British Consul in Smyrna
Replies: 17
British Consuls in Smyrna (Izmir)
| @@grahamrussel@hotmail.com (View posts) | Posted: 8 Feb 2001 12:00PM GMT |
Classification: Query
Surnames: WERRY, MALTASS, REES, WILKEN
Hello Cyril - Are you related to this Consul BLUNT then? What years did he serve? I would like to know more.
I have researched this subject quite a bit as many of my ancestors were British people living in Smyrna (now officially called Izmir).
Another relation has built a comprehensive website about the families involved, which I suggest you visit: http://www.compapp.dcu.ie/~humphrys/FamTree/Maltass/
Some answers to some of your questions below:
"Q.1. Would the consulate staff have been included in the 1861 Census which was being taken in the UK ?"
A. No they weren't; only if they were actually in the UK at the time.
"Q.2. Would Charles BLUNT have been a local businessman or someone especially sent out from the UK ?"
A. Most likely to have been a local merchant (my ancestors who were in the consular service were merchants), but offically appointed by the UK government. The Public Record Office, Kew, London holds large amounts of consular correspondence in Series FO 626 [Foreign Office Consulate, Smyrna, Turkey (formerly Ottoman Empire): Consular Court Files - 29 boxes covering dates 1820-1929.]
"Q.3. Are there any records in Smyrna of British Births Marriages and Deaths which were recorded by the Consul ?"
A. There are no records in Smyrna now. The records are in London:
- Index to Consular births/marriages/deaths in Family Records Centre, Myddleton Street, London.
- BMD records of British Chaplaincy, Smyrna, are at the Guildhall Library.
- The IGI also lists quite a few of the British in Smyrna. (www.familysearch.org - Not Charles BLUNT, however; only record is of a Lydia Maria BLUNT who married an Edward HANSON there in 1822.)
"Q.4. Is there a cemetery in Smyrna where British nationals were buried ?"
Sorry, I don't know. Izmir has expanded so much in the past 80 years that I doubt if anything survives today...
Your other posting mentioned "chapel". I think it's a "chaplaincy" - a chaplain appointed to administer to the religious needs of the British community (BMD) - bit like a chaplain (padre) in the army.
I have researched this subject quite a bit as many of my ancestors were British people living in Smyrna (now officially called Izmir).
Another relation has built a comprehensive website about the families involved, which I suggest you visit: http://www.compapp.dcu.ie/~humphrys/FamTree/Maltass/
Some answers to some of your questions below:
"Q.1. Would the consulate staff have been included in the 1861 Census which was being taken in the UK ?"
A. No they weren't; only if they were actually in the UK at the time.
"Q.2. Would Charles BLUNT have been a local businessman or someone especially sent out from the UK ?"
A. Most likely to have been a local merchant (my ancestors who were in the consular service were merchants), but offically appointed by the UK government. The Public Record Office, Kew, London holds large amounts of consular correspondence in Series FO 626 [Foreign Office Consulate, Smyrna, Turkey (formerly Ottoman Empire): Consular Court Files - 29 boxes covering dates 1820-1929.]
"Q.3. Are there any records in Smyrna of British Births Marriages and Deaths which were recorded by the Consul ?"
A. There are no records in Smyrna now. The records are in London:
- Index to Consular births/marriages/deaths in Family Records Centre, Myddleton Street, London.
- BMD records of British Chaplaincy, Smyrna, are at the Guildhall Library.
- The IGI also lists quite a few of the British in Smyrna. (www.familysearch.org - Not Charles BLUNT, however; only record is of a Lydia Maria BLUNT who married an Edward HANSON there in 1822.)
"Q.4. Is there a cemetery in Smyrna where British nationals were buried ?"
Sorry, I don't know. Izmir has expanded so much in the past 80 years that I doubt if anything survives today...
Your other posting mentioned "chapel". I think it's a "chaplaincy" - a chaplain appointed to administer to the religious needs of the British community (BMD) - bit like a chaplain (padre) in the army.