Edward Bulwer-Lytton (Baron Lytton)

Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–1873), was an English novelist, playwright, and politician. Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, he achieved wide popularity with historical and romantic fiction, including *The Last Days of Pompeii* (1834). He also wrote influential stage works and later novels such as *The Coming Race* (1871). Bulwer-Lytton served as a Member of Parliament and held office as Secretary of State for the Colonies (1858–1859). Raised to the peerage in 1866, he became Baron Lytton. He is popularly associated with the opening line “It was a dark and stormy night,” from *Paul Clifford* (1830).