Earldom of Lytton | |
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Creation date | 28 April 1880 [1] |
Created by | Queen Victoria |
Peerage | Peerage of the United Kingdom |
First holder | Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Baron Lytton |
Present holder | John Lytton, 5th Earl of Lytton |
Heir apparent | Philip Lytton, Viscount Knebworth |
Remainder to | 1st Earl's heirs male lawfully begotten |
Subsidiary titles | Viscount Knebworth Baron Wentworth Baron Lytton Baronet 'of Knebworth' |
Seat(s) | Newbuildings Place |
Former seat(s) | Knebworth House |
Motto | Hoc Virtutis Opus ("This is the work of virtue") [2] |
Earl of Lytton, in the County of Derby, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1880 for the diplomat and poet Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Baron Lytton. [3] He was Viceroy of India from 1876 to 1880 and British Ambassador to France from 1887 to 1891. He was made Viscount Knebworth, of Knebworth in the County of Hertford, at the same time he was given the earldom, also in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
Robert Bulwer-Lytton was the son of the poet, novelist and politician Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton, and his wife, the novelist Rosina Doyle Wheeler. Edward was the author of numerous popular novels, poems and dramas and also served as Secretary of State for the Colonies under the Earl of Derby between 1858 and 1859. Born Edward Bulwer, he was the third and youngest son of General William Earle Bulwer and his wife Elizabeth Barbara Lytton, daughter of Richard Warburton Lytton of Knebworth House, Hertfordshire (through which marriage the Knebworth estate came into the Bulwer family). He was created a Baronet, of Knebworth House in the County of Hertford, in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom, in 1838, [4] and in 1866, he was raised to the Peerage of the United Kingdom as Baron Lytton, of Knebworth in the County of Hertford. [5] [1] In 1844, he also assumed by Royal licence the additional surname and arms of Lytton. [6]
The first Earl of Lytton was succeeded by his son, the second Earl. He was also a politician and served as Under-Secretary of State for India from 1920 to 1922 and as Governor of Bengal from 1922 to 1927. Lord Lytton married Pamela Plowden, remembered as the first great love of Winston Churchill. Their two sons, Antony Bulwer-Lytton, Viscount Knebworth, and Alexander Bulwer-Lytton, Viscount Knebworth, both predeceased them, Antony killed in a plane crash in 1933 and Alexander killed in action in World War II. Their daughter Lady Hermione Lytton married Cameron Cobbold, 1st Baron Cobbold, and through this marriage Knebworth House passed to the Cobbold family (see the Baron Cobbold).
Lord Lytton was succeeded by his younger brother, the third Earl. [7] He was a portrait and landscape painter. In 1899 he married Judith Blunt, 16th Baroness Wentworth, the renowned horse breeder who devoted her life to the Crabbet Arabian Stud. The stud had been created by her parents, the poet Wilfrid Scawen Blunt and his wife Anne Blunt, 15th Baroness Wentworth, granddaughter of Lord Byron through his daughter Ada Lovelace (see the Baron Wentworth for earlier history of this title). They were divorced in 1923. [8]
Lord Lytton and Lady Wentworth were succeeded, respectively, in 1951 and 1957 by their son Noel Lytton, 4th Earl of Lytton; as a consequence the title Baron Wentworth , in the Peerage of England, became subsidiary to the Earldom of Lytton. He assumed by deed poll the additional surname of Milbanke in 1925, [9] but discontinued by deed poll the use of this surname in 1951. [10] As of 2017 [update] the titles are held by his eldest son, the fifth Earl, who succeeded in 1985.
Another member of the family was the Liberal politician, diplomat and writer Henry Bulwer, 1st Baron Dalling and Bulwer. He was the elder brother of the first Baron Lytton.
The family seat is Newbuildings Place, near Shipley, West Sussex.
The heir apparent is the present holder's son, Philip Anthony Scawen Lytton, Viscount Knebworth (born 1989)
Title succession chart, Lytton baronets, Barons Lytton and Earls of Lytton | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton, PC was an English writer and politician. He served as a Whig member of Parliament from 1831 to 1841 and a 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 declined the Crown of Greece in 1862 after King Otto abdicated. He was created Baron Lytton of Knebworth in 1866.
Edward Robert Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton, was an English statesman, Conservative politician and poet who used the pseudonym Owen Meredith. During his tenure as Viceroy of India between 1876 and 1880, Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India. He served as British Ambassador to France from 1887 to 1891.
The titles of Earl of Hertford and Marquess of Hertford have been created several times in the peerages of England and Great Britain.
Earl of Verulam is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1815 for James Grimston, 4th Viscount Grimston. He was made Viscount Grimston at the same time. Verulam had previously represented St Albans in the House of Commons. In 1808 he had also succeeded his maternal cousin as tenth Lord Forrester. He was succeeded by his son, the second Earl.
Earl of Lovelace was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1838 for William King-Noel, 8th Baron King, a title created in 1725.
Knebworth House is an English country house in the parish of Knebworth in Hertfordshire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building. Its gardens are also listed Grade II* on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. In its surrounding park are the medieval St. Mary's Church and the Lytton family mausoleum. It was the seat of the Earl of Lytton, and now the house of the family of the Baron Cobbold of Knebworth.
William Henry Lytton Earle Bulwer, 1st Baron Dalling and Bulwer GCB, PC was a British Liberal politician, diplomat and writer.
A Blighted Life is an 1880 book by Rosina Bulwer Lytton chronicling the events surrounding her incarceration in a Victorian madhouse by her husband Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton and her subsequent release a few weeks later. This was at a time when men could lock up socially inconvenient female relatives in psychiatric institutions.
Baron Cobbold, of Knebworth in the County of Hertford, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1960 for the banker Cameron Cobbold. He was Governor of the Bank of England from 1949 to 1961.
Cameron Fromanteel Cobbold, 1st Baron Cobbold was a British banker. He served as Governor of the Bank of England from 1949 to 1961 and as Lord Chamberlain from 1963 to 1971.
Victor Alexander George Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Earl of Lytton,, styled Viscount Knebworth from 1880 to 1891, was a British politician and colonial administrator. He served as Governor of Bengal between 1922 and 1927 and was briefly Acting Viceroy of India in 1926. He headed the Lytton Commission for the League of Nations, in 1931–32, producing the Lytton Report which condemned Japanese aggression against China in Manchuria.
Baron Wentworth is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1529 for Thomas Wentworth, who was also de jure sixth Baron le Despencer of the 1387 creation. The title was created by writ, which means that it can descend via female lines.
Neville Stephen Bulwer-Lytton, 3rd Earl of Lytton was a British military officer, Olympian and artist.
Lieutenant-Colonel Noel Anthony Scawen Lytton, 4th Earl of Lytton,, was a British Army officer, Arabian horse fancier and writer.
John Peter Michael Scawen Lytton, 5th Earl of Lytton,, styled Viscount Knebworth from 1951 to 1985, is a British chartered surveyor, hereditary peer and member of the House of Lords.
Henry Fromanteel Lytton-Cobbold, 3rd Baron Cobbold, is a British screenwriter. He is the current occupant of Knebworth House in Hertfordshire, England.
David Antony Fromanteel Lytton-Cobbold, 2nd Baron Cobbold,, was a British hereditary peer and member of the House of Lords.
Edward Antony James Bulwer-Lytton, Viscount Knebworth was a British pilot and Conservative politician.
Lytton is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
Edith Bulwer-Lytton, Countess of Lytton, was a British aristocrat. As the wife of Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton, she was vicereine of India. After his death, she was a court-attendant of Queen Victoria. Her children included suffragette Constance Bulwer-Lytton.