Lytton Strachey was born in London, the only child of a prosperous family. His father was a well-known lawyer and his mother a leading actress of the day. The family lived in London at the time of Strachey's birth, but later moved to Worthing, a resort town on the Sussex coast near Brighton. The family returned to London in 1881 when Strachey was still an infant
Read more
He went to Eton College from 1881 until 1885, when he entered Oxford University where he attended Magdalen College and obtained a degree in classics. In 1891 he published his first novel, Eminent Victorians, which was followed two years later by a second novel, The Middle Age of Plots. Still interested in novels while attending Oxford, Strachey started his first play there in 1895 and soon after began work on a third play that was never completed.
In 1896 he married Evelyn Sharp, a fellow novelist and Oxford friend who became a lifelong friend and collaborator, contributing to six of Strachey's subsequent novels.