Earl of Lytton

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Earldom of Lytton
Coronet of a British Earl.svg
COA of Bulwer-Lytton.svg
Quarterly: 1st and 4th, Ermine on a chief dancettée azure two ducal coronets or a canton argent charged with a rose gules barbed and seeded proper (Lytton); 2nd and 3rd, gules on a chevron argent between three eagles regardant or, as many cinquefoils sable (Bulwer)
Creation date28 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 apparentPhilip Lytton, Viscount Knebworth
Remainder to1st Earl's heirs male lawfully begotten
Subsidiary titlesViscount Knebworth
Baron Wentworth
Baron Lytton
Baronet 'of Knebworth'
Seat(s) Newbuildings Place
Former seat(s) Knebworth House
MottoHoc Virtutis Opus ("This is the work of virtue") [2]
Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton University of Glasgow - Old and New, Robert Bulwer Lytton.png
Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton

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.

Contents

History

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 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.

Lytton baronets, of Knebworth House (1838)

Baron Lytton (1866)

Earl of Lytton (1880)

The heir apparent is the present holder's son, Philip Anthony Scawen Lytton, Viscount Knebworth (born 1989)

Title succession chart

Title succession chart, Lytton baronets, Barons Lytton and Earls of Lytton
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
1st Baron Lytton

1st Baronet
1803–1873
Earl of Lytton
Robert Bulwer-Lytton
1st Earl of Lytton
2nd Baron Lytton

2nd Baronet
1831–1891
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
1865–1871
Hon.
Henry Bulwer-Lytton
1872–1874
Victor Bulwer-Lytton
2nd Earl of Lytton

1876–1947
Neville Bulwer-Lytton
3rd Earl of Lytton

1879–1951
Antony Bulwer-Lytton
Viscount Knebworth

1903–1933
Alexander Bulwer-Lytton
Viscount Knebworth
1910–1942
Noel Lytton
4th Earl of Lytton
17th Baron Wentworth

1900–1985
John Lytton
5th Earl of Lytton
18th Baron Wentworth

born 1950
Philip Lytton
Viscount Knebworth
born 1989

See also

Related Research Articles

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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.

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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.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baron Cobbold</span> Barony in the Peerage of the United Kingdom

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Lytton is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edith Bulwer-Lytton, Countess of Lytton</span> Wife of Edward Bulwer Lytton, later court-attendant

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.

References

  1. 1 2 Stephen, Leslie; Lee, Sir Sidney (1893). Dictionary of National Biography. p. 390. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  2. Burke, Sir Bernard (2009). The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. Heritage Books. p. 117. ISBN   978-0-7884-3721-2 . Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  3. "No. 24838". The London Gazette . 27 April 1880. p. 2725.
  4. "No. 19631". The London Gazette . 3 July 1838. p. 1488.
  5. "No. 23137". The London Gazette . 13 July 1866. p. 3984.
  6. "No. 20318". The London Gazette . 20 February 1844. p. 580.
  7. "Obituary: Lord Lytton". The Times . 27 October 1947. p. 6.
  8. "Death of Lord Lytton: Painter, Soldier and Sportsman". The Times . 12 February 1951. p. 6.
  9. "No. 33026". The London Gazette . 3 March 1925. p. 1572.
  10. "No. 39225". The London Gazette . 11 May 1951. p. 2669.
Additional source