Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton

04 November 1802 - 12 March 1882

Standard Name: Lytton, Rosina Bulwer Lytton,,, Baroness

Birth Name: Rosina Wheeler

Married Name: Rosina Bulwer Lytton

Pseudonym: Hon. George Scott

RBLBL wrote prolifically after her separation from her husband in 1836, penning sixteen novels, as well as a collection of essays and an autobiography. A vein of polemic runs through her work regarding the treatment of women, particularly married women, under nineteenth-century British law. She encountered great difficulty in getting her work published because of her notoriety and the pressure that her husband, a successful novelist, exerted on publishers. He even obtained legal injunctions against her work, which often parodied him.

Blain, Virginia. “Rosina Bulwer Lytton and the Rage of the Unheard”. The Huntington Library Quarterly, No. 3, pp. 210 - 36.

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Connections

Connections Sort descending	Author name	Excerpt
Birth	Edward Robert Bulwer Lytton, first Earl Lytton	The future diplomat and poet Edward Robert Bulwer (later Bulwer Lytton , who also used the pseudonym Owen Meredith) was born in London, the younger child of writers Rosina and Edward Bulwer (later Bulwer Lytton) . Matthew, Henry Colin Gray, Brian Harrison, and Lawrence Goldman, editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
Cultural formation	L. E. L.	There are indications, however, that a rather suspect class standing contributed along with somewhat bohemian behaviour to the difficulty she had about weathering scandal. Benjamin Disraeli famously and snobbishly wrote of a party at the
Family and Intimate relationships	Anna Wheeler	The younger daughter, Rosina (born on 4 November 1802), as Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton, achieved some fame as a novelist and notoriety as a woman violently at odds with her husband.
Family and Intimate relationships	Constance Lytton	CL 's father, Edward Robert Bulwer (first earl Lytton) or Owen Meredith, was a child of the abusive marriage between two writers, Rosina Bulwer Lytton and Edward Bulwer (later Bulwer-Lytton). Edward Robert became a...
Family and Intimate relationships	Isa Blagden	IB nursed Edward Robert Bulwer Lytton , diplomat, author, and son of Rosina Bulwer Lytton , through a serious bout of gastric fever. Raymond, William O. “Our Lady of Bellosguardo: A Pastel Portrait”. University of Toronto Quarterly, pp. 446 - 63. 450 Browning, Robert, and Isa Blagden. “Introduction”. Dearest Isa: Robert Browning’s Letters to Isabella Blagden, edited by Edward C. McAleer, Greenwood Press, 1970, p. xix - xxxiii. xxviii
Family and Intimate relationships	Constance Lytton	Her paternal grandmother, Rosina Bulwer Lytton , became a novelist and a supporter of women's rights after separating from her husband. She died on 12 March 1882, when Constance was just thirteen. For Constance (who...
Family and Intimate relationships	Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, first Baron Lytton	On 29 August 1827 Edward Bulwer (later Bulwer-Lytton) married Rosina Wheeler ; his mother disapproved of the marriage and stopped his allowance. Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton,. “Introduction”. A Blighted Life, edited by Marie Mulvey Roberts, Thoemmes, 1994, p. vi - xxxvi. xvi
Family and Intimate relationships	Edward Robert Bulwer Lytton, first Earl Lytton	His mother was the novelist Rosina Bulwer Lytton . Her often violent marriage to Edward Bulwer Lytton ended in a very public separation. While she initially retained custody of their two children, Emily and young...
Family and Intimate relationships	Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, first Baron Lytton	On 8 November 1831, Edward Bulwer 's second child with his wife Rosina , Edward Robert Bulwer , was born. He grew up to be a writer like both of his parents, as well as a diplomat. Sadleir, Michael. Bulwer: A Panorama. Constable, 1931. 161
Family and Intimate relationships	Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, first Baron Lytton	In April 1836 Edward Bulwer and his wife separated. Rosina Bulwer (later Bulwer-Lytton) retained custody of their children for two years. In 1838, Edward took custody of the children and denied her access to them...
Family and Intimate relationships	Anna Wheeler	After twelve years of marriage, AW took both her daughters (of whom the younger, Rosina , was the future novelist Rosina Bulwer Lytton) and left her husband . Matthew, Henry Colin Gray, Brian Harrison, and Lawrence Goldman, editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Sadleir, Michael. Bulwer: A Panorama. Constable, 1931. 72-3 Kelly, Gary, editor. Dictionary of Literary Biography 158. Gale Research, 1996. 349
Fictionalization	Lady Caroline Lamb	The other great love of her life, her husband, was equally productive for fictionalized versions of her character and doings. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography cites among novels dealing with her marriage Thomas Lister
Fictionalization	Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, first Baron Lytton	Despite the controversy surrounding some of his early writings, Bulwer-Lytton was recognised by mid-Victorian critics as a significant and accomplished novelist. Once Rosina Bulwer Lytton , his estranged wife, turned to writing to support herself...
Friends, Associates	Anna Maria Hall	One of AMH 's closest friends was the actress Helen Faucit , later Lady Martin. Though socially conservative in her attitudes, she was apparently more ready than her husband to achieve friendly relations with those...
Friends, Associates	Lady Caroline Lamb	LCL 's friendships with women writers (besides Morgan) would surprise anyone not taking her seriously as a writer. When Germaine de Staël visited England, Lady Caroline was delighted to find her wearing a hat with...

Timeline

June 1874

In an infamous Fortnightly Review article, Henry Maudsley condemned education for women as injurious to their bodies and as presaging a sexless race.

1943

Lady Eve Balfour , an early proponent of organic farming (an earl's daughter whose dazzling family connections made her a descendant of the writer Rosina Bulwer Lytton and niece of the suffragists Frances Balfour and...