Rosina Bulwer Lytton (1802–1882)

Rosina Doyle Wheeler was born in County Limerick, Ireland, the daughter of Anne Doyle Wheeler, a women's rights activist and early socialist thinker, and her husband Francis Massey Wheeler. In 1827, she married the writer and politician Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, then known as Edward Bulwer, against the wishes of his family. The couple had two children but the marriage was famously unhappy and they separated in 1836 -- Rosina lost custody of the children. In 1858, he had her declared insane and committed to an asylum, but she was soon released and went to live in France. Edward was created first Baron Lytton in 1866, and Rosina was subsequently known as Lady Lytton. Lady Lytton bitterly attacked her estranged husband in her popular novel, Cheveley, or the Man of Honour (1839), in which he appears as the villain. She also wrote and published essays and a volume of letters. The couple's son Edward Robert served as Viceroy of India in the 1870s.