BEFORE THE FIRST WORLD WAR
History gives a nation a bearing on what it is, and how its people are affected by what has happened in the past. The kings and queens, wars with victories and defeats all mould a nation’s culture into how it views itself in the present. In the same way a family history shows how it has had to survive and come to terms with all the great social and cultural of the age. I hope this story will help give each member of our family a foundation, and try in a small way to explain how we came to be what we are today, and also be a help for generations to come to see the sort of energy and dynamism, the loves and hates, errors and mistakes, the victories and defeats that should make a fascinating read with hopefully some lessons to be learned.
Legend has it that the Charnaud family originated from the city of Carcassonne in the South West of France. I have no precise idea as to whether this is in fact true, but the likiehood is that it is so. The family carries a coat of arms handed down from antiquity which consists of a shield of four quarters with one in the centre. The opposite diagonal quarters consist of a star on the one side, and a fleur de lys on the other. In the centre is a castle turret and the family motto is “Sans Peur” (without fear).
The first direct ancestor that we know was one Jean Samuel Charnaud and was a French Huguenot refugee from Pont de Veyle Bresse. He moved to Vevey in Switzerland following an edict in 1685 expelling Huguenots from France. The family continued living in Switzerland until his grandson Jean came to England and was made a British Subject by an Act of Parliament in 1762. He later moved to Smyrna where he became a factor and he died in 1773 out there. The family tended to live in the Levant and traded and lived between Smyrna and Alexandria. His second son John in due course fathered my great grandfather Frederick. He was a shrewd businessman and was one of the original backers of de Lesseps in the construction of the Suez Canal which earned him a fortune and he was able to send my grandfather Alfred to be educated at Harrow. It was said of Alfred the only thing that he ever learnt there were polished manners, a charming manner, and an insatiable appetite for pretty girls. Shortly after leaving Harrow his father died leaving him a fortune worth in those days £250,000 and probably worth 50 times that amount today. He was a wonderful raconteur and told us once how he had been badly bitten by a dog and so decided with some friends to journey to Paris to be treated by Pasteur against rabies.
On the train to Dover the compartment was very full and one of his companions let it be known the reason for his journey; at this point Alfred started growling and snarling like a dog and within minutes all the other passengers had moved off and he and his chums had the compartment to themselves! He spent a number of years in Paris, which he greatly enjoyed and it was there that he got an interest in geology and
above all he became interested in the extraction of chrome. He moved to Smyrna in Turkey and began prospecting . He had married my grandmother Elise Icard, a pretty olive complexioned girl and she gave him two daughters, Lucy and Lilian and my father Frederick Christian Joseph.
Alfred first developed in Turkey a corundum or emery mine which was moderately profitable before continuing his search for chrome. There were ample signs that the mineral was there in quantity, but in those days he lacked the diamond exploration drills and he kept on sinking shafts one after another exhausting his financial resources. The tragedy was he kept searching on the south side of the mountain range, and years later there is a productive mine which was developed on the northern slopes.
I was only six years old when I met him on a visit to Turkey in 1937. He was a jolly man in his late 70’s who lived in the next village with his mistress 20 miles away. Every Sunday however he would come to have lunch with his wife who is said was a far better cook. I was as a small child impressed with his strength. He was the only person I have ever seen who could put a walnut between his two fingers and crack it!
As a result of the wastage of money, first the grand Charnaud House in the most fashionable part of Smyrna had to go and instead the family moved to cheaper accomodation over the bay in what was then called Cordelio ( named after King Richard Lionheart or Coeur de Lyons). The district is now called Karsiyaka by the Turks.
Father was born in 1890 in Smyrna which was at time under concessions to the leading European powers as a trading port following the Crimean War. Under this system each power such as England or France would be responsible for their own nationals under their own legal system. Thus there would be an English magistrate, Vicar, doctor, consul etc to maintain law and order for its own subjects. The rest of the population of the city was much as it had been for 2,500 years i.e. mainly Greek who controlled all the commerce and the agriculture of the immediate hinterland.In classical times the district was known as Ionia and it was reputed to have had the finest climate in the ancient world. The Turkish presence was confined to the military and government administration . With a large cosmopolitan population , it was easy for children to learn languages. In our household the normal language was French as that was what Elise spoke, as she had never been to England having been brought up in Paris ,but Alfred would also converse in English with friends particularly with his friend the English vicar. The maids were Greek, and other children nearby would be speaking Italian or German.
There was practically no money in the household apart from the barest essentials. Food was cheap with the abundance of vegetables such as aubergines, tomatoes, beans etc. which were made into tasty dishes with the barest minimum of meat. It was quite out of the question for father to receive any formal education. Friends of the family would help out, and my father was helped in his education by the English Vicar who gave him his basic lessons in English , and encouraged him to read widely.
Elise was a most devout Catholic and although she had married a Protestant all the children were baptized Catholic, as in due course in deference to her, we of our generation also were. Every day she would rise and go to early Mass and invariably come back and drink a bottle of beer. It may have been this regime that enabled to live to the ripe old age of 98.
When father was young she had an extraordinary experience. The house at Cordelio became infested with rats and she had tried everything to get rid of them without success. Someone eventually told her that there was a Turkish Hodja from a mosque in the next village who was an expert in charming them. She was at first very reluctant to have to go and see a Muslim Cleric, as she felt it was a betrayal of her faith, but eventually she swallowed her pride and asked for his help. He came next day and told her to light an oil lamp and walk up to the local mosque and then walk round it three times and he would then join her. She did this and he then took the lamp back to the house here he chanted and chanted and from there he went over the road to
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