Nothing was ever
known as my mother, maiden name Nicolaidi (of Italian origin) was raised
as an orphan with her sister and brother having been told by her English
Nanny that all the family died in the fire of 1922 although as it turned
out this wasn’t the case.
Grandmother was English raised in India and Grandfather an Ottoman Greek and they lived in an area of Smyrna likely on the Çesme Peninsula sounding like “Cucklya” (?) [according to the fellow contributor Alex Baltazzi, a former settlement called Koukloudja between Boudjah and Smyrna]. There is a family reference to Nikolaiidi Archontiki (meaning villa or mansion) that is on Patmos Island. I haven’t been to Patnos Island the reason being that the oldest part of the island which is the Agean Chora is not open to visitors except those who are allowed to visit by special permission from the Greek ministry of Culture. Unfortunately Nikolaidi Archontiki is on this site together with other villas/mansions “of a unique Byzantine style”. Early settlers were Cretans, but the later merchants houses were built by refugees after the fall of Constantinople. There are records but these are ear-marked for restoration and not available for viewing. I am trying to get information on this grandfather of mine, but no one seems to have heard of him, but have worked out he is from the prominent Chios Greek Mavrogordato/ Rodocanachi line. Grandparents Michael Panioty and Nancy Nicolaidi had 3 children: Xenia, Stefanie and Willoughby with an ‘extra’ unknown fourth possibly from a previous marriage by either one or both. Grandfather was a merchant in his earlier years working for the Ralli Bros in India in the late 1800s. Later he had businesses in Smyrna, London and Constantinople and later partners included Paterson, Lucas [Loukas], Keun, Savelys and Lavino family members working from 155 Fenchurch St, London and latterly 48 Fenchurch st., London from 1918-20.
Another business connection in the UK and Smyrna was with Eric A. Paterson, brother to Stanley Paterson which dissolved in 1912, on-line details here: - Eric A. Paterson then joining with McVittie [The father of the later eminent scientist, George McVittie, Francis McVittie, as detailed in the autobiography of the space scientist viewable here] and in turn this partnership is also dissolved on Oct. 1924, as revealed in the on-line archives of the London Gazette here:
Grandmother Nancy played piano at the Paterson villa in Smyrna. Grandfather stayed at the Paterson Villa in Salonika some time 1918-20. Apparently grandfather and Eric Paterson were both major shareholders in one of the Turkish railways which went under with the collapse of the Bank of Smyrna and Ottoman banks in 1912. From records this may have been the Metropolitan Railway of Constantinople, Pera to Galata line [the Tünel - meaning tunnel] the chairman of which was the Frenchman Emile D’Erlanger. John Paterson was mentioned as being the receiver for the company. Apparently Grandparents had a summerhouse [chalet or summer residence] high in the hills overlooking the harbour which was cooler in the summer months, which implies they may have had another residence in or near Smyrna. Apparently, 2 of Stanley Paterson’s children Monica and Gerald Paterson used to stay with the Nicolaidi family while they were at school in England 1919-22 and stay in the summer to learn English as they only spoke French, being looked after by my mother and aunt’s nanny. This continued after Grandparents died in 1920 although only Gerald P. visited more for company for my uncle [group shot,].
One thing I do know is that Stanley Paterson was married to [Mary Keun], the cousin of Princess Borghese (Valerie Keun - range of letter covers). The father to one of these (?), Alfred A. Keun and I think his brother[s] Gordon Benjamin Edward and Hayder Richard Keun all seem to be connected to Grandfather certainly through business and I know they are related somehow and also with the Lavino’s. [period photo of one of the Prince Bogheses]. However our Prince [Don Livio] Borghese whose father-in-law is Albert Augustus Keun had this to say about A.A. Keun [its all in French]:
“.. born in Smyrna on the 4th April 1854. He was Consul General to Roumania in Smyrna from 1890-1924. He possessed in Smyrna a beautiful villa along the Promenade de Quais named the ‘Villa of Cedres’ and also a ‘belle maison’ at Boudja, near to Smyrna. He was passionate about numismatics [coins] and a large collection which he donated to the museum of Athens. He married Virginia Almira on the 21st April 1879 at Boudjah daughter of George Almira [1819- 1889] and of Marietta de Negroponte. She was born at Mitylene on the Island of Lesbos on the 2nd March 1857 and died at San Gregorio di Catania, Sicily on the 14th April 1951”.
Although A.A. Keun was a diplomat he had a company in London ‘Keun-Savelys’ which ceased in 1922. Also involved his son George B. Keun. Doubtless they were merchants as they are listed as such having ‘offices in London and Smyrna’ from their 155 Fenchurch St., London address. The company moved to 48 Fenchurch St. after 1922 and the name was dropped to Lavino’s, London and was run by the Savely’s son in law Robert Gisburn being the executor and trustee of my late grandparents’ estate after they died.
The Keuns and some of the Lavinos moved to Belgium after 1920 following the Greco-Turkish war of 1919-22. The Savelys located to Athens then France. The Savelys also spelt Savelli/Saveli were known as the uncle and aunt of Grandfather. They were part of the Athens ‘set’ who moved there post Smyrna. They lived in Faliron and Grandmother visited them on her last journey to Smyrna in 1920. While she was there she also referred to the Carrides [Caridia] family who are related to the Rees’s down the Cumberbatch line. Similarly, the Chrussachi bros [shippers] my mothers god parents were business associates with the Rees’s both referenced in ‘Merchant Adventurers in the Levant’ by Tom Rees. My uncle Willoughby went to Tunbridge School and was a close friend of Chris Carridia.
My uncle, Willoughby, but known as ‘Nick’ left for New Zealand when he was 19 and only returned once in the 1960s [when I was a lad]. He looked up Gerald P. in London who related tales of the Patersons and Nicolaidis “riding shotgun while guarding opium supplies from bandits, on the orders of Lloyd George ...... and apparently on the Orient Express”!
In 1914 Grandpa was interned presumably under the Aliens’ Act and technically Smyrna was part of Turkey. It is likely he was a Levantine of Italian descent but that would have been also bad news in 1914. Apparently a deal was struck if he deciphered Greek broadcasts from British agents in Athens as the Navy only had one Greek speaking officer who I think was a member of the Argenti family who was based in the Aegean. On this basis he was released and allowed to keep his Italian nationality and have diplomatic immunity to stay in the UK. I know after WWI he was given a sole concessionaires licence to trade in opium for the National Insurance commission (part of government’s civil service, department responsible for supply, accepting contracts on a competitive tendering basis).
Other family connections were the Oliviers, Lavino, Paterson, Rees [one later taught at the Tonbridge School which had a few connections] Sechiari, Carridia [Carridi], Athenogenis, Chryssithi [Chryssovelonis] and Savelys [Salvaghli]. Savelys could be the old Chiot name of Saveghly or Savvali or Savvaidis. One name referenced by grandmother while she was in Athens was Agnese Savelys whose husband Constantine Demitrius, Alfred A. Keun [father to Valerie Keun], Octavius A. Lavino [who married Adele Olivier] and Alfred A. Lavino were all in partnership as well as being related to grandparents. The Savelys daughter, Merci or Merca Savelys married Robert Gisburne a London accountant, and he with Alfred A. Lavino were executors to my grandparents after their death. I know that Agnese and Demetrius were grandfather’s aunt and uncle, and Mercia cousin from my mother.
In addition the Scottish Macrae, Mackay families are all connected with a Ralli thrown in for good measure. The Mackay family have strong Dutch connections and as shown on the chart below, are linked to Van Ophemert, Fagul and possibly Vogul. The Macrae family in Edinburgh were one of the few families to keep in touch with mother, and she thinks it was Isobel who married John Ralli in Edinburgh. I checked this out and it actually was Isobel Macray John Ralli married.
I have attached what may be considered a sort of “tree” but actually GrandPa is a complete mystery as I have not found his name mentioned anywhere. All I have is a detailed snapshot of the last 2 years of when Grandparents were alive from 1917-20. I have still many loose ends. It seems highly probable that we are from the Panioty line (also spelt Panniuti, Pannuti, Paniayotis) from Alexios Argyree Panaghiotis, the first recognized head of the Greek community in Bengal back in the 18th century, as grandfather had Panioty as his middle name. The Panioty family in India were mostly diplomats and merchants and grandfather worked for the Ralli bros [group photo]. in India and possibly in London when they moved there in 1910. In the 1860s Greeks had no surnames but used patronyms either from their father, grandfather or uncle but in the last 40 years of their stay in India they gradually adopted surnames. A lot of the younger Greeks who moved away from India changed their names completely or used an anglicised version of their names. Good examples are the Greek names George, Lucas, Nicolas, Nicoll, Nicholas etc. Greeks also have the annoying habit of reversing their names as was common in this country, and generally used their roots to describe where they were from as opposed to nationality. Also to add to the confusion, many of these names I got from family letters, which were subject to censorship during and shortly after WWI. I know my grandparents ‘disguised’ the names of the people they wrote about. Some letters sent from Smyrna and Constantinople, and do have the censor stamp on them. Many of the original names have changed. The common link is India where they all worked either for the Rallis or family firms. As a family joke we have always said the Nicolaidis were one of the universe’s greatest unsolved mysteries. The “key” from the Chiot descendants is the Keun family, and I do know they had connections in Belgium and France.
I do know the Keun family were opium merchants and major shareholders in the Dutch East India Co. which controlled the opium industry in the Levant, in a similar way as did the Ralli and Rodocanachi family did in India and the Baltic respectively. The Keun family are very important in this story, they are the core family that kicked it all off when Bernard Keun left Holland for Smyrna in 1739, and later generations mixed with so many other lines.
Going even further back in time surprising Levantine connections can be made through genealogical research. The Omiros family were Royal Phanariots and Dragomen at the Smyrna Consulate 1623-58. The dragoman was Pavlos Omiros b.1595 and was the dragoman of the English consulate in Smyrna 1623-58. His grandson was also dragoman of the same but no name and dates as per Libra D’Oro. The Omiros were from Chios, and also referred to as Homere. The only surviving royal family from this line now are the Grimaldi’s of Monaco from the line of Elvera Paste de Rochefort in France. It’s a throw back to the days when the Greeks maritime states that ruled from Southern France to Southern Russia. The Baltazzi’s (also spelt Baltatzi1) were part of this Royal House connected to the Hapsburgs of Austria or the old Austro-Hungarian Empire, later Prussia.
Another family name featuring in my mother’s recollections is the Crussachi who owned one of the 3 liquorice factories in Baku, Caucasus now Azerbaijan but were from Smyrna with shipping activities in the Danube mostly coal, paper and ore. This all ties in with the Lavino family of Smyrna (who are a bit secretive of their past) now living in the USA. The licorice factory visited by [possibly William, father of David?] Forbes around the turn of the century in the Georgia region may well be one belonging to the Greek Crussachi family, who knows? I have a document written by a Chrussachi member in 1919 in French which I will in due course get translated.
My mother’s recollections also seems to point to a possible link with the Constantinople Hansons with Charles Hanson, Lord Mayor of London in 1917 who may be related to the late Charles Werry of Tunbridge Wells, also a Levant family descendant. Mother recalls that her father, Michael Nicolaidi, attended the Lord Mayor of London’s Ball on at least one occasion which would have to have been in 1917/18 when Charles Hanson was Lord Mayor of London. Later when she was older she knew Hansons at the Tunbridge Wells Tennis Club. Like many of the names she recalls, such as the Patersons, she had little idea who were relations, family friends, business acquaintances etc. on her Grandfather’s side. So at present neither she or I know if they are related.
The Keyser family were also a prominent well established name in Smyrna and my Mother, Stephanie Nicolaidi, recalls “The Keysers used to come down from London to visit us in Tunbridge Wells. They were friends of my mother’s and although we never met the parents two of the children, Elsie and Lulu, used to come downstairs to visit. We were never allowed to go upstairs when my parents were entertaining except for such occasions as birthdays or Christmas. Downstairs at the ‘Acropolis’ (name given to Grandparent’s house) we had our own schoolroom and were looked after by a nanny. On one occasion we decided to draw when Elsie and Lulu came to visit really to keep Lulu amused. Lulu was very strange and had a cold, expressionless face and she frightened me. She could not communicate very well but she had an exceptional talent of being able to draw and paint exceptionally well any thing she copied. She copied a picture of ‘Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemini’ perfectly which we framed and kept for many years ...” [note: Lulu would these days be regarded as being autistic].
The aunt of Elsie and Lulu, Agnes Keyser teamed up with “Daisy” Maynard and Grandmother who joined the suffrage ‘suffragists’ movement. Another ‘unknown’ in the family Frederick Drummond Niblett who was a caricaturist for Vanity Fair and Punch did a set of watercolours for an exhibition ‘Celebration of Edward VII’ which raised funds for the King Edward VII Hospital for Officers and Gentlemen, commonly called Sister Agnes Hospital, although she never nursed. Daisy funded a school at Little Easton [home of the Maynard family] and one of her teachers, a Belgian Minister Victor Gregoire apparently used to visit and give summer school to mother, her brother and sister. I think Daisy is the person reflected in “Daisy, Daisy give me your answer, do ...” as supposedly mimicking Edward VII’s proposal to her.
The Abbotts were an important Levant family of the past and I know of the mining connections with Harry Paterson and I believe they had offices in London as well connected with carborundum and brick making at the same address of my Grandfather’s Office at 48 Fenchurch St, London. I will check this out but there was something I heard about a connection with the IRA (Irish republican terrorist organisation) at the time most likely because Richard Abbott’s company had the unfortunate name of Red Hand productions, or similar - the Red Hand being the symbol used by both sides of the divide. It is also the name of a brick to those in the know. This would have been around 1920 - 24. There was also a musical connection, maybe piano concerts? N.B. Harry Paterson lived on Mitylene (Athens by 1918) and was an exporter of magnesite [magnesium ore, possibly derived from the ‘The Anglo-Greek magnesite company’ mentioned in Cynthia Hill’s recollections] which is used in brick making for furnaces. I found a letter in the archives of the PRO library in London, penned by Harry Paterson during the WW1 years, to the war ministry complaining bitterly at the loss because of trade because of the ‘Trading with the enemy act’ and that this was not ‘a time for those with elastic consciences ...’, I wonder what he meant? Harry Paterson’s letter to the Board of Trade Aug 1915 (PRO archives):
“From the very outset [of the war] when laws against trading with the enemy were enforced against Turkey [by England] a golden opportunity to carry on business arose for those with elastic consciences. A great number of Smyrna merchants accordingly emigrated to Greece and a large quantity of Turkish opium was shipped to Salonika and sultanas to Piraeus and Patras ... this produce was declared to be of Greek origin ...”
Also Smyrna harbour had been blockaded from 1915-18 by the Turks by 3 ships: the British SS Billeter, SS City of Xios and French SS Billiter which had been scuttled at the harbour entrance making it impassable.
In addition to my mother’s recollections, the discovery of a hat box which contained letters and photos which were passed onto my aunt Xenia when the nanny Emily Howard died, and then onto my cousin when Xenia died was the real ‘jewel in the crown’.
Grandfather was definitely a Catholic as I have grandfather’s baptism medal [hover to view] which says in Latin “St Polycarp of Smyrna - Protect our people and our land” with a picture of Saint Polycarp on one side and the Immaculate Conception on the other.
There are several conflicting versions of family tale concerning the background of grandfather, as I heard a different version from my mother, her sister and brother. My mother’s version is that her father was an orphan raised by his two Romanian step aunts in Smyrna, and that he had 2 brothers in the diplomatic service who both died young. The other versions are that grandpa’s father was a banker in Athens, and that he had a big estate with olive and vine groves somewhere in Athens. What I do know is that he had strong connections with the Lavino bros company, who were Dutch diplomats in Smyrna, as well as the Patersons and the Oliviers who all married into the Keun family. Greeks rarely had business connections outside family. He spoke four languages fluently, French as his main, English, Greek and Turkish.
There is also some confusion on the background of grandmother, who was born to English parents as Nancy Willoughby Crisp in Bombay and married Michael Panioty Nicolaidi. Her father was the chief accountant and auditor at the public works department in Bombay and was William Crisp, son of Sir Nicholas Crisp. Her mother, Emma Willoughby was the failed union of the Indian and British Raj’s - a last ditch attempt to save the Hon East India Company affectionately known as ‘John Company’ of which the family had been major shareholders for generations.
In the war years of 1915-18 grandfather was in Salonika for some reason, presumably working for the British Government though in which capacity im not too sure but likely as an interpreter. His letters at the PRO library (under ministry of supplies archives), Kew in London, show he was also trying to move supplies back to England and asked for the help of the Royal Navy due to German and Turkish activity in the Aegean. He was trying to export dried fruit back to England and his letters showed this was difficult by ship due to enemy action in the Aegean and the Mediterranean so he was trying to work a sea route from Mytelene, Salonika and Vourlos then to Patras and there pick up a Royal Naval escort back to England. In a letter to Balfour, First Lord of the Admiralty, August, 1915: GrandPa wrote “asking a safe passage from Vourla [a port on the Greek mainland] via a Grecian port such as Chios or Mitilini for his consignment of sultanas without let or hindrance from the Allied fleets ...”. Grandfather wanted naval protection from the Allies (which included Greece) as well as the Germans. Grandfather wasn’t trading with the enemy as he was acting on instructions from the UK government, likely a deal for the release of his internment in the UK. On the way he had to pick up a first consignment of opium for the British Government which was waiting with grandfather’s agent, Manganiotti, in Salonika. From the PRO archives: Feb 1916 letter from Wellesley at the Foreign Office to UK Consul Elliott in Athens:
advising that the Board of Trade had issued a licence to the National Health Insurance Commission for the importation of 500 cases of Turkish opium from Greece. “This matter is being arranged through the London firm of M.P. Nicolaidi and Sons whose agent Angelino Manganiotti now awaits in Salonika with 26 cases. Please instruct other consulates and Salonika to issue permits for Turkish opium shipped on the above mentioned licence...”
It seems the National Health Insurance Commission [possible source] was also anxious to obtain another ‘strategic material’ as in the PRO files is a telegram July 1917 F.O to Nicolaidi and sons requesting Greek magnesite from Salonika. Some of the documents in the archives were in poor shape, some destroyed/missing, and others only referenced to such as the telegram about magnesite. Many other documents were unreadable.
One thing Eric Patterson did say when my uncle saw him in the 1960’s was that he and grandfather planned to bring the opium overland by railway. He mentioned the ‘Orient Express’ but this was not running in WW1 then he went into detail how they had to provide armed escorts to prevent bandits from stealing the opium. Most likely this story was over fabricated, but the opium runs were ‘on the orders of Lloyd George...’. Grandfather was given a licence to import opium to England and to buy up as much as he could to prevent it going to America. Britain was a nation of opium addicts and Britain itself was a drug baron. Britain was going bankrupt because of the war and the loss of opium tax which provided a third of the Empire’s income to the treasury and David Lloyd George was desperate to raise revenue for the treasury. High demand and lack of supply pushes up prices especially on the black market, but Britain was forced to stop opium trading in 1920 by the Balfour Convention - [figures of exports from Turkey 1915-16 show the prominence of opium in terms of value].
In 1919 Grandpa went back to Smyrna and Constantinople to rescue his business ‘lost to the Germans and the Turkish’. He became ill and came back to the UK (Tunbridge Wells) and died shortly after. In 1920 Grandma also made the same trip and became ill and died a day after she returned back in the UK from Smyrna.
I have a photo in my possession, Nicholas Andreas Nicholaidi, one of the managers of Ralli Bros in India at the time, however his family relationship is still a bit of a mystery. He is likely to have been an uncle or maybe even the father of grandfather Michael. He was born in Athens, 1844 so was around 20 years older than Michael. Nicholas was brother to John Andreas Nicolaidi who married Georgina Paterson around 1860 in Patras, Greece. Nicholas, John, and the other brother Constantine were the ‘Nicolaidi Bros’, shippers of Smyrna, Constantinople and the Black Sea and carried cargoes from there to Marseilles, France. The business folded in 1872. Nicholas then became a cargo superintendent, then worked for the Ralli bros in India, the other brothers remaining in the UK becoming interpreters. I did hear that the Nicolaidi bros re-built the quay at Smyrna in 1860. The photo of Nicolas Andreas Nicolaidi has a stunning resemblance to some modern day family members.
John Nicolaidi and Georgina Paterson had a son Jean Nicolaidi who was awarded the Legionne D’Honneur - they lived in France. Another [possible] son, Louis John Nicolaidi married Maria Maximo in 1892 in Athens/Patras, Greece. Georgina Paterson may have died young as John Nicolaidi re-married Margaret Bannister in Hull, UK in 1872.
The nanny who raised the children, Emily Howard did a monumental job. She had previously worked for the Rothchild and Imhof families in London and had made many trips to Smyrna on escort duties as Grandmother came back to the UK to have all her children. On one occasion she brought an English nurse Wilhelmina Williams from Smyrna to assist one birth. She raised the children as if her own then she was in turn looked after in her old age by my mother and her sister.
The information we got from letters that were found after my aunt died and a hastily compiled compendium of photos which gave little if nothing away. Records at St. Sophia’s Orthodox church in London, built by Chiot Greeks, also gave some good detail.
There is still much to uncover. I have not been able to trace my Grandfather’s origins so I don’t know where/when he was born, who his parents were, brothers/sisters so my story is by no means complete. A fellow contributor, Alex Baltazzi was able to give clues as to who these could be through the book of Greek researcher of Smyrna communities, Nikos Kararas, “Cordelio”, where there is a mention of a Nicolaidis that lived in Cordelio. In the introduction of the book (printed Athens, 1971) Kararas thanks the brothers Spiro and Stelio Nikolaides for their help - Baltazzi’s article based on this book: Furthermore, in the book it is mentioned that Stefos (Fifos) Nicolaides was a good athlete, as well as a Nicolaides was a soccer player in the American College of Smyrna. In addition Mr Baltazzi was able to source in a Greek book “Constantinople” that in Istanbul at the Island of Kınalı (Proti for the Greeks), one of the Prince’s Islands2 of the Marmara, there were 2 identical beautiful villas belonging to Nicolaides.
Mr Baltazzi was also able to confirm a distant link between our two families: ‘My great grandfather Demostene Baltazzi’s sister was Christina who married Karolos Omiros, and they had a son Photis, who as you said married Kleanthi Nicolaides. Demostene’s wife was Maria Sevastopoulo also related to the Omiros, typical of a system of marriages between Chiot families.’
I find a lot of writers are under the supposition that all the Phenariot Greek families came from Xios (Chios). Most went to Chios after the fall of Byzantium but had been around for centuries. Many also went back to Rome from where the Greeks originally ruled their Empire. Byzantium was built to be the new capital ‘Neo Roma’ (New Rome) from which to run the Byzantine Empire. Constantinople replaced Rome. So a lot of the families of Rome are actually of Greek descent and vice verse. The Levant was their playground. When conditions became intolerable in one part, say with the 1821 Greek uprising, 1822 terror in Chios, or 1922 Smyrna evacuation, families would migrate to safer zones, such as Odessa3 in Russia, Marseilles, London, India and this would fragment families leading to ever harder tracing of lineages. However this Greek tradition as a sea-people goes back centuries, and with the custom of placing sons in various ports for managing maritime business interests etc. there was a bolt hole somewhat ready at all times.
For information to assist the genealogical investigation of the author of this page, please contact:
submission date 2006-7
Grandmother was English raised in India and Grandfather an Ottoman Greek and they lived in an area of Smyrna likely on the Çesme Peninsula sounding like “Cucklya” (?) [according to the fellow contributor Alex Baltazzi, a former settlement called Koukloudja between Boudjah and Smyrna]. There is a family reference to Nikolaiidi Archontiki (meaning villa or mansion) that is on Patmos Island. I haven’t been to Patnos Island the reason being that the oldest part of the island which is the Agean Chora is not open to visitors except those who are allowed to visit by special permission from the Greek ministry of Culture. Unfortunately Nikolaidi Archontiki is on this site together with other villas/mansions “of a unique Byzantine style”. Early settlers were Cretans, but the later merchants houses were built by refugees after the fall of Constantinople. There are records but these are ear-marked for restoration and not available for viewing. I am trying to get information on this grandfather of mine, but no one seems to have heard of him, but have worked out he is from the prominent Chios Greek Mavrogordato/ Rodocanachi line. Grandparents Michael Panioty and Nancy Nicolaidi had 3 children: Xenia, Stefanie and Willoughby with an ‘extra’ unknown fourth possibly from a previous marriage by either one or both. Grandfather was a merchant in his earlier years working for the Ralli Bros in India in the late 1800s. Later he had businesses in Smyrna, London and Constantinople and later partners included Paterson, Lucas [Loukas], Keun, Savelys and Lavino family members working from 155 Fenchurch St, London and latterly 48 Fenchurch st., London from 1918-20.
Another business connection in the UK and Smyrna was with Eric A. Paterson, brother to Stanley Paterson which dissolved in 1912, on-line details here: - Eric A. Paterson then joining with McVittie [The father of the later eminent scientist, George McVittie, Francis McVittie, as detailed in the autobiography of the space scientist viewable here] and in turn this partnership is also dissolved on Oct. 1924, as revealed in the on-line archives of the London Gazette here:
Grandmother Nancy played piano at the Paterson villa in Smyrna. Grandfather stayed at the Paterson Villa in Salonika some time 1918-20. Apparently grandfather and Eric Paterson were both major shareholders in one of the Turkish railways which went under with the collapse of the Bank of Smyrna and Ottoman banks in 1912. From records this may have been the Metropolitan Railway of Constantinople, Pera to Galata line [the Tünel - meaning tunnel] the chairman of which was the Frenchman Emile D’Erlanger. John Paterson was mentioned as being the receiver for the company. Apparently Grandparents had a summerhouse [chalet or summer residence] high in the hills overlooking the harbour which was cooler in the summer months, which implies they may have had another residence in or near Smyrna. Apparently, 2 of Stanley Paterson’s children Monica and Gerald Paterson used to stay with the Nicolaidi family while they were at school in England 1919-22 and stay in the summer to learn English as they only spoke French, being looked after by my mother and aunt’s nanny. This continued after Grandparents died in 1920 although only Gerald P. visited more for company for my uncle [group shot,].
One thing I do know is that Stanley Paterson was married to [Mary Keun], the cousin of Princess Borghese (Valerie Keun - range of letter covers). The father to one of these (?), Alfred A. Keun and I think his brother[s] Gordon Benjamin Edward and Hayder Richard Keun all seem to be connected to Grandfather certainly through business and I know they are related somehow and also with the Lavino’s. [period photo of one of the Prince Bogheses]. However our Prince [Don Livio] Borghese whose father-in-law is Albert Augustus Keun had this to say about A.A. Keun [its all in French]:
“.. born in Smyrna on the 4th April 1854. He was Consul General to Roumania in Smyrna from 1890-1924. He possessed in Smyrna a beautiful villa along the Promenade de Quais named the ‘Villa of Cedres’ and also a ‘belle maison’ at Boudja, near to Smyrna. He was passionate about numismatics [coins] and a large collection which he donated to the museum of Athens. He married Virginia Almira on the 21st April 1879 at Boudjah daughter of George Almira [1819- 1889] and of Marietta de Negroponte. She was born at Mitylene on the Island of Lesbos on the 2nd March 1857 and died at San Gregorio di Catania, Sicily on the 14th April 1951”.
Although A.A. Keun was a diplomat he had a company in London ‘Keun-Savelys’ which ceased in 1922. Also involved his son George B. Keun. Doubtless they were merchants as they are listed as such having ‘offices in London and Smyrna’ from their 155 Fenchurch St., London address. The company moved to 48 Fenchurch St. after 1922 and the name was dropped to Lavino’s, London and was run by the Savely’s son in law Robert Gisburn being the executor and trustee of my late grandparents’ estate after they died.
The Keuns and some of the Lavinos moved to Belgium after 1920 following the Greco-Turkish war of 1919-22. The Savelys located to Athens then France. The Savelys also spelt Savelli/Saveli were known as the uncle and aunt of Grandfather. They were part of the Athens ‘set’ who moved there post Smyrna. They lived in Faliron and Grandmother visited them on her last journey to Smyrna in 1920. While she was there she also referred to the Carrides [Caridia] family who are related to the Rees’s down the Cumberbatch line. Similarly, the Chrussachi bros [shippers] my mothers god parents were business associates with the Rees’s both referenced in ‘Merchant Adventurers in the Levant’ by Tom Rees. My uncle Willoughby went to Tunbridge School and was a close friend of Chris Carridia.
My uncle, Willoughby, but known as ‘Nick’ left for New Zealand when he was 19 and only returned once in the 1960s [when I was a lad]. He looked up Gerald P. in London who related tales of the Patersons and Nicolaidis “riding shotgun while guarding opium supplies from bandits, on the orders of Lloyd George ...... and apparently on the Orient Express”!
In 1914 Grandpa was interned presumably under the Aliens’ Act and technically Smyrna was part of Turkey. It is likely he was a Levantine of Italian descent but that would have been also bad news in 1914. Apparently a deal was struck if he deciphered Greek broadcasts from British agents in Athens as the Navy only had one Greek speaking officer who I think was a member of the Argenti family who was based in the Aegean. On this basis he was released and allowed to keep his Italian nationality and have diplomatic immunity to stay in the UK. I know after WWI he was given a sole concessionaires licence to trade in opium for the National Insurance commission (part of government’s civil service, department responsible for supply, accepting contracts on a competitive tendering basis).
Other family connections were the Oliviers, Lavino, Paterson, Rees [one later taught at the Tonbridge School which had a few connections] Sechiari, Carridia [Carridi], Athenogenis, Chryssithi [Chryssovelonis] and Savelys [Salvaghli]. Savelys could be the old Chiot name of Saveghly or Savvali or Savvaidis. One name referenced by grandmother while she was in Athens was Agnese Savelys whose husband Constantine Demitrius, Alfred A. Keun [father to Valerie Keun], Octavius A. Lavino [who married Adele Olivier] and Alfred A. Lavino were all in partnership as well as being related to grandparents. The Savelys daughter, Merci or Merca Savelys married Robert Gisburne a London accountant, and he with Alfred A. Lavino were executors to my grandparents after their death. I know that Agnese and Demetrius were grandfather’s aunt and uncle, and Mercia cousin from my mother.
In addition the Scottish Macrae, Mackay families are all connected with a Ralli thrown in for good measure. The Mackay family have strong Dutch connections and as shown on the chart below, are linked to Van Ophemert, Fagul and possibly Vogul. The Macrae family in Edinburgh were one of the few families to keep in touch with mother, and she thinks it was Isobel who married John Ralli in Edinburgh. I checked this out and it actually was Isobel Macray John Ralli married.
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I have attached what may be considered a sort of “tree” but actually GrandPa is a complete mystery as I have not found his name mentioned anywhere. All I have is a detailed snapshot of the last 2 years of when Grandparents were alive from 1917-20. I have still many loose ends. It seems highly probable that we are from the Panioty line (also spelt Panniuti, Pannuti, Paniayotis) from Alexios Argyree Panaghiotis, the first recognized head of the Greek community in Bengal back in the 18th century, as grandfather had Panioty as his middle name. The Panioty family in India were mostly diplomats and merchants and grandfather worked for the Ralli bros [group photo]. in India and possibly in London when they moved there in 1910. In the 1860s Greeks had no surnames but used patronyms either from their father, grandfather or uncle but in the last 40 years of their stay in India they gradually adopted surnames. A lot of the younger Greeks who moved away from India changed their names completely or used an anglicised version of their names. Good examples are the Greek names George, Lucas, Nicolas, Nicoll, Nicholas etc. Greeks also have the annoying habit of reversing their names as was common in this country, and generally used their roots to describe where they were from as opposed to nationality. Also to add to the confusion, many of these names I got from family letters, which were subject to censorship during and shortly after WWI. I know my grandparents ‘disguised’ the names of the people they wrote about. Some letters sent from Smyrna and Constantinople, and do have the censor stamp on them. Many of the original names have changed. The common link is India where they all worked either for the Rallis or family firms. As a family joke we have always said the Nicolaidis were one of the universe’s greatest unsolved mysteries. The “key” from the Chiot descendants is the Keun family, and I do know they had connections in Belgium and France.
I do know the Keun family were opium merchants and major shareholders in the Dutch East India Co. which controlled the opium industry in the Levant, in a similar way as did the Ralli and Rodocanachi family did in India and the Baltic respectively. The Keun family are very important in this story, they are the core family that kicked it all off when Bernard Keun left Holland for Smyrna in 1739, and later generations mixed with so many other lines.
Going even further back in time surprising Levantine connections can be made through genealogical research. The Omiros family were Royal Phanariots and Dragomen at the Smyrna Consulate 1623-58. The dragoman was Pavlos Omiros b.1595 and was the dragoman of the English consulate in Smyrna 1623-58. His grandson was also dragoman of the same but no name and dates as per Libra D’Oro. The Omiros were from Chios, and also referred to as Homere. The only surviving royal family from this line now are the Grimaldi’s of Monaco from the line of Elvera Paste de Rochefort in France. It’s a throw back to the days when the Greeks maritime states that ruled from Southern France to Southern Russia. The Baltazzi’s (also spelt Baltatzi1) were part of this Royal House connected to the Hapsburgs of Austria or the old Austro-Hungarian Empire, later Prussia.
Another family name featuring in my mother’s recollections is the Crussachi who owned one of the 3 liquorice factories in Baku, Caucasus now Azerbaijan but were from Smyrna with shipping activities in the Danube mostly coal, paper and ore. This all ties in with the Lavino family of Smyrna (who are a bit secretive of their past) now living in the USA. The licorice factory visited by [possibly William, father of David?] Forbes around the turn of the century in the Georgia region may well be one belonging to the Greek Crussachi family, who knows? I have a document written by a Chrussachi member in 1919 in French which I will in due course get translated.
My mother’s recollections also seems to point to a possible link with the Constantinople Hansons with Charles Hanson, Lord Mayor of London in 1917 who may be related to the late Charles Werry of Tunbridge Wells, also a Levant family descendant. Mother recalls that her father, Michael Nicolaidi, attended the Lord Mayor of London’s Ball on at least one occasion which would have to have been in 1917/18 when Charles Hanson was Lord Mayor of London. Later when she was older she knew Hansons at the Tunbridge Wells Tennis Club. Like many of the names she recalls, such as the Patersons, she had little idea who were relations, family friends, business acquaintances etc. on her Grandfather’s side. So at present neither she or I know if they are related.
The Keyser family were also a prominent well established name in Smyrna and my Mother, Stephanie Nicolaidi, recalls “The Keysers used to come down from London to visit us in Tunbridge Wells. They were friends of my mother’s and although we never met the parents two of the children, Elsie and Lulu, used to come downstairs to visit. We were never allowed to go upstairs when my parents were entertaining except for such occasions as birthdays or Christmas. Downstairs at the ‘Acropolis’ (name given to Grandparent’s house) we had our own schoolroom and were looked after by a nanny. On one occasion we decided to draw when Elsie and Lulu came to visit really to keep Lulu amused. Lulu was very strange and had a cold, expressionless face and she frightened me. She could not communicate very well but she had an exceptional talent of being able to draw and paint exceptionally well any thing she copied. She copied a picture of ‘Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemini’ perfectly which we framed and kept for many years ...” [note: Lulu would these days be regarded as being autistic].
The aunt of Elsie and Lulu, Agnes Keyser teamed up with “Daisy” Maynard and Grandmother who joined the suffrage ‘suffragists’ movement. Another ‘unknown’ in the family Frederick Drummond Niblett who was a caricaturist for Vanity Fair and Punch did a set of watercolours for an exhibition ‘Celebration of Edward VII’ which raised funds for the King Edward VII Hospital for Officers and Gentlemen, commonly called Sister Agnes Hospital, although she never nursed. Daisy funded a school at Little Easton [home of the Maynard family] and one of her teachers, a Belgian Minister Victor Gregoire apparently used to visit and give summer school to mother, her brother and sister. I think Daisy is the person reflected in “Daisy, Daisy give me your answer, do ...” as supposedly mimicking Edward VII’s proposal to her.
The Abbotts were an important Levant family of the past and I know of the mining connections with Harry Paterson and I believe they had offices in London as well connected with carborundum and brick making at the same address of my Grandfather’s Office at 48 Fenchurch St, London. I will check this out but there was something I heard about a connection with the IRA (Irish republican terrorist organisation) at the time most likely because Richard Abbott’s company had the unfortunate name of Red Hand productions, or similar - the Red Hand being the symbol used by both sides of the divide. It is also the name of a brick to those in the know. This would have been around 1920 - 24. There was also a musical connection, maybe piano concerts? N.B. Harry Paterson lived on Mitylene (Athens by 1918) and was an exporter of magnesite [magnesium ore, possibly derived from the ‘The Anglo-Greek magnesite company’ mentioned in Cynthia Hill’s recollections] which is used in brick making for furnaces. I found a letter in the archives of the PRO library in London, penned by Harry Paterson during the WW1 years, to the war ministry complaining bitterly at the loss because of trade because of the ‘Trading with the enemy act’ and that this was not ‘a time for those with elastic consciences ...’, I wonder what he meant? Harry Paterson’s letter to the Board of Trade Aug 1915 (PRO archives):
“From the very outset [of the war] when laws against trading with the enemy were enforced against Turkey [by England] a golden opportunity to carry on business arose for those with elastic consciences. A great number of Smyrna merchants accordingly emigrated to Greece and a large quantity of Turkish opium was shipped to Salonika and sultanas to Piraeus and Patras ... this produce was declared to be of Greek origin ...”
Also Smyrna harbour had been blockaded from 1915-18 by the Turks by 3 ships: the British SS Billeter, SS City of Xios and French SS Billiter which had been scuttled at the harbour entrance making it impassable.
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A simple tree which is pretty accurate about our lineage in Smyrna. Note the families marked in red are Jewish and those in blue Greek Orthodox
but this was the way it worked for centuries, families following each other in diplomatic and
trading activities all over Europe especially Thrace, Asia Minor and to a lesser extent India. The last connection I have to find is the Keun/Savelys connection to us which will draw the lines
closer.
In addition to my mother’s recollections, the discovery of a hat box which contained letters and photos which were passed onto my aunt Xenia when the nanny Emily Howard died, and then onto my cousin when Xenia died was the real ‘jewel in the crown’.
Grandfather was definitely a Catholic as I have grandfather’s baptism medal [hover to view] which says in Latin “St Polycarp of Smyrna - Protect our people and our land” with a picture of Saint Polycarp on one side and the Immaculate Conception on the other.
There are several conflicting versions of family tale concerning the background of grandfather, as I heard a different version from my mother, her sister and brother. My mother’s version is that her father was an orphan raised by his two Romanian step aunts in Smyrna, and that he had 2 brothers in the diplomatic service who both died young. The other versions are that grandpa’s father was a banker in Athens, and that he had a big estate with olive and vine groves somewhere in Athens. What I do know is that he had strong connections with the Lavino bros company, who were Dutch diplomats in Smyrna, as well as the Patersons and the Oliviers who all married into the Keun family. Greeks rarely had business connections outside family. He spoke four languages fluently, French as his main, English, Greek and Turkish.
There is also some confusion on the background of grandmother, who was born to English parents as Nancy Willoughby Crisp in Bombay and married Michael Panioty Nicolaidi. Her father was the chief accountant and auditor at the public works department in Bombay and was William Crisp, son of Sir Nicholas Crisp. Her mother, Emma Willoughby was the failed union of the Indian and British Raj’s - a last ditch attempt to save the Hon East India Company affectionately known as ‘John Company’ of which the family had been major shareholders for generations.
In the war years of 1915-18 grandfather was in Salonika for some reason, presumably working for the British Government though in which capacity im not too sure but likely as an interpreter. His letters at the PRO library (under ministry of supplies archives), Kew in London, show he was also trying to move supplies back to England and asked for the help of the Royal Navy due to German and Turkish activity in the Aegean. He was trying to export dried fruit back to England and his letters showed this was difficult by ship due to enemy action in the Aegean and the Mediterranean so he was trying to work a sea route from Mytelene, Salonika and Vourlos then to Patras and there pick up a Royal Naval escort back to England. In a letter to Balfour, First Lord of the Admiralty, August, 1915: GrandPa wrote “asking a safe passage from Vourla [a port on the Greek mainland] via a Grecian port such as Chios or Mitilini for his consignment of sultanas without let or hindrance from the Allied fleets ...”. Grandfather wanted naval protection from the Allies (which included Greece) as well as the Germans. Grandfather wasn’t trading with the enemy as he was acting on instructions from the UK government, likely a deal for the release of his internment in the UK. On the way he had to pick up a first consignment of opium for the British Government which was waiting with grandfather’s agent, Manganiotti, in Salonika. From the PRO archives: Feb 1916 letter from Wellesley at the Foreign Office to UK Consul Elliott in Athens:
advising that the Board of Trade had issued a licence to the National Health Insurance Commission for the importation of 500 cases of Turkish opium from Greece. “This matter is being arranged through the London firm of M.P. Nicolaidi and Sons whose agent Angelino Manganiotti now awaits in Salonika with 26 cases. Please instruct other consulates and Salonika to issue permits for Turkish opium shipped on the above mentioned licence...”
It seems the National Health Insurance Commission [possible source] was also anxious to obtain another ‘strategic material’ as in the PRO files is a telegram July 1917 F.O to Nicolaidi and sons requesting Greek magnesite from Salonika. Some of the documents in the archives were in poor shape, some destroyed/missing, and others only referenced to such as the telegram about magnesite. Many other documents were unreadable.
One thing Eric Patterson did say when my uncle saw him in the 1960’s was that he and grandfather planned to bring the opium overland by railway. He mentioned the ‘Orient Express’ but this was not running in WW1 then he went into detail how they had to provide armed escorts to prevent bandits from stealing the opium. Most likely this story was over fabricated, but the opium runs were ‘on the orders of Lloyd George...’. Grandfather was given a licence to import opium to England and to buy up as much as he could to prevent it going to America. Britain was a nation of opium addicts and Britain itself was a drug baron. Britain was going bankrupt because of the war and the loss of opium tax which provided a third of the Empire’s income to the treasury and David Lloyd George was desperate to raise revenue for the treasury. High demand and lack of supply pushes up prices especially on the black market, but Britain was forced to stop opium trading in 1920 by the Balfour Convention - [figures of exports from Turkey 1915-16 show the prominence of opium in terms of value].
In 1919 Grandpa went back to Smyrna and Constantinople to rescue his business ‘lost to the Germans and the Turkish’. He became ill and came back to the UK (Tunbridge Wells) and died shortly after. In 1920 Grandma also made the same trip and became ill and died a day after she returned back in the UK from Smyrna.
I have a photo in my possession, Nicholas Andreas Nicholaidi, one of the managers of Ralli Bros in India at the time, however his family relationship is still a bit of a mystery. He is likely to have been an uncle or maybe even the father of grandfather Michael. He was born in Athens, 1844 so was around 20 years older than Michael. Nicholas was brother to John Andreas Nicolaidi who married Georgina Paterson around 1860 in Patras, Greece. Nicholas, John, and the other brother Constantine were the ‘Nicolaidi Bros’, shippers of Smyrna, Constantinople and the Black Sea and carried cargoes from there to Marseilles, France. The business folded in 1872. Nicholas then became a cargo superintendent, then worked for the Ralli bros in India, the other brothers remaining in the UK becoming interpreters. I did hear that the Nicolaidi bros re-built the quay at Smyrna in 1860. The photo of Nicolas Andreas Nicolaidi has a stunning resemblance to some modern day family members.
John Nicolaidi and Georgina Paterson had a son Jean Nicolaidi who was awarded the Legionne D’Honneur - they lived in France. Another [possible] son, Louis John Nicolaidi married Maria Maximo in 1892 in Athens/Patras, Greece. Georgina Paterson may have died young as John Nicolaidi re-married Margaret Bannister in Hull, UK in 1872.
The nanny who raised the children, Emily Howard did a monumental job. She had previously worked for the Rothchild and Imhof families in London and had made many trips to Smyrna on escort duties as Grandmother came back to the UK to have all her children. On one occasion she brought an English nurse Wilhelmina Williams from Smyrna to assist one birth. She raised the children as if her own then she was in turn looked after in her old age by my mother and her sister.
The information we got from letters that were found after my aunt died and a hastily compiled compendium of photos which gave little if nothing away. Records at St. Sophia’s Orthodox church in London, built by Chiot Greeks, also gave some good detail.
There is still much to uncover. I have not been able to trace my Grandfather’s origins so I don’t know where/when he was born, who his parents were, brothers/sisters so my story is by no means complete. A fellow contributor, Alex Baltazzi was able to give clues as to who these could be through the book of Greek researcher of Smyrna communities, Nikos Kararas, “Cordelio”, where there is a mention of a Nicolaidis that lived in Cordelio. In the introduction of the book (printed Athens, 1971) Kararas thanks the brothers Spiro and Stelio Nikolaides for their help - Baltazzi’s article based on this book: Furthermore, in the book it is mentioned that Stefos (Fifos) Nicolaides was a good athlete, as well as a Nicolaides was a soccer player in the American College of Smyrna. In addition Mr Baltazzi was able to source in a Greek book “Constantinople” that in Istanbul at the Island of Kınalı (Proti for the Greeks), one of the Prince’s Islands2 of the Marmara, there were 2 identical beautiful villas belonging to Nicolaides.
Mr Baltazzi was also able to confirm a distant link between our two families: ‘My great grandfather Demostene Baltazzi’s sister was Christina who married Karolos Omiros, and they had a son Photis, who as you said married Kleanthi Nicolaides. Demostene’s wife was Maria Sevastopoulo also related to the Omiros, typical of a system of marriages between Chiot families.’
I find a lot of writers are under the supposition that all the Phenariot Greek families came from Xios (Chios). Most went to Chios after the fall of Byzantium but had been around for centuries. Many also went back to Rome from where the Greeks originally ruled their Empire. Byzantium was built to be the new capital ‘Neo Roma’ (New Rome) from which to run the Byzantine Empire. Constantinople replaced Rome. So a lot of the families of Rome are actually of Greek descent and vice verse. The Levant was their playground. When conditions became intolerable in one part, say with the 1821 Greek uprising, 1822 terror in Chios, or 1922 Smyrna evacuation, families would migrate to safer zones, such as Odessa3 in Russia, Marseilles, London, India and this would fragment families leading to ever harder tracing of lineages. However this Greek tradition as a sea-people goes back centuries, and with the custom of placing sons in various ports for managing maritime business interests etc. there was a bolt hole somewhat ready at all times.
For information to assist the genealogical investigation of the author of this page, please contact:
Waveneyman[at]aol.com
Notes: 1- The surname spellings are different as the names are translated from Greek to other languages but they are the same as the genealogy checks out. This is one of the biggest bug bears as the names have to be translated from Greek, Russian, French and get changed in the phonetic translation. A good example is the name John which is Iaonnou or Yannis in Greek, Jean in French, and so on. Baltazzi has variations of Balthazi, Baltatzi etc. but there are the same. Nicolaidi has the same variants such as Nikolaiidi, Nic[k]olaevi in Russian, Nicolaide in French and Romania. In the Greek language there is no ‘c’ or ‘ch’ but are represented as ‘k’ or ‘X’ eg. Chios is Xios.
2- The island in question maybe Antigoni [Burgaz], as seen from these postcards, though as far no definite proof that Jean Nicolaides is related to our family. The Smyrna based Nicolaides may also be unrelated, to be investigated.
3- Of the wealthy merchants from Odessa who originally were from Chios, one of their number, Demitrius Nicoladi[s] was one of the first Greek traders of Odessa who was ranked the 14th richest merchant of the area in 1834. These merchants also built a school in Smyrna and printed all the textbooks - actually the school was proposed by Panayotis Nicolaidi[s] but I don’t know if this went ahead but it is likely as I have info that the Ralli Bros et al did actually build a school which grandfather went to, the name of which eludes me at the moment.
4- In the April of 2012 my cousin Mike Nicolaidi published his book which is the culmination of 11 years of research into our Levantine past in Smyrna, India, UK and Russia and doubtless there are many familiar names which may be of interest to readers of ‘Levantine Heritage’ - book cover - publisher’s web site: - press release
Notes: 1- The surname spellings are different as the names are translated from Greek to other languages but they are the same as the genealogy checks out. This is one of the biggest bug bears as the names have to be translated from Greek, Russian, French and get changed in the phonetic translation. A good example is the name John which is Iaonnou or Yannis in Greek, Jean in French, and so on. Baltazzi has variations of Balthazi, Baltatzi etc. but there are the same. Nicolaidi has the same variants such as Nikolaiidi, Nic[k]olaevi in Russian, Nicolaide in French and Romania. In the Greek language there is no ‘c’ or ‘ch’ but are represented as ‘k’ or ‘X’ eg. Chios is Xios.
2- The island in question maybe Antigoni [Burgaz], as seen from these postcards, though as far no definite proof that Jean Nicolaides is related to our family. The Smyrna based Nicolaides may also be unrelated, to be investigated.
3- Of the wealthy merchants from Odessa who originally were from Chios, one of their number, Demitrius Nicoladi[s] was one of the first Greek traders of Odessa who was ranked the 14th richest merchant of the area in 1834. These merchants also built a school in Smyrna and printed all the textbooks - actually the school was proposed by Panayotis Nicolaidi[s] but I don’t know if this went ahead but it is likely as I have info that the Ralli Bros et al did actually build a school which grandfather went to, the name of which eludes me at the moment.
4- In the April of 2012 my cousin Mike Nicolaidi published his book which is the culmination of 11 years of research into our Levantine past in Smyrna, India, UK and Russia and doubtless there are many familiar names which may be of interest to readers of ‘Levantine Heritage’ - book cover - publisher’s web site: - press release
submission date 2006-7