Ephemera
Probate / wills
Levantines like other communities who had wealth to pass on to the next generation on death organised this orderly transfer through probate and wills and the British system like many of its other branches of recording, has retained these records and allows for public access, and these can be searched through their portal here: and there is a fee to view the full will if requested.
Probate / wills can provide 3 pieces of vital information, not easily accessible elsewhere for family history researchers. It provides the grantor’s residence address at the time of death, the executors assigned, normally close family members and also a rough value of the British jurisdiction (therefore can be misleading) estate that is to be distributed and how it is to be distributed. Of course not all Levantines died with a will and not all wills were done through British lawyers / British legal system as the recording body. The value of estates in today’s terms can be done through this currency converter.
There is a considerable range of ethnicities in addition to British in this limited selection, pointing to probably these people having British connections through marriage, residence or trade contacts and also possibly confidence in the honesty of this overseas jurisdiction of funds and real-estate in a time where many minorities may have felt vulnerable. In some cases there is a considerable time gap between date of death and issuing of the probate, and this seems to point to chaotic conditions during and after WWI. Below is a random selection of probate / wills entries, mostly from the 1930/40s to demonstrate what is publicly available.
Leon Arditi of Galata, Istanbul, died 1946, grant issued 1947.
Emma Assadour of Taksim, Istanbul, died 1934, grant issued 1935.
Lucia Badetti of Beyoglu, Istanbul died 1944, grant issued 1946.
Alice Belhomme of Bornova, Izmir, died 1937, grant issued 1938.
Cuthbert Evelyn Binns of Bebek, Istanbul, died 1949, grant issued 1949.
Francis Blackler of Kiffissia, Athens (originally Buca, Izmir), died 1941, grant issued 1944.
Richard Leonard Frederick Bond of Athens, died 1945, grant issued 1945.
Valentine Henry Bond of Moda, Istanbul died 1949, grant issued 1949.
Elias Caraco of Prinkipo, Istanbul, died 1942, grant issued 1942.
John Clarke of Beyoglu, Istanbul, died 1936, grant issued 1936.
Edouard Comneno of Beyoglu, Istanbul, died 1921, grant issued 1933.
Elizabet Coumba of Beyoglu, Istanbul, died 1929, grant issued 1933.
Lucy de Cramer of Bornova, Izmir died 1933, grant issued 1933.
Marie Christine Estelle d’Andria of Izmir, died 1933, grant issued 1935.
Jessie Lilian Ann Davies of Istanbul, died 1946, grant issued 1947.
Louisa Edwards of Bebek, Istanbul, died 1938, grant issued 1938.
Joseph Francois Faruggia of Salonica, died 1931, grant issued 1932.
David Forbes of Kifissia, Athens (originally Buca, Izmir), died 1941, grant issued 1941.
Joseph Frederick Fraser of British Embassy Ankara, died 1946.
Katherine Helen Frewen of Rumeli Hisar, Istanbul, died 1946, grant issued 1946.
Ida Olivia Gordon of Alexandria, Egypt, died 1946, grant issued 1947.
Charles Lewis Gout, of Bebek, Istanbul died 1933, grant issued 1934.
John George Griscti of Beyoglu, Istanbul, died 1942, grant issued 1947.
Charles Edward Hamson of Pera, Istanbul, died 1932, grant issued 1932.
John Foster Hunt of Alsancak, Izmir, died 1931, grant issued 1931.
Herbert Edwin Sydney Joly of Bornova died 1944, grant issued 1946.
William Joseph Jones of Taksim, Istanbul, died 1936, grant issued 1936.
Pieter Sybrand Keyser of Bucharest, Roumania, died 1945, grant issued 1949.
James Edward La Fontaine of Pera, Istanbul died 1934 and Sydney James William La Fontaine of Moda, died 1935, grants issued 1935.
Marie Psiachi Lane of Bornova, Izmir, died 1937, grant issued 1937.
Cesar Richard Alphonse Lebet of Galata, Istanbul, died 1934, grant issued 1938.
John Lee-Rayner of Caddebostan, Istanbul, died 1946, grant issued 1947.
Joseph Charles Levasseur of Çubuklu, Istanbul, died 1932, grant issued 1933.
Harold Madge of Moda, Istanbul, died 1939, grant issued 1940.
Mary Louisa Maltass of Moda, Istanbul, died 1931, grant issued 1931.
Justin Marengo of Bomonti Ice Factory, Istinye, Istanbul, died 1922, grant issued 1939.
Joseph Williams McPherson of Cairo, Egypt, died 1946, grant issued 1946.
David Murray of Ayazpaşa, Istanbul, died 1933, grant issued 1933.
Edgard Nahoum of Beyoğlu, Istanbul, died 1939, grant issued 1939.
Michael George Nomico of Beyoğlu, Istanbul, died 1945, grant issued 1949.
Emily Fanny Nowotny of Moda, Kadıköy, Istanbul, died 1937, grant issued 1938.
Rowland Annesley Pengelley of Smyrna, died 1933, grant issued 1933.
Joseph Isaac Perahia of Istanbul, died 1933, grant issued 1933.
Edward John Perkins of Alexandria, Egypt, died 1947, grant issued 1947.
Isaac Heskia Presente of Şişli, Istanbul, died 1926 & Sultana Presente of Şişli, Istanbul died 1930, grants issued 1932.
Herve Pietro Reggio of Bornova, Izmir, died 1934, grant issued 1936.
Edward Walter Riddle of Şişli, Istanbul died 1939, grant issued 1939.
Walter Constantine Seager of Bebek, Istanbul, died 1934, grant issued 1935.
Adele Antoine Solari of Bornova, Izmir, died 1916, grant issued 1931. Antoine Solari of Les Quais, Izmir, died 1915, grant issued 1931.
Joseph Solari of Bournabat, Izmir, died 1917, grant issued 1931.
William Ralph Stevens of Bornova, died 1942, grant issued 1944.
Henry Walter Stock of Bebek, Istanbul died 1937, grant issued 1937.
Julia Violet Streater of Istanbul, wife of Frank Streater, died 1937, grant issued 1937.
Thomas Angus Swan of Bebek, Istanbul, died 1946.
Harold Hammond Thompson of Istanbul, died 1931, grant issued 1931.
Barrington Tristram of Bornova, Izmir, husband of Irma, died 1940, grant issued 1943.
Hyancinthe Tubini of Galata, Istanbul, died 1928, grant issued 1931.
Thomas Charles Tucker of Suadiye, Istanbul, died 1941, grant issued 1941.
Reginald Edmund Turrell of Bournabat, Izmir, died 1933, grant issued 1933.
Alfred Nicolas Van der Zee of Alexandria, Egypt, died 1931, grant issued 1932.
Willem Hendrik Van der Zee of Galata, Istanbul, died 1933, grant issued 1934.
George Pierre Marie Vitalis of Beyoğlu, Istanbul, died 1936, grant issued 1937.
Douglas Hamilton Wallace of Adana, died 1940, grant issued 1942.
John Harold Walton of Ayazpaşa, Istanbul, died 1940, grant issued 1941.
Edward Walter Whittall of Bornova, Izmir, died 1923, grant issued 1928. This will appears to be have been done in 3 stages, 2 solicitors and final release in 1952 when published.
Frederick James Whittall of Bornova, Izmir, died 1938, grant issued 1938.
Frederick James Whittall of Buca, Izmir, died 1921, grant issued 1928. Helen Mary Whittall of Bornova, Izmir, died 1923, grant issued 1928.
Herbert Octavius Whittall of Tunis, died 1929 & William James Harter Whittall of Moda, Istanbul, died 1930 grants issued 1930.
William Henry Williamson of Limassol, Cyprus, died 1946, grant issued 1947.
Nelly Margaretta Wright of Istanbul, died 1946, grant issued 1949.
Detail of one of the wills, of Thomas Charles Charles Tucker signed by the British Barristor based in Istanbul Edwin Pears December 1910.
