Rosina Bulwer Lytton


Rosina Bulwer Lytton was an Anglo-Irish writer who published fourteen novels, a volume of essays and a volume of letters.
In 1827 she married Edward Bulwer-Lytton, a novelist and politician. Their marriage broke up, and he falsely accused her of insanity and had her detained in an insane asylum, which provoked a public outcry. Bulwer-Lytton was made a baronet in the 1830s and was raised to the peerage in 1866; although they had separated, she used the title Lady Lytton. She spelled her married surname without the hyphen used by her husband.

Early life

Rosina Doyle Wheeler's mother was the women's rights advocate Anna Wheeler, the daughter of the Rev. Nicholas Milley Doyle, a Church of Ireland clergyman, Rector of Newcastle, while her father was Francis Massey Wheeler, an Anglo-Irish landowner. One of her mother's brothers, Sir John Milley Doyle, led British and Portuguese forces in the Peninsular War and the War of the Two Brothers.
Rosina Doyle was educated in part by Frances Arabella Rowden, who was not only a poet, but, according to Mary Mitford, "had a knack of making poetesses of her pupils" This ties Rosina to others among Rowden's pupils, such as Caroline Ponsonby, later Lady Caroline Lamb; the poet Letitia Elizabeth Landon ; Emma Roberts, the travel writer; and Anna Maria Fielding, who published as S.C. Hall.

Marriage

Rosina Doyle Wheeler married Edward Bulwer-Lytton on 29 August 1827. This was against the wishes of his mother, who withdrew his allowance, so that he was forced to work for a living.
His writing and efforts in the political arena took a toll upon their marriage, and the couple legally separated in 1836. Her children were taken from her. In 1839, her novel, Cheveley, or the Man of Honour, in which Edward Bulwer-Lytton was bitterly caricatured, was published.
In June 1858 her husband was standing in a by-election as a parliamentary candidate for Hertfordshire. She appeared at the hustings and indignantly denounced him. She was consequently placed under restraint as insane, and was detained in an establishment in Brentford, but liberated a few weeks later following a public outcry. Wheeler wrote of her experience in A Blighted Life. Although the book appeared after her husband's death, it caused a rift with her son and she tried to disassociate herself from it.

Death

Rosina died in Upper Sydenham. While her husband was buried in Westminster Abbey, she was buried in an unmarked grave.

Children

They had two children: