30 Facts About Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Edward Bulwer-Lytton served as a Whig member of Parliament from 1831 to 1841 and a Conservative from 1851 to 1866.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton was Secretary of State for the Colonies from June 1858 to June 1859, choosing Richard Clement Moody as founder of British Columbia.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton was created Baron Lytton of Knebworth in 1866.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton had two older brothers, William Earle Lytton Bulwer and Henry.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton's father died and his mother moved to London when he was four years old.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton died about the time that Bulwer went to Cambridge and he stated that her loss affected all his subsequent life.

In 1822 Edward Bulwer-Lytton entered Trinity College, Cambridge, where he met John Auldjo, but soon moved to Trinity Hall.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton purchased an army commission in 1826, but sold it in 1829 without serving.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton's writing and political work strained their marriage and his infidelity embittered Rosina.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton retaliated by threatening her publishers, withholding her allowance and denying her access to their children.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton continued attacking her husband's character for several years.

On 20 February 1844, in accordance with his mother's will, he changed his surname from Bulwer to Edward Bulwer-Lytton and assumed the arms of Lytton by royal licence.

Edward 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.

Against his wishes, Edward Bulwer-Lytton was honoured with a burial in Westminster Abbey.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton spoke in favour of the Reform Bill and took the lead in securing the reduction, after he had vainly supported the repeal, of the newspaper stamp duties.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton's influence was perhaps most keenly felt after the Whig Party's dismissal from office in 1834, when he issued a pamphlet entitled A Letter to a Late Cabinet Minister on the Crisis.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton did not return to politics until 1852, when, having differed from Lord John Russell over the Corn Laws, he stood for Hertfordshire as a Conservative.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton held that seat until 1866, when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Lytton of Knebworth in the County of Hertford.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton was comparatively inactive in the House of Lords.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton wrote in a variety of genres, including historical fiction, mystery, romance, the occult and science fiction.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton financed his extravagant way of life with a varied and prolific literary output, sometimes publishing anonymously.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton published Falkland in 1827, a novel which was only a moderate success.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton admired Disraeli's father Isaac D'Israeli, himself a noted author.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton reached his height of popularity with the publication of England and the English, and Godolphin.

The Last Days of Pompeii was inspired by Karl Briullov's painting The Last Day of Pompeii, which Edward Bulwer-Lytton saw in Milan.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton wrote the horror story The Haunted and the Haunters; or, The House and the Brain.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton wrote many other works, including Vril: The Power of the Coming Race which drew heavily on his interest in the occult and contributed to the early growth of the science fiction genre.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton's works had an influence in a number of fields.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton popularized the phrase "pursuit of the almighty dollar" from his novel The Coming Race, and he is credited with "the great unwashed", using this disparaging term in his 1830 novel Paul Clifford:.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton was portrayed by the actor Brett Usher in the 1978 television serial Disraeli.