Henry Lytton-Cobbold

Who is Henry Lytton-Cobbold?

Henry Fromanteel Lytton-Cobbold is the current occupier of Knebworth House in Hertfordshire, England.

He is the son of David Antony Fromanteel Lytton-Cobbold, 2nd Baron Cobbold, and is heir to the Barony of Cobbold. He is married to Martha Boone, with two children, Morwenna Gray and Edward. He is a great-great-great grandson of novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton.

Trained as a screenwriter, Lytton-Cobbold was an assistant to the filming of The Shooting Party, part of which was filmed at Knebworth House, and subsequently worked on Water. From 1987 until 1993, he lived in Los Angeles, and scripted several TV shows, including Lake Consequence. He returned to England and lived in Knebworth village until 2000, when he took over the daily running of Knebworth House from his father. He continued to practice his trade during this period, scripting Night of Abandon, an episode of the Red Shoe Diaries, in 1997.

In 2008 he engaged in a debate with Scott Rice, founder of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, a bad-writing contest sponsored annually by San Jose State University, on the subject of the literary reputation of his ancestor Bulwer-Lytton. The debate took place in Lytton, British Columbia, named for the novelist, and was generally considered to have been won by Lytton-Cobbold.