Sir Peter Wyche PC (c. 1593 – 7 October 1643) was a London merchant and English Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1627 to 1641.
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Early life
Wyche was the sixth son of Richard Wyche (1554–1621), a merchant, and his wife Elizabeth (née Saltonstall) Wyche (1556–1626), daughter of Richard Saltonstall, Lord Mayor of London. His brother, Nathaniel Wyche, was a merchant and president of the East India Company.
His paternal grandparents were Margaret (née Haughton) Wyche and Richard Wyche, a descendant of the fifteenth-century Lord Mayor of London, Henry Wyche.
Career
He was knighted by King Charles I on 16 December 1626, having received instructions from the king on 18 November, after his personal nomination. As ambassador, Wyche arrived at Constantinople on 10 April 1628, and remained at that post until he returned to England in May 1639. He secured a reduction of duty on English cloth. While in Constantinople he gave lodgings to the scholars and travellers John Greaves and Edward Pococke. From December 1637 to August 1640, Pococke resided at the British embassy, where he acted as temporary chaplain to Wyche.