Description

British poet and diplomat Edward Robert Bulwer-Lytton (1831–91) was viceroy of India between 1876 and 1880. He was appointed by Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, a Conservative, at a time of intense competition between Britain and Russia over control of Central Asia. During his viceroyalty Lytton worked to improve the Indian administration and supervised his government’s much-criticized response to the Great Famine of 1876–78. Lytton was also widely criticized for his assertive, “forward” policy toward Afghanistan, which in the view of his detractors was responsible for provoking the ...