Lady+Mary+Wortly+Montagu

@(1689-1762)

Lady Mary Wortley Montegu was born as Mary Pierrepont in London to a baptist family. With her father being the Duke of Kingston, she was born into a nobel and very wealthy family. In 1712 she married Edward Wortly Montegu. Edward's ancestor's had been aquatinted with William Shakespeare and so it is believed that the Montegus of Romeo and Juliet are based on his family. After Edward was appointed to Lord Commissioner of the Treasury in 1715, Mary moved to London to be with him. In London, her charm and intelligence quickly made her an important figure at court. One year after her move to London.

Also in 1715, Mary became stricken with small pox which left her without eyelashes and with horribly pitted skin. Montegu moved again when Edward was appointed to Ambassador, this time to Istanbul. It is here where Lady Mary wrote some of her most famous works, her letters from the orient. Also in Istanbul, Marry discovered the practice of inoculation for small pox. Not wanting her children or anyone else to suffer as she did, she treated her children with the inoculation and brought the knowledge home to London. Although the public did not see the procedure as safe, all of the British royal family was inoculated.

For some time she was a friend of @Alexander Pope. Lady Mary and Alexander's friendship did not last long though. After her return to Europe in 1718, the two became foe when each began writing criticizing literature about one another. Other notable friends of Mary included the women rights activist Mary Astell, Prime Minister Robert Walpole, and the astound political writer John Hervey.

In her later years, Lady Mary Wortley Montegu moved to Venice without her husband perhaps for political reasons. Her husband died in 1761, before she ever returned from her travels. In her time away she lived in different areas of Italy and France and met Horrace Walpole (who was not particularly fond of her). She returned to London one year after her husbands death in 1762 and died in the same year.