Wallace Henry Turrell (1866 - 1932)

Born 22 Feb 1866 in Bournebat, Ottoman Empire

Ancestors

Died 1932 at about age 65 in New Phaleron, Greece

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Biography

Wallace was born on 22nd Feb 1866 near Smyrna, in the Ottoman Empire and was christened on 13th May 1866. ^[1]He was the son of Frederick Wallace Turrell and Helen Seraphine Perkins.

Wallace's father had established a private boy's school the Smyrna College in Bournebat in 1863 and made his family home there. Wallace's mother died when he was 9 years old and just over a year later, his father married his mother's younger sister Frances Honorine Perkins who was Wallace's stepmother and his aunt. She raised Wallace and his 2 younger sisters as her own and his father and Frances had 2 more children together. Wallace's half brother Reginald was 13 years younger than he was. His other half brother, Arthur, died aged four.

After their father died, Wallace's stepmother and his 2 sisters who remained unmarried, managed the household, with the family's servants. His half brother Reginald married and raised a family in the old schoolhouse, and there were 3 generations living under the one roof.

Wallace was a lawyer in Smyrna and was known to have a rather explosive temper. Legend has it that he argued with judges and was 'often locked up with his client, for contempt of court'. ^[2]

It seems that Wallace remained unmarried. He does not appear to have produced children.

The passenger list of the ship Tambora of the Rotterdam Royal Mail Line suggests that on 25 September 1914, Wallace Turrell lawyer, traveled from London to Port Said in Egypt.^{[3] [4]} The diary of Grace Wilkinson, [1] records Wallace as having been in Smyrna, during WWI , so he must have returned from Egypt before long.

Wallace's brother Reginald escaped the massacres and the great fire of Smyrna in September 1922, by managing to get to Mytilene on Lesvos via British hospital ship with his wife, children, mother in law and extended family. It is not known where Wallace was at this time. It is assumed that his sister Edith went with the rest of the family. His sister Annie had passed away in 1918, the same year as his stepmother. It is thought they possibly both died in the great influenza pandemic.

An older man who appears in his niece Helen Turrell's wedding photos in Izmir in January 1931, is believed to have been Wallace. He would have been just short of his 65th birthday at the time.

Wallace died in Greece a year later in January 1932 and was buried at the Athens New Protestant cemetery, in Attica. ^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ Guildhall Manuscripts Collection at LMA, MS 29744 "Register of Births & Baptisms 1800-1959 and Burials 1801-1958" Author: C of E, Smyrna Anglican Chaplaincy, P.76 Wallace Henry, son of F.W. & Helen Seraphine (nee Perkins) Turrell, bn. Feb 22nd, Chr. May 13th 1866
2. ↑ Paradise Lost, Smyrna 1922, by Giles Milton, 2008, page 25
3. ↑ UK, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960 View imageView record Record details Name Wallace Turrell Gender Male Departure Date 25 Sep 1914 Departure Port England Ship Name Tambora Shipping Line Rotterdam Lloyd Royal Mail Line Destination Port Port Said, Egypt Master Machael Van Der Putte Close
4. ↑ Ancestry.com. UK, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. Original Data: Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and successors: Outwards Passenger Lists. BT27. Records of the Commercial, Companies, Labour, Railways and Statistics Departments. Records of the Board of Trade and of successor and related bodies. The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, England.
5. ↑ Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2DJ-ZCL8 : 6 December 2016), Wallace H. Turrell, ; Burial, Athens, Regional unit of Athens, Attica, Greece, Athens New Protestant Cemetery; citing record ID 170681224, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.