to the colony "representatives of the best of British culture, not just a police force", sought men who possessed "courtesy, high breeding and urbane knowledge of the world",<ref>{{Cite book |last=Scott |first=Laura Elaine |title=The Imposition of British Culture as Portrayed in the New Westminster Capital Plan of 1859 to 1862 |year=1983 |publisher=Simon Fraser University |page=13}}</ref> and decided to send Moody, whom the Government considered to be the archetypal "English gentleman and British Officer"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Scott |first=Laura Elaine |title=The Imposition of British Culture as Portrayed in the New Westminster Capital Plan of 1859 to 1862 |year=1983 |publisher=Simon Fraser University |page=19}}</ref> at the head of the [[Royal Engineers, Columbia Detachment]], to whom he wrote an impassioned letter.<ref name="Rambling Recollections">{{Cite book |title=Rambling Recollections, Vol. 1 |last=Drummond |first=Sir Henry |page=272 |chapter=XXIII |year=1908 |publisher=Macmillan and Co., London}}</ref>

Bulwer-Lytton published ''[[Falkland (novel)|Falkland]]'' in 1827, a novel which was only a moderate success.{{sfn |Waugh |1911 |p=185}} But ''[[Pelham (novel)|Pelham]]'' brought him public acclaim in 1828 and established his reputation as a wit and dandy.<ref name="Drabble2000pp147"/> Its intricate plot and humorous, intimate portrayal of pre-Victorian dandyism kept gossips busy trying to associate public figures with characters in the book.{{sfn |Waugh |1911 |p=185}} ''Pelham'' resembled Benjamin Disraeli's first novel ''[[Vivian Grey]]'' (1827).<ref name="Drabble2000pp147"/> The character of the villainous Richard Crawford in ''[[The Disowned]]'', also published in 1828, borrowed much from that of banker and forger [[Henry Fauntleroy]], who was hanged in London in 1824 before a crowd of some 100,000.<ref>Richard Davenport-Hines, "Fauntleroy, Henry (1784–1824)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford, UK: OUP, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/9212 Retrieved 12 October 2017.]</ref>

Bulwer-Lytton reached his height of popularity with the publication of ''England and the English'',<ref>{{cite web |title=Lord Beaconsfield's correspondence with his sister, 1832-1852 |website=[[Library of Congress]] |series=Harper's handy series |date=1886 |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/05000627/ |url-status=live |at=letter dated June 29, 1833 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819030315/https://www.loc.gov/item/05000627/ |archive-date=19 August 2020 }}</ref> and ''[[Godolphin (novel)|Godolphin]]'' (1833).{{sfn |Waugh |1911 |p=186}} This was followed by ''The Pilgrims of the Rhine'' (1834), ''[[The Last Days of Pompeii]]'' (1834), ''Rienzi, Last of the Roman Tribunes'' about [[Cola di Rienzo]] (1835),<ref name="Drabble2000pp147"/> ''[[Ernest Maltravers (novel)|Ernest Maltravers; or, The Eleusinia]]'' (1837), ''Alice; or, The Mysteries'' (1838), ''[[Leila; or, The Siege of Granada]]'' (1838), and ''Harold: The Last of the Saxon Kings'' (1848).<ref name="Drabble2000pp147"/> ''The Last Days of Pompeii'' was inspired by [[Karl Briullov]]'s painting ''[[The Last Day of Pompeii]]'', which Bulwer-Lytton saw in [[Milan]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harris |first=Judith |title=Pompeii Awakened: A Story of Rediscovery |url=https://archive.org/details/pompeiiawakeneds0000harr |url-access=registration |year=2007 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |isbn=978-1845112417 |page=[https://archive.org/details/pompeiiawakeneds0000harr/page/166 166]}}</ref>

Among Bulwer-Lytton's lesser-known contributions to literature was that he convinced [[Charles Dickens]] to revise the ending of ''[[Great Expectations]]'' to make it more palatable to the reading public, as in the original version of the novel, Pip and Estella remain apart.<ref>John Forster's biography of Dickens</ref>

The plays were written by Louisa Medina, one of the most successful playwrights of the 19th century. ''The Last Days of Pompeii'' had the longest continuous stage run in New York at the time with 29 straight performances.<ref>''Plays by Early American Women, 1775-1850'', Amelia Howe Kritzer, Ed. (1998) Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.</ref>

In addition to his political and literary work, Bulwer-Lytton became the editor of the ''New Monthly'' in 1831, but he resigned the following year. In 1841, he started the ''Monthly Chronicle'', a semi-scientific magazine. During his career he wrote poetry, prose, and stage plays; his last novel was ''Kenelm Chillingly'', which was in course of publication in ''[[Blackwood's Magazine]]'' at the time of his death in 1873.{{sfn|Waugh|1911|p=186}}

Bulwer-Lytton was portrayed by the actor [[Brett Usher]] in the 1978 television serial ''[[Disraeli (TV serial)|Disraeli]]''.<ref>{{Citation|title=Disraeli: Portrait of a Romantic (TV Mini-Series 1978) - IMDb|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078601/|access-date=2021-02-08}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Telotte, Leigh Ehlers, 1949- |title=QUEEN VICTORIA ON SCREEN film and television depictions from the silent era to today. |date=2020 |publisher=MCFARLAND |isbn=978-1-4766-3878-2 |location=[S.l.] |page=178 |oclc=1162842105}}</ref>

*''[[Asmodeus at Large (novel)|Asmodeus at Large]]'' (1833)

*''The Pilgrims of the Rhine'' (1834) [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8206 Available online]

*''Rienzi, the last of the Roman tribunes'' (1835)<ref name="Drabble2000pp147"/> [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1396 Available online]

*''The Student'' (1835)

*''The Haunted and the Haunters; or, The House and the Brain'' (novelette, 1859) [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17953 Available online]

*''[[Not So Bad as We Seem, or, Many Sides to a Character: A Comedy in Five Acts]]'' (1851)

*''Walpole, or Every Man Has His Price''