Colonial Despatches

Sir Edward George Earle Bulwer Lytton, secretary of state for the colonies, was born in London on 25 May 1803. He received a BA from Trinity Hall, Cambridge, in 1826 and a MA in 1835. He entered politics in 1831, representing St. Ives, Huntingdonshire, in the House of Commons, but he lost his seat in 1841. He then left politics for several years, travelling extensively and writing numerous works of both fiction and nonfiction, including articles, poems, plays, and novels.1

He returned to politics in 1852 as representative for Hertfordshire, where Knebworth was located, and served as secretary of state for the colonies from 1858 to 1859. After being elevated to the peerage in 1866, Lytton reduced his political activity and returned to his writing. He died at Torquay on 18 January 1873.2

• 1. Andrew Brown, Lytton, Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• 2. Ibid.