page_title: Lady Constance Bulwer-Lytton
section_title: Early life and family
hierarchical_section_title: Lady Constance Bulwer-Lytton / Early life and family
caption_attribution_description: Edith Villiers, later Countess of Lytton who was Vicereine of India
context_page_description: Lady Constance Georgina Bulwer-Lytton, usually known as Constance Lytton, was an influential British suffragette activist, writer, speaker and campaigner for prison reform, votes for women, and birth control. She sometimes used the name Jane Warton.
  Although born and raised in the privileged ruling class of British society, Lytton rejected this background to join the Women's Social and Political Union, the most militant group of suffragette activists campaigning for "Votes for Women".
  She was subsequently imprisoned four times, including once in Walton gaol in Liverpool under the nom de guerre of Jane Warton, where she was force fed while on hunger strike. She chose the alias and disguise of Jane Warton, an 'ugly London seamstress', to avoid receiving special treatment and privileges because of her family connections: she was the daughter of a viceroy and the sister of a member of the House of Lords. She wrote pamphlets on women's rights, articles in The Times newspaper, and a book on her experiences, Prisons and Prisoners, which was published in 1914.
context_section_description: Lytton was the third of seven children of Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton and Edith Villiers. She spent some of her early years in India, where her father was the Governor-General; it was he who made the proclamation that Queen Victoria was the Empress of India. Her siblings were:
  Edward Rowland John Bulwer-Lytton (1865–1871)
  Lady Elizabeth Edith "Betty" Bulwer-Lytton (12 June 1867 – 28 March 1942). Married Gerald Balfour, 2nd Earl of Balfour, brother of the future Prime Minister Arthur Balfour.
  Henry Meredith Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1872–1874)
  Lady Emily Bulwer-Lytton (1874–1964). Married the architect Edwin Lutyens. Associate and confidante of Jiddu Krishnamurti.
  Victor Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Earl of Lytton (1876–1947), married Pamela Chichele-Plowden, an early flame of Sir Winston Churchill, who had met her while playing polo at Secunderabad.
  Neville Bulwer-Lytton, 3rd Earl of Lytton (6 February 1879 – 9 February 1951)
  In the early years in India, Lytton was educated by a series of governesses and reportedly had a lonely childhood. She apparently met Winston Churchill while living in India, where he was a rival to her brother Victor for the hand of Pamela Chichele-Plowden. She is reported to have said: "The first time you see Winston Churchill you see all his faults, and the rest of your life you spend discovering his virtues. Although she matured in England surrounded by many of the great artistic, political and literary names of the day, she rejected the aristocratic way of life. After her father died, she retired from view to care for her mother, rejecting attempts to interest her in the outside world.
  Lytton remained unmarried until her death; in 1892 her mother refused her permission to marry a man from a "lower social order". For several years she waited in vain for her mother to change her mind, while refusing to contemplate marrying anyone else.
caption: Edith Villiers
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