William Godwin's Diary

Lytton, Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer (first Baron Lytton)

  • Name: Lytton, Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer (first Baron Lytton)
  • Gender: Male
  • Birth Date: 25  May  1803
  • Death Date: 18  January  1873
  • Occupation: writer
  • Occupation: politician

Bulwer-Lytton was a writer whose career took off after he married without his mother's blessing. She cut off his income and he was forced to earn a living from his pen. He wrote a series of quite successful novels and also contributed journalism to a number of periodicals. He was elected an MP in 1831 and became involved with legislation pertaining to literary matters such as dramatic copywright and the patent theatres.

There is an issue over the instances of 'Bulwer' noted in January and March 1826:

James L. Campbell Sr's Edward Bulwer-Lytton claims that he only returned to England from Paris at the end of April 1826 where he met his future wife Rosina Wheeler, as does the DNB, but he also details his youthful infatuation with Lady Caroline Lamb, which predated his trip to France. However, Leslie Mitchell's Bulwer Lytton: The Rise and Fall of a Victorian Man of Letters is more cautious, referring to a 'probable' meeting with Rosina Wheeler on that date (p. 24). Mitchell also notes that Wheeler dated the first meeting in December 1825. Two primary sources also support an earlier meeting: The Life, Letters and Literary Remains of Edward Bulwer, Lord Lytton states that Bulwer met her at Miss Berry's in spring or early summer 1825 while L. Devey's Letters of the Late Edward Bulwer, Lord Lytton, to his Wife suggests that the meeting was in October 1825.

Susan Normington's Lady Caroline Lamb: This Infernal Woman describes Lamb and Bulwer's friendship and that 'as a special favour she arranged for him to meet William Godwin' (p. 219). No date is given but the source cited is Torrens, Memoirs of Vicount Melbourne, I, p. 171. Paul Douglass's Lady Caroline Lamb: A Biography refers to the same event (p. 243) and places it in the chapter devoted to 1823. This time the source is Kegan Paul's William Godwin II, pp. 304-5. Bulwer burned his correspondence with Lamb so that avenue is closed. So far, given Leslie Mitchell's caution over the dates, in what is the most recent biography, and the fact that Lamb and Bulwer had a very close relationship around this time, the January and March references to Bulwer have been coded as Edward Bulwer Lytton, despite the fact that the DNB would have him still in France.

  • MS. Abinger c. 48, fol. 63: 1829-33
  • MS. Abinger c. 20, fol. 21: 13 May 1830
  • MS. Abinger c. 20, fol. 26: 14 July 1830
  • MS. Abinger c. 20, fol. 28: 16 Sept. 1830
  • MS. Abinger c. 20, fol. 56: 30 March 1832
  • MS. Abinger c. 49, fols.123-4: 21 August 1838
  • MS. Abinger c. 49, fols. 123-4: 21 August 1838
  • MS. Abinger c. 49, fols. 135-6:17 March 1839
  • MS. Abinger c. 51, fol. 51: not dated
  • MS. Abinger c. 51, fol. 50: 26 June
  • DNB
  • Leslie Mitchell, Bulwer Lytton: The Rise and Fall of a Victorian Man of Letters (London: Hambledon and London, 2003)
  • James L. Campbell, Edward Bulwer-Lytton (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1986)
  • Susan Normington, Lady Caroline Lamb: This Infernal Woman (London: House of Stratus, 2001)
  • Paul Douglass, Lady Caroline Lamb: A Biography (New York a nd Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004)
  • Charles Kegan Paul, William Godwin: His Friends and Contemporaries (London: H.S. King, 1876)

This table lists the people this person is most frequently noted with in the diary.

Name Number of Meetings
Bury, Lady Charlotte Susan Maria (née Campbell) 6
Shepherd, Lady Mary (née Primrose) 5
Stepney, Lady Catherine (née Pollok) (Manners) 4
Bulwer, (William) Henry Lytton Earle (Baron Dalling and Bulwer) 4
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft (née Godwin) 4
Jerdan, William 3
Roy, Rammohun 2
Sheridan, Charles 2
Lamb, Lady Caroline (née Ponsonby) 2
Sidney, Lady Sophia 2
Stanhope, Leicester Fitzgerald Charles (fifth earl of Harrington) 2
Bowring, Sir John 2
Knowles, John 2
Boddington, Samuel 1
Cossley Hall, Mary 1
Murray, John Samuel 1
Bentley, Richard 1
Thelwall, John 1
Mill, John Stuart 1
Babbage, Charles 1
Landseer, Sir Edwin Henry 1
Mill, James 1
Uwins, David 1
Joseph, Samuel 1
Hayward, Abraham 1
Moore, Thomas 1
Uwins, Thomas 1
Wilkie, Sir David 1
Benger, Elizabeth Ogilvy 1
White, 1
Tooke, William 1
Irving, Washington 1
Kenney, James 1
Ollier, Charles 1
Rothwell, Richard (Ireland) 1
Reynolds, Frederic Mansel 1
Robinson family, 1
Pickersgill, Henry William 1
Martin, John 1
Owen, Robert 1
1
Poole, John 1
Alcock, Thomas 1
Picken, Andrew 1
Wood, Mrs Somerville 1