Menelaus (Zannis) Negroponte

Notes:

Menelaus Negroponte was the Constantinople merchant who created an eponymous scandal in Britain. M.J. Negroponte had corresponded with William Ewert Gladstone in 1877, when the latter was in opposition, in between stints as four-time prime minister. During what became known as "The Negroponte Affair" Gladstone was accused of fomenting Greeks living under Ottoman rule into sedition and the affair dragged on into a libel case against the press in which Gladstone testified. Except for his writing letters to Gladstone and to The Times of London (to explain, in fact to further complicate), Negroponte was not otherwise involved; but he had effectively created a political hellstorm, consciously or not. He, like Gladstone, was misrepresented and demonized in the press. Briefly covered in the French press: Le XIXe siècle (Paris), 2 Feb 1878, p. 1; Le Temps [Paris], 28 Aug 1877, p. 3; 26 Sep 1877; 29 Mar 1881, p. 3; Journal des débats politiques et littéraires, 26 Sep 1877;


Supporting Gladstone and treating Negroponte as an unfortunate victim, one newspaper opined: "As for M. Menelaus Negroponte, who has been rendered very miserable by the fuss which has been made about the letter, all who know him are amazed and amused that he should for the moment be regarded as a conspirator. He is a comfortable and rather 'crummy' corn merchant, of conservative tendencies, and with a correct taste in cereals." (Liverpool Mercury 6 Jun 1879).

Mr. Negroponte, a Constantinople merchant, was aboard the Rethymo when it sank on the Bosphorus (The Times [London], 31 Dec 1874). He was rescued and his £T 4,200 was retrieved.

30 Aug 1878: Menelaos I. Negroponte, 40, born Chios, married, merchant, swore allegiance to the Greek government at the town hall, Ermoupolis.

Likely appears in the Boudouris Family Archive: Merchantile Correspondence (1879-1882); F. 25.4 (1882); Letters [between Boudouris and] A.E.Mavrogordatos, D.Ch. Pestemalzoglu (Trieste), N.V.Kavour (Syros), M. Negrepontis, S. Evripides, D. and M. Lenos (Constantinople), Van der Zee (Smyrna) and others; Merchantile Correspondence (1883-1886); F. 26.1 (1883); Letters [between Boudouris and] D.Ch. Pestemalozoglu (Smyrna), A.E. Mavrogordatos, Men. Negrepontis, G. Flokos (Limni), N.V. Kavour, W.Sastour, I. Marikopoulos and others.

Name:
On the birth certificate of his son, his name appears as Mihelas Negropontes.

Menelaus married Eleni (Andreas) Vagliano on 16 Jan 1872 in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur,France. Eleni (daughter of Andreas (Athanasios) Vagliano and Euphrosyne (Iorgo) Melas) was born on 17 Apr 1854 in Constantinople/Istanbul, Turkey; died on 16 Mar 1927 in Athens, Attica, Greece. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Dr. of Law, Leipzig; prefet de Cephalonie 1904, depute de l'Attique 1910-1920, ministre des Finances 1916-1917, 1917-1920; president du comite d'assistance des refugies a Salonique, conseiller de la Banque de Grece (Sturza).

Occupation: politician and lawyer.

Grand Officer of the Order of The Saviour.

Helen (who in 1915 is already listed as widow) lived after her husband's death with her father at 12 Othonos St. Some time later they both seem to have moved to 4 Amalias St, St. Negroponte's domicile, which means that St. must have been a very close relative to theirs -- George Agelastos

Cycling, 1898: président, Véloce-Club Athénien, 6, rue Auchesne; Délégués à l'étranger: Athènes (Grèce), M. Negroponti, Miltiade, I, Licabete, Revue mensuelle, Touring-club de France, 15 Jan 1898, p. 35.

He was a witness at the Athens marriage of Lt. Lelay and Suzanne (Jacques) Bonnier, Le Gaulois, 10 Jun 1920, p. 2.

According to Nikos Karabelas in 2014, he appears in two photographs taken during the 1912/13 Balkan wars, inscribed in an album by Prince Nicholas; ?We have photos of a Mr. M. Negroponte, a rather late mid-ager, who is a sergeant volunteer automobile driver in Epirus.? (Christopher Long)

Name:
Miltiade Negropontes on the birth certificate.

Birth:
DOB from certificate. Sturza says 3 Apr 1873.

Miltiades married Maria (Otto) Lüders on 17 Apr 1895 in Athens, Attica, Greece. Maria (daughter of Otto Lüders and Catherine (Constantine) Dossios) was born on 16 Apr 1877 in Athens, Attica, Greece; died in 1962. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

She is on wikipedia and Greek-language wikipedia

Occupation: theatrical producer, actor, sceenwriter, theatre teacher and director

Kostas and Eleni Ourani Foundation (website in Greek)

The 1915 Athens directory lists a woman, El. Negroponte, a widow. This is the famous author who became known as Helen Ouranis after her husband's pen name, who was also an author and poet -- George Agelastos.

Helen (who in 1915 is already listed as widow) lived after her husband's death with her father at 12 Othonos St. Some time later they both seem to have moved to 4 Amalias St, St. Negroponte's domicile, which means that St. must have been a very close relative to theirs -- George Agelastos

Birth:
Wikipedia gives her birth place.

Family/Spouse: Constantine (Nicolas) Nyarchos. Constantine (son of Nicolas Nyarchos and Eleni Yaloussi) was born in 1890 in Nafplio, Peloponnese, Greece; died on 12 Jul 1953 in Athens, Attica, Greece; was buried in First Cemetery, Athens, Greece. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Helene married Polybios (Nicolas) Coryllos in aut 1918 in [Paris, Île-de-France, France]. Polybios (son of Nicolas Coryllos and Vasiliki Stampados) was born on 02 Nov 1879 in Patras, Peloponnese, Greece; died on 26 Jul 1938 in New York, New York USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]