Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton

Robert Bulwer-Lytton (1831-1891), 1st Earl of Lytton, was a British Conservative politician, diplomat and poet who published verse under the pseudonym Owen Meredith. He lived through the Victorian era and wrote in English, and his name is tied above all to his term as Viceroy of India, a post that places him at the centre of debates about British colonial rule.

He was the son of the novelists Edward Bulwer-Lytton and Rosina Doyle Wheeler, and his childhood was disturbed by the bitter separation of his parents. He was educated at Harrow and at the University of Bonn. At eighteen he entered the diplomatic service as private secretary to his uncle, Sir Henry Bulwer, in Washington. Over the following decades he held posts in several European capitals, including Vienna, Copenhagen and Lisbon, and became ambassador in Lisbon before his appointment to India.

He served as Viceroy from 1876 to 1880. His term coincided with the Great Famine of 1876-1878, which killed several million people. Estimates vary widely, and historians generally agree that his administration's refusal to intervene in grain prices and its reluctance to spend on relief made the disaster worse. In the same years he pushed through the Vernacular Press Act of 1878 and launched the Second Anglo-Afghan War, both of which drew sharp criticism from the Indian press.

As Ambassador to France, from 1887 until his death in 1891, he earned respect, and he was given a state funeral in Paris, a rare honour for an Englishman. As a poet he published several volumes under the name Owen Meredith, among them the verse narrative Lucile. His legacy is mixed: he is remembered as a writer and diplomat, but mainly for the controversies of his viceroyalty. His daughter-in-law's family connection also brought him into the story of New Delhi, since the architect Edwin Lutyens, who designed the city, was his son-in-law.