The Greek Community in London (1500-1945)

Introduction
The Hellenic Institute acts as a forum to encourage and co-ordinate research into the history of the Greek presence in London across the centuries, from the few, rather obscure individuals of the Tudor and Stuart periods, to the wealthy and influential community of Victorian times and beyond.

Background
The Greek in London dates back to at least the early fifteenth century when Andronicus and Alexios Effomatos, two craftsmen from Constantinople, were granted permission by King Henry VI to remain in the city and to pursue their trade. In the centuries which followed Greeks were not uncommon visitors, whether as merchants, mariners, soldiers, diplomats or refugees. Most passed on after a short stay, but some settled permanently. Individual Greeks came to play an prominent role in London's economic and social life. A tailor from Crete, Peter de Mellan, supplied gowns to the Lord Chancellor, Thomas Cromwell (1485-1540), and Constantine Rhodocanaces of Chios became a physician in the service of King Charles II (1660-85). In the 1700s, the Grecian Coffee House, founded and owned by George Constantine from the island of Scopelos in the Northern Sporades, became a noted meeting place for scholars and politicians, numbering among its patrons two presidents of the Royal Society, Sir Isaac Newton and Dr Hans Sloane.

Most of the Greeks of London, however, were poor and obscure, mainly sailors who served on the merchant ships that plied between England and the eastern Mediterranean. In 1677 a church was opened for their use on the edge of the city in Soho, the site still being remembered in the name 'Greek Street'. This proved to be short-lived and from 1716 the only Orthodox place of worship in London was Russian embassy chapel which was situated in Exeter Exchange Court, off the Strand.

During the 1820s, the situation changed rapidly. The outbreak of the Greek war of independence triggered savage reprisals against the Greek population of the Ottoman empire by the Turkish authorities, forcing wealthy merchants from Constantinople and Chios to flee abroad. Many went to London where they re-established their businesses and came to dominate the Baltic trade. Foremost among these new arrivals was Pandias Stephen Rhallis (1793-1865) who emerged as the leader of the now burgeoning community. In 1837 a small Greek Orthodox chapel was established in a house at Finsbury Circus, followed by a purpose-built church in London wall in 1850. Finally in 1882, a splendid new church, St. Sophia, was constructed in Bayswater, later becoming the cathedral of the Orthodox archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain.

In the years after the inauguration of St. Sophia, many of the wealthier members of the Greek community became increasingly integrated into British society. Many been born in Britain and educated at public schools, particularly Harrow and Westminster. Some played a prominent role in public life. Pandeli Thomas Ralli (1845-1928) was MP for Bridport from 1875 to 1880, and Lucas Ralli (1846-1931), was created Baronet in 1912. Constantine Ionides (1833-1900) bequeathed his substantial art collection to the Victoria and Albert Museum, where most of the paintings, including works by Rembrandt, Degas, Delacroix, are now on public display. Emmanuel Rodokanachi (1855-1932) was a director of the Midland Bank. The history of the Greek community in London during the nineteenth century, therefore, presents a picture of steady progress from an obscure minority to a position of considerable wealth and influence.

Research Projects
At present, there are three projects in progress:

Jonathan Harris is investigating the period 1500-1800.

Quentin Russell is examining the period 1830-1914, with particular reference to the artists and art patrons of the 1890s.

Evangelia Georgitsoyanni (Harokopian University, Athens) is working on the life of Leonidas Arniotis (1862-1939), an Athenian theatre director. Arniotis spent the latter part of his life in London, where he owned a bookshop and Cafe in St. Giles's High Street. Dr Georgitsoyanni would be very pleased to hear from anyone who has any information on Arniotis, especially anyone who remembers him or visited his shop!

Further Reading
G.F. Bartle, 'The Greek boys at Borough Road during the War of Independence', Journal of Educational Administration and History 20 (1988), 1-11
P.A. Bezodis, 'The Greek church (later St. Mary's Crown Street) and St. Martin's Almshouses', in Survey of London, 44 vols (London, 1900-94), xxxiii. 278-84
Robert Browning, 'Some early Greek visitors to England', in Essays in Memory of Basil Laourdas (Thessaloniki, 1975), pp. 387-95
Timotheos Catsiyannis, The Greek Community of London (London, 1993)
Timotheos Catsiyannis, Pandias Stephen Rallis, 1793-1865 (London, 1986)
Stanley Chapman, Merchant Enterprise in Britain from the Industrial Revolution to World War I (Cambridge, 1992), pp. 153-61

Maria Christina Chatziioannou, 'Greek merchants in Victorian England', in Greek Diaspora and Migration since 1700, ed. Dimitris Tziovas (Aldershot, 2009), pp. 45-60
Michael Constantinides, The Greek Orthodox Church in London (London, 1933)
T.E. Dowling and E.W. Fletcher, Hellenism in England (London, 1915)

Evangelia Georgitsoyanni, 'An unknown verse newspaper of the Greek diaspora', Analele Universitstii "Stefan Cel Mare" Suceava: Serie Filologie B. Literatura 11 (2005), 45-64
Jonathan Harris, 'The Grecian Coffee House and political debate in London, 1688-1714', The London Journal 25 (2000), 1-13
Jonathan Harris, Greek Emigres in the West, 1400-1520 (Camberley, 1995)

Jonathan Harris, 'Silent Minority: the Greek Community of Eighteenth-Century London', in Greek Diaspora and Migration since 1700, ed. Dimitris Tziovas (Aldershot, 2009), pp. 31-43

Alan Haynes, 'Greek nationals in England 1400-1705', History Today 29 (1979), 179-87

George Kakavas (ed.), Treasured Offerings. The Legacy of the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sophia, London (Athens, 2002)

Demetrius Mangreotis, 'The demographic history of the Greek mercantile community in London, 1837-1881', Historica 6 (1986), 349-68 (in Greek)
F.H. Marshall, 'An eastern patriarch's education in England', Journal of Hellenic Studies 46 (1926), 185-202
Steven Runciman, The Great Church in Captivity (Cambridge, 1968), pp. 289-319
A.B. Sackett, 'John Wesley and the Greek Orthodox bishop', Proceedings of the Wesley Historical Society 38 (1971-2), 81-7, 97-102
Michael Vickers, 'An Elizabethan contact with Greece', Journal of Ecclesiastical History 24 (1973), 51-8

Internet Links:

For more on the Greek community in London, see the Untold London website.

On the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St Sophia, London.

On the Ionides Collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

On the Greek community in Australia, visit the website of National Centre for Hellenic Studies and Research at Latrobe University in Melbourne.

For further information on the project please contact Dr Jonathan Harris, Department of History, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX. Tel. 01784 414231; Fax 01784 433032