Neville Stephen Bulwer-Lytton, 3rd Earl of Lytton, (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. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

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 in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

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 Anglo-Norman ''roy'' (Old Frenc ...

and vicereine:

Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton Edward Robert Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton, (8 November 1831 – 24 November 1891), was an English statesman, Conservative politician and poet who used the pseudonym Owen Meredith. During his tenure as Viceroy of India between 1876 ...

, and Edith Villiers. Neville was the grandson of the famous novelists

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 ...

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 – 22 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. S ...

, Elizabeth Balfour (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 memorials ...

. 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 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 ...

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

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and at the

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

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, from 27 April to 31 October 1908. The 1908 Games were originally schedu ...

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 ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

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

Imperial War Museum The Imperial War Museum (IWM), currently branded "Imperial War Museums", is a British national museum. It is headquartered in London, with five branches in England. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, it was intended to record the civ ...

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 ( 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 plaster, the painting become ...

s reflecting his experiences in the war on display in Balcombe 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 The Walker Art Gallery's collection dates from 1819 ...

(Liverpool), the

New English Art Club The New English Art Club (NEAC) is a society for contemporary artists that was founded in London, England, in 1886 as an alternative venue to the Royal Academy. The NEAC holds an annual exhibition of paintings and drawings at the Mall Galleries ...

, 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 art. Its Annual Exhibition of portraiture is held at Mall Galleries, and it runs a commi ...

and at the

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

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

Société Nationale des Beaux Arts Groupe Lactalis S.A. (doing business as 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 S.A. Lactalis is the largest dairy pr ...

, 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 in her own right, in Cairo in 1899. She 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 (daughter of the Hon.

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

, and granddaughter of

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

). 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 (1900–1985), 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 (born 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 (, ; ) is a French department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, 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 (born 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 that houses a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. When it opened in 1856, it was arguably the first national public gallery in the world th ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lytton, Neville 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 Knights of the Legion of Honour 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 for Great Britain People educated at Eton College Medalists at the 1908 Summer Olympics Neville Arabian horse breeders and trainers English cricketers Hertfordshire cricketers Military personnel from Kolkata British people in colonial India Younger sons of earls