Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Mary Wortley Montagu

  • “Satturday” by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who helped introduce smallpox inoculation to England

    Cristóbal Berry-CabánFort Liberty, North Carolina, United States Lady Mary Wortley Montagu1 was born in 1689 to an aristocratic family. She was highly intelligent and self-educated by having access to her father’s library, studying the classics, and even learning Latin. In 1712 she rejected her father’s choice and eloped with Edward Wortley Montagu, a young Whig…

  • Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and smallpox

    JMS PearceHull, England There are few examples of people with no medical training who independently make significant advances in medical practice. One such person was the elegant, aristocratic Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689–1762)—daughter of Evelyn Pierrepont, first Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull—whose portrait is in the splendid Library Room at Sandon Hall, Staffordshire. It was painted in…