Lady Mary was the daughter of the 5th Earl of Kingston and Mary Fielding (cousin of Henry Fielding, the author). Regarded by contemporaries as the most colourful woman in England, Mary was a renowned author, traveller, eccentric and socialite. It was Lady Mary who introduced the Prime Minister, Robert Walpole to Molly Skerrett who later became his wife, although when first introduced he was already married. Lady Mary was also regarded as a great beauty until she unfortunately fell victim to smallpox, which left her slightly disfigured. It was her marriage to Edward Montague-Wortley whose family seat is located 5 miles from Wentworth Castle that first brought her into contact with Thomas Wentworth. Lady Mary thought highly of the Earl and often wrote complimentary things about him.

Shortly after her marriage to Edward, the couple left England for Turkey where Edward was to take up the role of ambassador. It was in the 1720's whilst living in Turkey that Lady Mary discovered that the Turks were able to cure smallpox. She brought this remedy back to England with her and informed the Queen of the discovery. It was decided that the royal children, the future heirs of England should be inoculated against the disease. However, since Lady Mary was female the medical profession was slow to acknowledge her claim and the credit for the cure was given to Dr Jenner in 1759.

Lady Mary's marriage to Edward turned out to be a marriage of convenience and in 1739 she planned to elope to Italy with her lover Francesco Algarotti. Unfortunately for Lady Mary, Algarotti decided not turn up to meet her as arranged. By the time he finally arrived in Italy Lady Mary had found a new lover, the young count Ugo Plazzi. She lived in Italy for a further ten years with the Count and it was here that she met William Wentworth who was on his `Grand Tour of Europe'. William was obviously impressed by Lady Mary, and it was a mixture of this admiration, and of her friendship with his father that prompted him to erect the monument in her name in 1747. Following the end of her relationship with the Count, Lady Mary returned to England. It was intended to be a short stay and she would return to Italy, however, she died of cancer in 1762.

© Phil Eaton