Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton was born 25 May 1803 and built parallel careers in letters and Parliament. He sat as a Whig MP from 1831 to 1841, then returned as a Conservative from 1851 to 1866, serving as Secretary of State for the Colonies from June 1858 to June 1859 — in which post he selected Richard Clement Moody to found British Columbia. His novels were widely read, and his coinage entered the language: "pursuit of the almighty dollar", "the great unwashed", "dweller on the threshold". He was made Baron Lytton of Knebworth in 1866. He died 18 January 1873, leaving a body of w…