Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Edward Bulwer Lord Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton, PC (25 May 1803 - 18 January 1873) was an English writer and politician. From 1831 to 1841, he was a Whig in the House of Commons, and from 1851 to 1866, he was a Conservative. Between June 1858 until June 1859, while serving as Secretary of State for the Colonies, he selected Richard Clement Moody as the first premier of British Columbia. Following King Otto's abdication in 1862, he turned down the Greek Crown. In 1866, he was made Baron Lytton of Knebworth. His works were favorably received and made Bulwer-Lytton wealthy. In addition to the opening line "It was a dark and stormy night," he also coined terms like "the great unwashed," "pursuit of the almighty dollar," "the pen is mightier than the sword," and "dweller on the threshold." Since 1982, the satirical Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest has purportedly sought the "first sentence of the poorest of all imaginable novels." General William Earle Bulwer of Heydon Hall and Wood Dalling, Norfolk, and Elizabeth Barbara Lytton, a descendant of Richard Warburton Lytton of Knebworth House, Hertfordshire, welcomed Bulwer into the world on May 25, 1803. William Earle Lytton Bulwer (1799-1877) and Henry (1801-1872), who would eventually become Lord Dalling and Bulwer, were his two older brothers.