Edmund Chishull was born at Eyworth, Bedfordshire, 22 March 1670-1. He was a scholar of Corpus Christi College, Oxford in 1687, where he graduated B.A. in 1690, M.A. in 1693, and became a Fellow in 1696. He was appointed chaplain to the factory of the Turkey Company at Smyrna. Sailing from England in the frigate Neptune on 10 February 1698, he arrived at Smyrna on 12 November 1698. While resident there he made a tour to Ephesus, setting out on 21 April 1699 and returning on 3 May. In 1701 he visited Constantinople. He resumed his chaplaincy the next year, and left Smyrna on 10 February 1701-2, taking his homeward journey by Gallipoli and Adrianople where he joined Lord Paget, who was returning from an embassy to the Sublime Porte.
