Sir Edward Wortley Montagu (8 February 1678 – 22 January 1761) was British

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

, husband of the writer Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

The Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was an English aristocrat and writer. Montagu is today chiefly remembered for her letters, particularly her letters from Turkey, as wife to the British ambassador, which have been described by Billie Melman as “the very first example of a secular work by a woman about...

 and father of the writer and traveller Edward Wortley Montagu

Edward Wortley Montagu

Edward Wortley Montagu was an English author and traveller.He was the son of Edward Wortley Montagu, MP and of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, whose talent and eccentricity he seems to have inherited....

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Son of Sidney Wortley Montagu and grandson of Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich

Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich

Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich, KG was an English Infantry officer who later became a naval officer. He was the only surviving son of Sir Sidney Montagu, and was brought up at Hinchingbrooke House....

, a Cambridge graduate and lawyer, Wortley Montagu is best known for his correspondence with, seduction of, and elopement with the aristocratic writer, Mary, daughter of Evelyn Pierrepont, 1st Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull

Evelyn Pierrepont, 1st Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull

Evelyn Pierrepont, 5th Earl and 1st Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull had been member of parliament for East Retford before his accession to the peerage in 1690. While serving as one of the commissioners for the union with Scotland he was created Marquess of Dorchester in 1706, and took a leading part in...

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Montagu himself was a prominent Whig

British Whig Party

The Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...

 politician, eventually becoming a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury from 1714 to 1715 and from 1716 to 1718 Ambassador to the Ottoman Porte in Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

. As Ambassador, he was charged with pursuing the ongoing negotiations between the Ottomans and the Habsburg Empire.

Upon his return from Constantinople, he fell out with the Whig hierarchy, but remained a Member of Parliament until his death in 1761.