Victor Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Earl of Lytton

The Right Honourable The Earl of Lytton KG GCSI GCIE PC DL
The Earl of Lytton.
Governor of Bengal
In office 1922–1927
Monarch	George V
Preceded by	Earl of Ronaldshay
Succeeded by	Sir Stanley Jackson
Acting Viceroy of India
In office 1926–1926
Monarch	George V
Preceded by	The Earl of Reading
Succeeded by	The Lord Irwin
Personal details
Born	9 August 1876 Simla, British India
Died
Nationality	British
Spouse(s)	Pamela Chichele-Plowden
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge

Victor Alexander George Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Earl of Lytton KG GCSI GCIE PC DL (9 August 1876 – 25 October 1947), styled Viscount Knebworth from 1880 to 1891, was a British politician and colonial administrator. He served as Governor of Bengal between 1922 and 1927 and was briefly Acting Viceroy of India in 1926.

Background and education

Lytton was the fourth but eldest surviving son of Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton and Edith Villiers, daughter of Edward Ernest Villiers and granddaughter of George Villiers. He was born in Simla in British India, during the time when his father was Viceroy of that colony. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was secretary of the University Pitt Club. In 1905 he was President of the Edinburgh Sir Walter Scott Club and gave the Toast to Sir Walter at the club's annual dinner.

Political and administrative career

Lytton caricatured by Spy for Vanity Fair, 1906

Lytton started off his official career by filling up various posts in the Admiralty between 1916 and 1920, before being appointed Under-Secretary of State for India, a post which he held between 1920 and 1922. He was also made a Privy Counsellor in 1919. In 1922 he was posted as Governor of Bengal, remaining there until 1927. For a short while, when there was a vacancy caused by change in incumbents in 1926, he also functioned as Viceroy, his father's old post. After this he filled miscellaneous positions in various capacities, when matters concerning India came up. He wrote two books, the first being a life of his grandfather Lord Lytton, while the other book dealt with his experiences in India and was called Pundits and Elephants, published in 1942. He was made a Knight of the Garter in 1933.

Lytton may be best known for his chairmanship of the Lytton Commission, which was sent by the League of Nations on a fact-finding mission to determine who was to blame in the 1931 war between Japan and China. The commission's Lytton Report, officially issued on 1 October 1932, caused Japan to withdraw from the League of Nations.

Styles of address

• 1876-1880: Mr Victor Alexander George Robert Bulwer-Lytton
• 1880-1891: Viscount Knebworth
• 1891-1919: The Rt Hon The Second Earl of Lytton
• 1919-1922: The Rt Hon The Second Earl of Lytton PC
• 1922-1925: The Rt Hon The Second Earl of Lytton GCIE PC
• 1925-1933: The Rt Hon The Second Earl of Lytton GCSI GCIE PC
• 1933-1947: The Rt Hon The Second Earl of Lytton KG GCSI GCIE PC

Family

Lord Lytton married at St Margaret's, Westminster, on 3 April 1902, Pamela Chichele-Plowden, daughter of Sir Trevor Chichele Plowden. She had been an early flame of Winston Churchill, but the relationship was amicably broken off when she decided to marry Lytton instead.

Lytton's two sons, Antony Bulwer-Lytton, Viscount Knebworth, MP, and Alexander Edward John Bulwer-Lytton, Viscount Knebworth, killed in the Second World War, both predeceased him. On his death in October 1947, aged 71, the titles passed to his younger brother Neville Bulwer-Lytton.

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Political offices
Preceded by The Lord Sinha	Under-Secretary of State for India 1920–1922	Succeeded by The Earl Winterton
Government offices
Preceded by Earl of Ronaldshay	Governor of Bengal 1922–1927	Succeeded by Sir Stanley Jackson
Preceded by The Earl of Reading	Viceroy of India 1925	Succeeded by The Lord Irwin
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Robert Robert Lytton Bulwer-Lytton	Earl of Lytton 1891–1947	Succeeded by Neville Stephen Bulwer-Lytton