Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton, (née Rosina Doyle Wheeler; 4 November 1802 – 12 March 1882) was an Anglo-Irish 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, Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, PC (25 May 180318 January 1873) was an English writer and politician. He served as a Whigs (British political party), Whig member of Parl ...

, a novelist and politician. Their marriage broke up, and he falsely accused her of insanity and had her detained in an insane asylum, 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 in 1866; although she had separated from her husband she 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. ''Son-in-law'' is an example of a hyphenated word. The hyphen is sometimes confused with dashes ( figur ...

used by her husband.

Early life

Rosina Doyle Wheeler's mother was the

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and 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 centuries. In some countr ...

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

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second l ...

clergyman, Rector of Newcastle, while her father was Francis Massey Wheeler, an Anglo-Irish 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 (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spai ...

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

Frances Arabella Rowden Reading Abbey Girls' School, also known as Reading Ladies’ Boarding School, was an educational establishment in Reading, Berkshire open from at least 1755 until 1794. Many of its pupils went on to make a mark on English culture and society, part ...

, who was not only a poet, but, according to

Mary Mitford Mary Russell Mitford (16 December 1787 – 10 January 1855) was an English author and dramatist. She was born at Alresford in Hampshire. She is best known for ''Our Village'', a series of sketches of village scenes and vividly drawn characters ...

, "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, ...

; 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. The writings of Landon are transitional between Romanticism and the Victorian Age. Her first major breakthrough ...

("L.E.L."); Emma Roberts, 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 took a toll upon their marriage, and the couple legally separated in 1836. Her children were taken from her."Life of Rosina, Lady Lytton" In 1839, her novel, ''Cheveley, or the Man of Honour'', in which Edward Bulwer-Lytton was bitterly caricatured, was published. In June 1858 her husband was standing in a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election ( Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election use ...

as a parliamentary candidate for Hertfordshire (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 '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, h ...

, 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, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings w ...

, 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, and Wilkie Collins's novel based on it, '' The Woman in White''.) She wrote of her experience in ''

A Blighted Life ''A Blighted Life'' is an 1880 book by Rosina Bulwer Lytton chronicling the events surrounding her incarceration in a Victorian madhouse by her husband Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Bar ...

'' (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. While her husband was buried in

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

, 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) *''

'' (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 Women letter writers People 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 novelists 19th-century essayists Rosina English women non-fiction writers Lytton Edward Bulwer-Lytton