Birth in Turkey or Yannina (Ioannina) Greece

[Glenda46]

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

[VickiB51]

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.

[VickiB51]

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.

[VickiB51]

Hi Glenda. Is Reginald's daughter who you refer to the same person as my sister, lives in Q'land, Aus ?

[Glenda46]

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.

[Sue72]

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.

[Glenda46]

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

[Malcolm33]

    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

[Malcolm33]

    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