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Research in Other Countries => Europe => Topic started by: Glenda46 on Wednesday 25 May 16 12:52 BST (UK)
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Trying to find a birth of Reginald A C WILLS who apparently died in Portugal in 1970 who was supposedly born as above. He was very prominent in Singapore during WW2. Married (1) COOK UK 1930 (1 daughter) (2) Maria LANSELL from Australia in Singapore 1942 (2) daughters. Was involved in the Strait Times Newspaper in Singapore for a lengthy period. Have an article on him with photo.Thanks in advance
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Find My Past Overseas Births free search-
REGINALD A C WILLS 1906-10 CONSTANTINOPLE TURKEY
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http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/singfreepressb19410214-1.2.66.aspx
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/8171851
His full name seems to have been Reginald Alexander Christian Wills. Marriage in 1941 gives him as the eldest son of the late Mr and Mrs P J M Wills of Jersey, Channel Islands and Constantinople!
His father might have been Percy John Martin Wills, also born Turkey, visiting with a
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKX2-CW2Y
He apparently married in 1902 in Constantinople:
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XLGQ-Z2S
A Percy J M Wills died in Surrey in 1938, which would fit with him being 'deceased' in 1941 (http://www.freebmd.org.uk/ ). His wife may be the Alexandra Wills who died in 1930 aged 49.
A possible brother to Reginald, Henry Percy Wills, appears on various emigration records as born in Turkey in 1912, parents Percy John and Alexandra.
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Glenda,
Just a brief historical note: Ioannina is, of course, in modern Greece. However, up until the Balkan Wars of 1913, it was in the Ottoman vilayet of Janina (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janina_Vilayet (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janina_Vilayet)).
Turkey was often used in UK census records when referring to the Ottoman Empire.
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Thank you for all this will check it out later in the day. My "history" of Yannina was gathered from Wikipedia as had never heard of it before. I will be in touch if I need some more help. Reginald married in UK in Sept Q 1930, daughter born Dec Q. Daughter suggested her mother was a "Russian" who fled the revolution however from records her name was Olive M COOK... He was a well known Newspaper Man. second marriage was in 1942 in Singapore.Thanks again. will check it all out. Glenda
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Thank you for all this appears to be all the information on the family. does the birth of Reginald 1906- 10 mean 10th month of 1906?? Just going to check on the "maybe" Brother. Thanks Glenda
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No. 1906-10 is the range of dates
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Do you have the 1930 marriage of Reginald and Olive? It's possible that she was married previously and she was not "Cook" originally.
Available online records suggest daughter Natasha (recently passed) was born in London 2 Dec 1930
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natasha_Parry
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/jul/26/natasha-parry
Her mother may have used the name "Luisa".
I believe her birth was registered not until September 1931, registered under two surnames, Natalie Wills OR Perry, mother's maiden name given as "Lavrova". Another girl is registered under Perry/Parry with the same mother's surname in the 1940s. I won't name her as she may be living.
www.digar.ee/arhiiv/et/download/186968
- this Estonian source confirms a "Lusia Lavrova" as the mother in law of Peter Brooks (husband of Natasha Parry).
Some certificates would seem to me to be necessary to sort this tangle out.
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Some records have the mother as "Elisaveta Lavrova" (at the time of her translating the play in the 1980s).
Found what I think is the marriage to Gordon Parry in 1950, at the time she was Lavroff or Perry.
I wonder if she was ever married to Reginald Wills - perhaps Olive M Cook was someone else entirely?
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You are wonderful. I will take this information to Reginald's daughter today when we meet and then hopefully get on line to try follow your trail tomorrow at the Family History rooms as don't have current FindMyPast sub.. Glenda
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Hi Glenda. May I ask what your interest in Reginald A C Wills is, or your connection? He was my father. He died in Portugal not in 1970 but approximately 6 months before my mother Marie Gwendolyn Wills, née Lansell, who died 26 May 1969, the day after my 18th birthday. I have a younger sister who lives in Australia and I live in New Zealand.
He was born in Constantinople. I believe his mother, who was Greek, was from Ioannina.
His first wife's name was Lucia, she was from Russia. They had a daughter, my half sister Natasha, who became an actress, taking her stepfather Gordon Parry's surname. She married the director Peter Brook in 1951. Lucia and Gordon Parry also had a daughter, Nina.
I may be able to provide further information as I have some old documents I could refer to.
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I am in touch with my sister. I think she knows all of this. If there is anything she doesn't know and needs info about, she should text me. If the answers are in the old documents I have, I will certainly let her know.
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Hi Glenda. Is Reginald's daughter who you refer to the same person as my sister, lives in Q'land, Aus ?
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Hi Vicki, Yes as I am a Genealogist and friend of Gina's she asked me to do a tree for her sons as they were wanting to know their fathers line and of course their mothers line has come into it too. I am a Kiwi and only moved over here (Oz) June last year, where do you live. I have heaps of information that you may not have too. So maybe we should swap. The information I am gathering is for the boys but Gina is also interested. Although have done research (all free) and discovered she already knew but hadn't told me. I understand there is a way to private message you so will find out how and send you my email address.
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I have been trying to find information on my father Henry (Tim) Percy Wills for many years. I stumbled across these posts re Reggie Wills who was my uncle.. I would love to get information from you Vicki, you are my cousin and we knew each other in childhood.
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Hi Sue, comminication with Vicki is what you see.
I have done a large tree for Gina's boys what were you wanting?
I think a lot of it is on here near the top, suggest you print it out, put it together and see what you are still wanting.
I have other notes you may be interested in.
Glenda
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The following pages have some of the most wonderful stories in their recollections of Levantine Families or people who spent just a few years there.
http://www.levantineheritage.com/recollections.html
There is even a lot about my first wife's family there with photos of her grand and great grandparents, even her father as a small boy and Lydia and her twin sister Nadia. Lydia and I were together more than 30 years so I had many trips to the family home in Izmir. She passed over just over two years ago.
One can get a tremendous feel for the life Levantine's (any west European who lived in Asia Minor) led and experienced, from these pages. So I recommend them for everyone. The main language for most was not Turkish, but French, then Greek and even Italian, with the local Turkish language coming in about 4th.
Lydia's family were very likely descendants of Benedetto Zaccaria who was commissioned by King Philip of France in 1302 to clear the Island of Chios of Pirates and after he had done that he was made Lord of Phocaea (Foggia today) by the Emperor in 'Stee Nepolis' (Greek sign all around Constantinople meaning "To The City"). In Turkish any European names that begin with 'S' plus another consonant have to have the letter 'I' placed in front, so Smyrna became Izmir, Stasyon or Station, became Istasyon, and 'Stee Nepolis' became 'Isteenepolis' then Istanbul.
The Zaccaria family - Zacharie when they turned to French - remained on Chios, but one son of Benedetto's was decapitated by the Turks in Izmir in 1345.
There were many British residents in Turkey and these too are regarded as being Levantines.
Please let me know if anyone would like to know more about Levantine families and life.
Malcolm
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Just got a bit of a surprise when looking once more at the Levantine Heritage pages. There are some pages listing names of people buried in Turkish cemeteries and there are so many recognisable British names among them. But one really stood out.
In the cemetery at Boudja (now Buca in Turkish - letter C in Turkish is letter J in English) which is right behind the city of Izmir there is a grave (and photo of it in the page) where lies a Robert Carlton Cumberbatch, 1855 to 1868.
Many TV and Movie fans will know the actor Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch, who is the son of the lovely TV star Wanda Ventham (Family at War and The Lotus Eaters which was set on a Greek Island).
So needing to know more I had a look at a bio for Wanda and this tells me that Benedict is the great grandson of diplomat Henry Arnold Cumberbatch CMG and grandson of Submarine Commander Henry Carlton Cumberbatch.
So Sherlock is a Levantine!! Might have known it.
Malcolm
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Hello Glenda
I'm new to the site and not found my way around yet. Thank you so much for replying to my post. I would really like to get in touch with Gina and Vicki. I have lost touch with my Fathers side of the family, in fact lost touch with my Father after his remarriage. My Father was very reticent about information from his childhood and I have many unanswered questions. I was told that both my Fathers brother, Reggie (Reginald) and his elder sister who I knew only by the name of Aunt Molly were well educated (Cheltenham for Molly and Eton for Reggie) but the money had run out by the time my Father was due to go to public school and he was sent to the local grammar school (I do not know where). I was also told that my Fathers parents died when Henry (Tim) was 14 yrs old, as the baby of the family he was brought up by his elder sister Molly. However, reading information from Vicki this is probably not the case as it seems the parents (my grandparents) died when my Father was much older than 14 yrs old. I would love to know more about my Fathers parents, where they lived. I presume they moved to live in England. I think he was a silk merchant, and also my grandmothers roots. Do hope you can help. I live in South Africa by the way!
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Just let me know if I have written back to you. I haven't been on here for ages and in January had open heart surgery so maybe I havent. How do I do a"private" message to you to give you Gina's email address and her son also who now lives in Switzerland. Glenda
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Glenda, Sue needs to write another post (minimum of 3) before she can send/receive personal messages.
Best regards,
Karen
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Hello Glenda. Thanks for getting back to me. Sorry to hear about your health issues. I also have not been on the site for a while. I would really appreciate contact details for Gina. Not sure if you can private message me yet. Look forward to hearing from you.
Sue
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ancestry.com has numerous records on him if you have access or can get access.
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Thank you Barryd. We don't require anymore information. Just trying to connect "family" to "family" but not sure how to give Sue the private information to contact her family via this forum. I do see there is a Private Message option will try and sort that out.Thanks
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Please let me know if anyone would like to know more about Levantine families and life.
Malcolm
Hi Malcom, I have recently discovered that I have Levantine roots too. Namely in 18th and 19th Century Constantinople and earlier on the island of Chios. Any tips on how to go about finding OPRs in Constantinople? I mean pre-the establishment of the modern Republic of Turkey in 1923. Online resources seem to be far and few between.
I have already seen http://www.levantineheritage.com/ and it is indeed a wonderful website for general history, photos and personal recollections. https://gw.geneanet.org/ also has an extensive and labyrinthine network of interconnecting family trees. The latter has been very useful to me.
But now I need official records of births, marriages & deaths for Constantinople in the 1800s. ???
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The Zaccaria family - Zacharie when they turned to French - remained on Chios, but one son of Benedetto's was decapitated by the Turks in Izmir in 1345."
@ Malcom again, this tree might be relevant to you:
https://gw.geneanet.org/marmara2?lang=en&pz=mathilde&nz=d+andria&p=lydia&n=zacharie
I was trying to find a common link with my tree but haven't got that far yet.