Elizabeth Montagu

Elizabeth Montagu (2 October 1718 – 25 August 1800) was a British social reformer, patron of the arts, salonist, literary critic, and writer who helped organize and lead the bluestocking society. Her parents were both from wealthy families with strong ties to the British peerage and intellectual life. She married Edward Montagu, a wealthy man with extensive holdings, to become one of the wealthiest women of her era. She devoted this wealth to fostering English and Scottish literature and to the relief of the poor.