Neville Stephen Bulwer-Lytton, 3rd Earl of Lytton,

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(6 February 1879 – 9 February 1951) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

military officer, Olympian and artist.

Early life

Neville Lytton was born in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

on 6 February 1879 while his parents served as

viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...

and

vicereine A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...

Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton Edward Robert Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton, (8 November 183124 November 1891) was an English statesman, Conservative politician and poet who used the pseudonym Owen Meredith. He served as Viceroy of India between 1876 and 1880durin ...

and

Edith Villiers Edith Bulwer-Lytton, Countess of Lytton, (née Villiers; 15 September 1841 – 17 September 1936) was a British aristocrat. As the wife of Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton, she was vicereine of India. After his death, she was a court-at ...

. Neville was the grandson of the famous novelists,

Edward Bulwer-Lytton Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton, PC (25 May 180318 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 Secret ...

and Rosina Doyle Wheeler. His siblings included the

suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

Constance Lytton Lady Constance Georgina Bulwer-Lytton (12 February 1869 – 2 May 1923), usually known as Constance Lytton, was an influential British suffragette activist, writer, speaker and campaigner for prison reform, votes for women, and birth control. ...

Betty Balfour, Countess of Balfour Elizabeth Edith Balfour, Countess of Balfour (née Lady Elizabeth Bulwer-Lytton; 12 June 1867 – 28 March 1942), known as Betty Balfour, was a British suffragette, politician, and writer. A staunch Conservative Party (United Kingdom), Conservativ ...

(and sister in law of the prime minister), and Emily Lutyens, wife of the architect

Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memori ...

. A keen amateur cricketer, he played

minor counties cricket The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

for

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

from 1896 to 1898, making five appearances. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

and at the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth century ...

in Paris. He competed in the

1908 Summer Olympics The 1908 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the IV Olympiad and also known as London 1908) were an international multi-sport event held in London, England, United Kingdom, from 27 April to 31 October 1908. The 1908 Games were ori ...

and won the bronze medal in the

real tennis Real tennis – one of several games sometimes called "the sport of kings" – is the original racquet sport from which the modern game of tennis (also called "lawn tennis") is derived. It is also known as court tennis in the United Sta ...

competition.

Career

During World War I, Neville Lytton served as an officer on the Western Front and saw active duty at both the Somme and Amiens. According to the accounts of a contemporary, he was seen as "a gentleman of the old school" and served "with gallantry and distinction". For his service, the French Government decorated him with the Chevalier of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

. Shortly after the end of the war, both Britain's

Imperial War Museum Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...

and France's Musée de Guerre acquired examples of his art, some of which had apparently travelled with him on his postings. It is possible to see Lytton's

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

s reflecting his experiences in the war on display in

Balcombe Balcombe is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. It lies south of London, north of Brighton, and east north east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby towns include Crawley to the north west and H ...

village's Victory Hall. From approximately 1900 to 1940, Lytton exhibited his art at such major venues as Alpine Club Gallery, Beaux Arts Gallery, the Dowdeswell Galleries, the

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History of the Gallery The Walker Art Gallery's collection ...

(Liverpool), the

New English Art Club The New English Art Club (NEAC) was founded in London in 1885 as an alternative venue to the Royal Academy. It continues to hold an annual exhibition of paintings and drawings at the Mall Galleries in London, exhibiting works by both members and a ...

, the

Royal Society of Portrait Painters The Royal Society of Portrait Painters is a charity based at Carlton House Terrace, SW1, London that promotes the practice and appreciation of portraiture. Its Annual Exhibition of portraiture is held at Mall Galleries, and it runs a commissio ...

and at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

, London. Neville Lytton was also elected an Associate of the

Société Nationale des Beaux Arts Lactalis is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier SA. Lactalis is the largest dairy products group in the world, and is the sec ...

, Paris, and exhibited his art there. In 1911, 1912 and 1913, he was international amateur tennis champion. Following his elder brother's death in 1947, without surviving male issue, Neville Lytton succeeded his brother as the 3rd Earl of Lytton.

Personal life

He married Judith Blunt, later

Baroness Wentworth Baron Wentworth is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1529 for Thomas Wentworth, who was also ''de jure'' sixth Baron le Despencer of the 1387 creation. The title was created by writ, which means that it can descend via femal ...

in her own right, in Cairo in 1899. Judith was the only daughter of the poet

Wilfrid Scawen Blunt Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (17 August 1840 – 10 September 1922), sometimes spelt Wilfred, was an English poet and writer. He and his wife Lady Anne Blunt travelled in the Middle East and were instrumental in preserving the Arabian horse bloodlines ...

and his wife

Lady Anne Blunt Anne Isabella Noel Blunt, 15th Baroness Wentworth (née King-Noel; 22 September 1837 – 15 December 1917), known for most of her life as Lady Anne Blunt, was co-founder, with her husband the poet Wilfrid Blunt, of the Crabbet Arabian Stud in E ...

(daughter of the Hon.

Ada Lovelace Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (''née'' Byron; 10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852) was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the A ...

, and granddaughter of

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

). The couple moved to the Blunts' Crabbet Park Stud in England in 1904. Before their divorce in 1923, they were the parents of three children: * Noel Anthony Scawen Bulwer-Lytton, who became the 4th Earl of Lytton and 17th Baron Wentworth. In 1946 he married Clarissa Mary Palmer, eldest daughter of Brig. Gen. Cyril Eustace Palmer. * Lady Anne Bulwer-Lytton (1901–1979), who adopted the surname of Lytton-Milbanke in 1925. * Lady Winifred Bulwer-Lytton (b. 1904), who married Claude Tryon, eldest surviving son of John Tryon of Grove Mill House, in 1921. On 1 May 1924, the Earl remarried to Rosa Alexandra Fortel of St Rambert-en-Burgey in

Ain Ain (, ; frp, En) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Named after the Ain river, it is bordered by the Saône and Rhône rivers. Ain is located on the country's eastern edge, on the Swiss border, where it ...

. The family resided in France and with his second wife he was the father to a fourth child: * Lady Madeleine Elizabeth Lytton (b. 1921), a dancer, choreographer and teacher. Lord Lytton died in Paris on 9 February 1951. He was succeeded by his only son from his first marriage. His widow died in 1980.

Legacy

A profile sketch of the Earl may be viewed at the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lytton, Neville Stephen Bulwer-Lytton, 3rd Earl of 1879 births 1951 deaths 19th-century English nobility 20th-century English nobility Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment officers British alumni of the École des Beaux-Arts British Army personnel of World War I Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur

103 103 may refer to: *103 (number), the number *AD 103, a year in the 2nd century AD *103 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC * 103 (Tyne Electrical Engineers) Field Squadron, a territorial regiment * 103 (Newcastle) Field Squadron, Royal Engineers *103 ( ...

English real tennis players Jeu de paume players at the 1908 Summer Olympics Officers of the Order of the British Empire Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Olympic real tennis players of Great Britain People educated at Eton College Medalists at the 1908 Summer Olympics Neville Burials in France Arabian breeders and trainers English cricketers Hertfordshire cricketers British people in colonial India