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Leonard Kars Zorab

Leonard's wife, Sarah, nee Moses, as a child

Lt.-Col. Dr Johannes Manuk Zorab, Leonard Kars' father, 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 the following 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: Leonard Kars Zorab, probably named after James Ernest Napoleon Zohrab, who was decorated by the Turkish Sultan for his contribution to the Battle of Kars; Major Dr. Arthur Batoum Zorab, probably named after Lady Adela Holmes (nee Zohrab) and/or her husband, Sir William Holmes, who had once served as British Consul in Batoum.  Possibly, Mary Sandison (nee Zohrab) had died by the time Leonard Kars was born in 1878, and her husband had died in 1869, so the sons were named after surviving members of that branch of the family, in gratitude for their help.

Another possible example of "gratitude-naming" in the Zohrab family is the naming of Peter Thomas Henry Gordon Zohrab after the benefactor of Dr. Paul Zohrab.

Leonard was a crack shot.  He was able to shoot snipe always on the left wing because he chose to. He had the ability to stay underwater for two minutes.  In those days it was a feat!  He won a Mr. Hercules or Mr. Atlas competition, being immensely strong, and had a remarkably well muscled body.

He strangled a leopard with his bare hands.  One of the beaters at a shoot was attacked, and, not being able to get a clear shot, Leonard whacked it over the head to get it off the "beater".  The leopard turned on him, paws on his shoulders, so he strangled it.  One of the leopard's claws got hooked under his shoulder blade, and he had potassium permanganate dripping on it for weeks to keep it from getting infected before they could get him to a hospital to have it removed.  Relatives were shown his Jacket, shredded on the back by the claws of the animal.

Leonard Kars Zorab is mentioned in Anne Basil's book, as follows (pp. 79-80):

L.K. Zorab, the eldest of the five sons of Lt.-Col. Dr Johannes Manuk Zorab, was the manager of an indigo plantation in the Central Provinces (Madhya Pradesh) for several years and an expert in jute assessment.

Zorab was deeply interested in animal and plant life and acquired a considerable store of knowledge through study and observation. He had a way with animals and could train them with ease. He trained jackals who sat round his table on chairs and a python which he had reared used to hang in massed coils from his bed-rail. He also owned an otter which he had tamed.

During his big-game hunting days he bagged many leopards, tigers and rogue elephants, and skins of the Himalayan monkey and large bear were used as carpets and rugs in the halls of his Calcutta home. On one occasion when he had wounded a leopard, the Indian shikari (a hunter in India) thinking the animal was dead, ran forward and was badly mauled. Zorab, who would not use his gun lest he kill the man, fought the leopard with his bare hands and strangled him.

As a gentleman of means he joined Lumsden's Horse and went to Africa to fight in the Boer War. During heavy fire he saved the life of a comrade and is credited with several other brave deeds. Zorab died in Calcutta some years ago and is survived by two sons and two daughters. His elder son, Arthur, is a director of a trading company in Africa and his younger son, Walter, a doctor in England. His elder daughter, Molly, who is a B.A., B.T., of the Calcutta University and a keen botanist, taught in various schools in India. Her husband, Sam Peters ... was transferred to his firm's U.K. office, and the family settled in England in 1965.

Leonard Zorab with a friend, "George", on a hunting trip in 1946

Mr. Zebedee, a shooting buddy, and Leonard Zorab at Sodepore, 1947.

Leonard and Sarah's children (left to right): (back) Walter John, Arthur John; (front) Phyllis (Polly), who never married, and Molly.

Their elder daughter, Molly who is a B.A., B.T. of the Calcutta University and a keen botanist, taught in various schools in India. Her husband, Sam Peters, who was the manager of the Colour Advisory Service of Jenson & Nicholson, Calcutta, was transferred to his firm’s UK office, and the family settled in England in 1965.

Arthur John Zorab

Molly & Samuel Peters at Firpo's, in Calcutta.

Leonard Zorab's sister- in - law, Alexina Moses, married Bertram ("Bertie") Malcolm Vardon Gasper, the younger son of Agacy Gasper.

Apart from England, Leonard's descendants seem to have settled in Africa, Canada and Australia.

Annabelle Stokes, daughter of Molly and Samuel Peters