Travel with Julia Ionides as she researches a new book; this time it is about the history of the Ionides family in Turkey, Greece and England. Interact and post comments and questions.
Julia Ionides memorial service |
from: Peter, 6 Jan 2016, 14:35 |
Dear Friend
Sadly just before Christmas 2015 Julia died after a fall at a university in Istanbul where we were attending a conference. She was cremated at Shrewsbury Crematorium on Christmas Eve and at her request only the close family were present. Now we wish to remember her life and work.
Julia was well known as the voluntary administrator for over twenty years of the Dog Rose Trust which researched and designed communication systems for blind people. She was also very well known as an architectural historian and author. Many people will have known her as the organiser of the Dog Rose Georgians through which many enthusiasts visited historic buildings. But she was universally known as a lovely, friendly person.
Caroline Morris, her daughter, and Peter Howell, her husband, invite you to a simple service to remember her life and work at the church of St Laurence in Ludlow. This will be at 2.00 o'clock in the afternoon on the 30th of January 2016.
We have tried very hard to reach everyone with this invitation but please tell others and make sure they know. Julia's e-mail address will shortly be closed down. However, I wish to keep Julia's extended family going and propose holding two 'study days' during this year. If these are supported then we can go on from there. If you are interested please send your details to Peter.
Yours sincerely
Peter G Howell RIBA |
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National Archives and Manchester |
from: Julia, 11 Oct 2015, 09:36 |
Since my last posting (shamefully too long ago) we have been to the National Archives to look at documents relating to the Bank of London; Alexander Constantine was a director, so many sources say, but in these documents he is listed as a subscriber and the directors' names are not given. One book was badly burnt as if it had been thrown in the fire and then retrieved.
We also looked again at the Board of Trade book for printed fabrics and were amazed at the long list of designs being submitted for registration at the same time as the Ionides.
Before that we had been to Manchester. We walked along Smedley Lane, Cheetham Hill and took photos of likely houses where the Ionides first lived and where Constantine Alexander was born. There were several possible ones but with no clues it is not easy to pick one out.
We also saw many old warehouses and the canals running by them; we were fortunate to have good weather with no rain - unusual for Manchester. We spent the rainy day at the Museum of Science and Industry which was most interesting. There we saw a demonstration of the machines used for spinning and weaving - very interesting.
A very satisfactory visit.
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 Castlefields, Manchester today.
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Update on Research |
from: Julia , 10 Aug 2015, 20:39 |
Since my last posting we have been busy as usual. Five days hard research in London produced interesting information, all of which needs following up.
We looked at examples of textiles from India and textiles sent to India and saw some similarities to the Ionides patterns. We also saw the same connections when we went to the William Morris Gallery; it seems most likely that Morris visited the Ionides house at an early date and saw their oriental textiles.
We went to the Museum of London Docklands which was very interesting and gave more food for thought. We walked from there through Wapping, looking at wharves and warehouses and having a pint at the Prospect of Whitby. Peter had not been there for 60 years and I had been there 50 years ago when it was a dangerous place and it felt daring to the go there! Did Luke Ionides introduce Jimmie Whistler to this area? Luke would have known it from his family business and Whistler produced the wonderful evocative series of Thames etchings.
Sunday morning we walk down Upper and Lower Thames Street in pouring rain which in itself produced some evocative photos. Both streets have changed beyond all recognition, with busy racing traffic, but then in the 19th century the horse-drawn carriages made their own traffic chaos. We dried off at Borough Market where we went to a Beer and Meat Food Festival which was fun.
Monday was another session at the London Metropolitan Archives and yet more references to follow up. We now have books extracts from books on maritime law, merchant banking, diaspora and Greek shipping. |
 The Prospect of Whitby, Wapping
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Message from Julia |
13 Jul 2015, 16:37 |
We went to look at Alexander Constantine's naturalisation papers in the Parliamentary Archives. They were impressively written on a parchment roll, but had some writing in French at the top. I asked the Archivist about this and she replied: The French writing to be found at the top of any original Act of Parliament will be the Royal Assent and other messages about the bill during its passage through Parliament. It is Norman French, the practice dating back to medieval times when French was the language of the ruling class, and still used for this purpose today.
You learn something all the time. |
 Alexander Constantine Ionides' naturalisation papers
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Printed Fabrics |
from: Julia , 11 Jul 2015, 20:11 |
In 1846 and 47 Alexander Constantine Ionides, from his address in Manchester, registered designs for printed fabrics with the Board of Trade. Fortunately for us these are still preserved in huge albums at the National Archives.
The photograph shows two of these designs having their picture taken; the albums were so heavy they had to be delivered on a book trolley and moving them was quite difficult. But it was very exciting to see these printed samples, with their bright colours, which may not have been looked at since they were put into the books over 165 years ago. |
 Printed designs at the National Archives
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Welcome |
from: Julia, 12 Jun 2015, 18:43 |
Welcome to this new Dog Rose Press blog!
Our aim in visiting Istanbul was to find out as much as possible about the early life of the Ionides in general and Constantine John Ipliksis, my great great great grandfather in particular. We wanted to know more about their textile trade, where they might have lived and worked and about the places in Constantinople Ipliksis donated money to.
We were fortunate in the tour guide that I contacted. I looked at a long list of tour guides and chose Dr Emine Erol. I struck lucky as not only did she research where we wanted to go and arrange meetings with people, but she and her family have become good friends.
We also discovered that we were both researching the same subject: the trade of textiles between England and Turkey in the 18th and 19th centuries. Ipliksis worked with Mr Donald Sandison, a trader in Constantinople of British nationality, according to Professor Goudas in his biography of Ipliksis, is being researched by both of us.
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 Ipliksis by G F Watts. Copyright the V&A.
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Carpets galore! |
from: Julia, 2 Jun 2015, 13:12 |
Carpets are an important part of Turkish culture and during our stay in Istanbul in March we visited many carpet sellers in the Grand Bazaar looking for examples of carpets from Kayseri where the first Ionides we know about came from; it's in central Anatolia. In their time it was known as Caeserea.
The carpet in the photograph came from Kayseri and was in the shop of Muzaffer Uzun near the column known as Cemberlitas.
We saw many more carpets and will post more pictures of them as well as the printed textile designs which the Greek Ionides registered in 1846 and 1847 from their office in Manchester.
It's a tale of 3 cities!
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 An Istanbul carpet seller
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Flying Carpet |
from: Julia, 1 Jun 2015, 18:59 |
| In the same carpet shop I said I wished I had a flying carpet and they launched one across the room for me! Recently I bought a book for children called My Granny Went to Market by Stella Blackstone and Christopher Corr, published in 1995. I got a real surprise when I looked at the first page; you can see it below! This delightful book is published by Barefoot Books of Bath. |
 From My Granny Went to Market, copyright Stella Blackstone, 1995 and Christopher Corr, 2003.
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