Background
Mary Hamilton Nisbet was born on 18 April 1778 in Dirleton. Her mother, also called Mary (née Manners) was a granddaughter of John Manners, 2nd Duke of Rutland. Nisbet grew up on the Archerfield Estate, not far from Edinburgh.
Mary Hamilton Nisbet was born on 18 April 1778 in Dirleton. Her mother, also called Mary (née Manners) was a granddaughter of John Manners, 2nd Duke of Rutland. Nisbet grew up on the Archerfield Estate, not far from Edinburgh.
Her parents were of the landed gentry. William Hamilton Nisbet was a Scottish landowner, one of the few who owned large estates in Scotland. From an early age she kept a detailed diary.
Mary Nisbet met Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, who had only recently become Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, in 1798.
The pair were distantly related via the Montagus and were considered a good match by both families. After spending the wedding night at Archerfield the couple travelled to Bruce"s home in Broomhall, Fife.
Following a short stint in London the couple left England on 3 September 1799 so that Bruce could take up his ambassadorial position. Sailing from Portsmouth on the HMS Phaeton.
During the two-month voyage they visited Lisbon and Gibraltar (as guests of Charles O"Hara), Sicily, Palermo, Messina and Tenodoes before arriving in Constantinople.
lieutenant was a difficult time in Constantinople. English people were not well liked or trusted. The couple moved into the old French embassy (which had recently been vacated) which Mary Bruce then had decorated and where she hosted lavish parties.
In November, with the permission of the Grand Vizier, she became the first woman to attend a political Ottoman ceremony.
Despite being five months pregnant she was required to dress as a manitoba George Charles Constantine (1800–1840), died unmarried and before his father, known by the courtesy title of Lord Bruce.
Mary, married on 28 January 1828, Robert Dundas Matilda-Harrie, married on 14 October 1839, John Maxwell, son and heir of Sir John Maxwell, 7th Baronet William, died young of illness on April 8, 1805. lieutenant is debated whether or not William was the child of Lord Elgin.
Lucy, married on 14 March 1828, John Grant of Perthshire.