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Descendants
of Zohrab of the Manuchariants
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James Ernest Napoleon Zohrab in 1863, from a photograph album which
probably belonged to him and his wife
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James Ernest Napoleon Zohrab in 1863, from a photograph album which
probably belonged to him and his wife
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James married Emily
Holmes (1830-1908) in 1858.
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Mrs Holmes and her Daughter Emily (later Emily Zohrab) in 1852
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Mrs. Emily Zohrab 1863
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Mrs. Emily Zohrab 1864 photographed in Odessa, Ukraine
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Mrs. Emily Zohrab 1863 (presumably with Percy or Reginald)
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James Ernest Napoleon Zohrab
(1830-1891) was a son of Peter Paul John Zohrab. James worked as
an interpreter for the British army at Kars during the Crimean War,
when Russian troops besieged and eventually evicted the British
and Turks from Kars. For his contribution to the defence of Kars,
James was awarded by the Turkish government the Fourth
Class of the Imperial Order of the Medjidie. He is depicted
in a painting "Maj Gen Williams and his Staff Leaving Kars 28 Nov
1855", by Thomas J. Barker, which hangs in the National Army Museum,
Chelsea, London.
James and his sons, Percy Fenwick Cuthbert Zohrab
(born 1859) and Reginald Ernest Zohrab (born 1861), were all at
some time British diplomats in Eastern Europe , the Caribbean, and/or
the Near/Middle East.
In late 1854 an interpreter, James Zohrab, was
sent to Kars to ease communication problems between British officers
and the Turkish community. Zohrab was a brother-in-law of James
Brant, the British Consul in Erzeroom and had been working at the
Consulate for some two years. Of Persian/Armenian origin, he was
a natural selection to fill the appointment of interpreter since
he spoke fluent Turkish and had been involved in the local scene
long enough to comprehend well the nuances of dealing with the indigenous
population.... Zohrab contracted typhus during the siege and, at
the surrender, was left in the hospital in Kars suitably protected
by the assurances of General Mouravieff. He recovered and later
became Vice-Consul in Bosnia where their first son was born - named
'Fenwick' after General Williams.
The source of this information, a Mr. Teesdale's diary, made
some positive remarks about James (page 90):
He ... turned out to be a most worthy fellow and behaved admirably
during the siege - particularly in the action of the 29th when he
showed great pluck and coolness.
According to Professors
Igor Lyman and Victoria Konstantinova, James Zohrab was also
British Consul at Berdyansk (now in the Ukraine) from 1864 to 1874.
He (like his sister, Matilda)
and his family eventually emigrated to Canada (Halifax, Nova Scotia).
Below are photographs of three of James' and Emily's
children:
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Percy Zohrab 1862
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Constance Zohrab 1862, photographed in Vienna
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Hester Temple Zohrab 1866 (with servant/nanny?)
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The 19th Century Zohrab family album.
In 2014, the brothers, Michael, Steven and Stuart Zohrab,
purchased a 19th century photograph album
from a vendor in England who had contacted their father, Peter Douglas
Zohrab, in New Zealand. The album had apparently previously been
owned by someone who was interested in Victorian women's clothing.
The album had clearly originally been owned by James and/or Emily Zohrab,
since, of the total of 48 photographs contained in it, one third (16)
featured James, Emily, their children, their siblings or their nephews
or nieces. Of these 16, nine (about one fifth of the total) featured
James, Emily, or their children. Perhaps the album was lost, given
away or thrown away when the family emigrated to Canada, because they
would have had to choose which possessions to take with them.
Family Names
Lt.-Col. Dr Johannes Manuk
Zorab,
at some stage, became Superintendant at Brussa Medical School.
The only known "Brussa" is in Turkey, and there is
no known documentation as to whether he ever even went to Turkey.
However, his distant relative, Lady
Fanny Blunt, mentions in Chapter One of her
book, "My Reminiscences," that her father, the
British Consul in Brussa, initiated a plan by the Turkish Sultan
in about 1840 to build a hospital in Brussa. Fanny's uncles
John Zohrab and Dr.
Paul Zohrab, as well as her cousin General
Sir Edward Zohrab Pasha, also had links to Brussa, so it
is quite possible that it was the family connection which got
Johannes a medical job in Turkey.
This is confirmed by a proposed solution to the mystery
of why he gave middle names to his two oldest children
which referred back to close relatives of Fanny Blunt:
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Possibly, Mary Sandison
(nee Zohrab) had died by the time Dr. Zorab's
eldest son was born in 1878, and her husband had
died in 1869, so he named his sons after surviving
members of that branch of the family, in gratitude
for their help.
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Webmaster |
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Latest Update |
12 October 2015
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