Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton, (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Doyle Wheeler; 4 November 1802 – 12 March 1882) was an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

writer who published fourteen novels, a volume of essays, and a volume of letters. In 1827, she married

Edward Bulwer-Lytton Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (; 25 May 1803 – 18 January 1873) 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 Secr ...

, a novelist and politician. Their marriage ended, and he falsely accused her of insanity and had her detained in an

insane asylum The lunatic asylum, insane asylum or mental asylum was an institution where people with mental illness were confined. It was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital. Modern psychiatric hospitals evolved from and eventually replace ...

, which provoked a public outcry. He was made a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

in the 1830s and was raised to the

peerage A peerage is a legal system historically comprising various hereditary titles (and sometimes Life peer, non-hereditary titles) in a number of countries, and composed of assorted Imperial, royal and noble ranks, noble ranks. Peerages include: A ...

in 1866; although she had separated from her husband, Lytton used the title Lady Lytton. She spelled her married surname without the

hyphen The hyphen is a punctuation mark used to join words and to separate syllables of a single word. The use of hyphens is called hyphenation. The hyphen is sometimes confused with dashes (en dash , em dash and others), which are wider, or with t ...

used by her husband.

Early life

Rosina Doyle Wheeler's mother was the

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

advocate Anna Wheeler, the daughter of the Rev. Nicholas Milley Doyle, a

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

clergyman, Rector of

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

, while her father was Francis Massey Wheeler, an

landowner. One of her mother's brothers, Sir John Milley Doyle (1781–1856), led British and Portuguese forces in the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French ...

and the War of the Two Brothers. Wheeler was educated in part by

Frances Arabella Rowden Frances Arabella Rowden, later Frances de St Quentin, (1774 – ) was a British schoolmistress and poet. Her students included Emma Roberts, Anna Maria Fielding, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Frances Anne Kemble and Rosina Bulwer Lytton. Life Row ...

, who was not only a poet, but, according to Mary Mitford, "had a knack of making poetesses of her pupils" This ties her to others among Rowden's pupils, such as Caroline Ponsonby, later

Lady Caroline Lamb Lady Caroline Lamb (née Ponsonby; 13 November 1785 – 25 January 1828) was an Anglo-Irish aristocrat and novelist, best known for '' Glenarvon'', a Gothic novel. In 1812, she had an affair with Lord Byron, whom she described as "mad, bad, a ...

; the poet

Letitia Elizabeth Landon Letitia Elizabeth Landon (14 August 1802 – 15 October 1838) was an English poet and novelist, better known by her initials L.E.L. Landon's writings are emblematic of the transition from Romanticism to Victorian literature. Her first major b ...

("L.E.L.");

Emma Roberts Emma Rose Roberts (born February 10, 1991) Additional on October 9, 2016 is an American actress, singer and producer. Known for her performances spanning multiple genres of film and television, her work in the horror film, horror and thriller ...

, the travel writer; and Anna Maria Fielding, who published as Mrs. S. C. Hall.

Marriage

Wheeler married Edward Bulwer-Lytton (at that time surnamed simply Bulwer) on 29 August 1827. This was against the wishes of his mother, who withdrew his allowance so that he was forced to work for a living. His writing and efforts in the political arena and infidelity took a toll upon their marriage, and the couple

legally separated Legal separation (sometimes judicial separation, separate maintenance, divorce ', or divorce from bed-and-board) is a legal process by which a married couple may formalize a separation while remaining legally married. A legal separation is gra ...

in 1836. Her children were taken from her."Life of Rosina, Lady Lytton" In 1839, she published her novel, ''Cheveley, or the Man of Honour'', in which Edward Bulwer-Lytton was

caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, ...

d. In June 1858, Edward Bulwer-Lytton was standing in a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

as a parliamentary candidate for

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

(prior to his elevation to the peerage). She appeared at the

hustings A husting originally referred to a native Germanic governing assembly, the thing. By metonymy, the term may now refer to any event (such as debates or speeches) during an election campaign where one or more of the candidates are present. Devel ...

and indignantly denounced him, a scene that her son,

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, prais ...

, commemorated in sarcastic verse:She was consequently placed under restraint as insane, and was detained in an establishment in

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

, but liberated a few weeks later following a public outcry. The imprisonment of socially inconvenient women, at the behest of their male relatives, had been revealed to the public with the case of

Louisa Nottidge Louisa Nottidge (1802–1858) was a British woman whose unjust detention in a lunatic asylum attracted widespread public attention in mid-19th century England. In that period, several similar cases emerged in the newspapers of sane persons being in ...

and

Wilkie Collins William Wilkie Collins (8 January 1824 – 23 September 1889) was an English novelist and playwright known especially for ''The Woman in White (novel), The Woman in White'' (1860), a mystery novel and early sensation novel, and for ''The Moonsto ...

's novel based on it, '' The Woman in White''. She wrote of her experience in '' A Blighted Life'' (1880). Although the book appeared after her husband's death, it caused a rift with her son and she tried to disassociate herself from it.

Death

Lady Lytton died in

Upper Sydenham Sydenham () is a district of south-east London, England, which is shared between the London boroughs of Lewisham, Bromley and Southwark. Prior to the creation of the County of London in 1889, Sydenham was located in Kent, bordering Surrey. Histo ...

. While her husband was buried in

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

, she was buried in an unmarked grave. Subscription or UK public library membership required

Children

They had two children: *Emily Elizabeth Bulwer-Lytton (17 June 1828 – 29 April 1848); died in mysterious circumstances * (Edward) Robert Lytton Bulwer-Lytton (8 November 1831 – 24 November 1891); Viceroy of British India from 1876 to 1880

Works

*''Cheveley: or, The Man of Honour'' (in two volumes, 1839) *''The Budget of the Bubble Family'' (1840) *''The Prince-Duke and the Page: An Historical Novel'' (1843) *''Bianca Cappello: An Historical Romance'' (1843) *''Memoirs of a Muscovite'' (1844) *''The Peer's Daughters: A Novel'' (1849) *''Miriam Sedley, or the Tares and the Wheat: A Tale of Real Life'' (1850) *''The School for Husbands: or Moliére's Life and Times'' (1852) *''Behind the Scenes, A Novel'' (1854) *''The World and His Wife, or a Person of Consequence, a Photographic Novel'' (1858) *''Very Successful'' (1859) *''The Household Fairy'' (1870) *''Where there's a Will there's a Way'' (1871) *''Chumber Chase'' (1871) *''Mauleverer's Divorce'' (1871) *''Shells from the Sands of Time'' (1876) *'' A Blighted Life'' (1880) *''Refutation of an Audacious Forgery of the Dowager Lady's name to a book of the Publication of which she was totally Ignorant'' (1880)

References

External links

*
Full text of ''Cheveley''
at The University of Adelaide Library
A listing of descendants of the Bulwers of Heydon Hall, including her own children and further descendants
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bulwer-Lytton, Rosina English women novelists English essayists English letter writers English women letter writers Women letter writers Writers from Hertfordshire 1802 births 1882 deaths People detained in psychiatric hospitals History of mental health in the United Kingdom Psychiatry controversies Place of birth missing Burials in Surrey British women essayists 19th-century English women writers 19th-century English writers 19th-century English novelists 19th-century British essayists Rosina English women non-fiction writers Lytton Edward Bulwer-Lytton English writers with disabilities Victorian women writers Victorian novelists