Elizabeth Barbara Bulwer-Lytton (''née'' Warburton-Lytton; 1 May 1770 – 19 December 1843)Cobbold DL, ''Knebworth House'', guide book, published between 1995 & 2007 was a member of the Lytton family of

Knebworth House Knebworth House is an English country house in the parish of Knebworth in Hertfordshire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building. Its gardens are also listed Grade II* on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. In its surrounding park is t ...

in Hertfordshire,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Life

Her parents were Richard Warburton-Lytton (1745–1810) and Elizabeth Jodrell. In 1798, she married General William Earle Bulwer (1757–1807), and the couple lived at

Heydon Hall Heydon Hall is an Elizabethan house set in parkland near the village of Heydon, Norfolk, England. The hall is Grade I listed on the National Heritage List for England, and its gardens are Grade II* listed on the Register of Historic Parks and ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. Their first son, William Earle Lytton Bulwer, was born the year after their marriage. A second son,

Henry Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

, was born in 1801, followed by Edward in 1803. After her father's death, Elizabeth Bulwer resumed her father's surname, by a royal licence of 1811. That year she returned to

, which by then had become dilapidated. She renovated it by demolishing three of its four sides and adding Gothic towers and battlements to the remaining building. This

Tudor Gothic English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed ar ...

work was carried out in 1813 by John Biagio Rebecca. She lived at Knebworth with her son, the writer Edward Bulwer-Lytton, until her death. Because of a long-standing dispute she had with the church, she is buried not with her ancestors at St Mary's Knebworth, but in the

Lytton Mausoleum The Lytton Mausoleum is a family mausoleum in Knebworth Park, Hertfordshire, England. Description The mausoleum was commissioned by Elizabeth Bulwer-Lytton (née Warburton-Lytton) and built in 1817 in memory of her parents Richard Warburt ...

nearby which she commissioned from

John Buonarotti Papworth John Buonarotti Papworth (24 January 1775 – 16 June 1847) was a British architect, artist and a founder member of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He adopted the middle name "Buonarotti" in around 1815. As well as being active in ...

in 1817. Elizabeth's death greatly affected her son, as described in a letter originally published in 1845, and again in a posthumous 1875 collection. As to his mother, in her room, Bulwer-Lytton "had inscribed above the mantlepiece a request that future generations preserve the room as his beloved mother had used it", and which remains essentially unchanged to this day.

References

External links

"Turbans, Tea and Talk of Books: the Literary Parties of Elizabeth Spence and Elizabeth Benger", ''Corvey Women Writers on the Web''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lytton, Elizabeth Barbara 1770 births 1843 deaths Burials at the Lytton Mausoleum Women of the Victorian era

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

18th-century English women 18th-century English people 19th-century English women 19th-century English people