Menelaus (Zannis) Negroponte^{[1, 2]}

1838 - 1893  (55 years)

• Name	Menelaus (Zannis) Negroponte
  	On the birth certificate of his son, his name appears as Mihelas Negropontes.
  Birth	1838	Constantinople/Istanbul, Turkey
  Gender	Male
  Death	27 Jan 1893	Athens, Attica, Greece
  Notes	Knight of the Order of The Saviour. Residence: 1873, rue Montgrand 39, Marseille, France; 1877, Constantinople; 1878, Syros. Occupation: corn merchant; landowner 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. [3]
  Person ID	I1198	Negroponte-Agelasto
  Last Modified	30 Jan 2016

  
  

  Father	Zannis (Theodore) Negroponte,   b. Abt 1797, Chios, Greece d. Bef 1868, Constantinople/Istanbul, Turkey (Age 71 years)
  Mother	Catherine (Ulysses) Meimarides,   b. Tatavla, Constantinople/Istanbul Turkey d. 1891, Athens, Attica, Greece
  Marriage	Abt 1897	Athens, Attica, Greece   [4]
  Family ID	F507	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Eleni (Andreas) Vagliano,   b. 17 Apr 1854, Constantinople/Istanbul, Turkey d. 16 Mar 1927, Athens, Attica, Greece (Age 72 years)
  Marriage	16 Jan 1872	Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur,France
  	This marriage is not indexed in the Marseille register.
  Children	+ 1. Miltiades (Menalaus) Negroponte,   b. 04 Apr 1873, rue Montgrand 39, Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur,France d. 16 Apr 1951, Athens, Attica, Greece (Age 78 years)
  Family ID	F511	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	14 Feb 2010

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - 1838 - Constantinople/Istanbul, Turkey Marriage - 16 Jan 1872 - Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur,France Death - 27 Jan 1893 - Athens, Attica, Greece  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Photos		rue Montgrand 39, Marseille, France photo 2009
  		rue Montgrand 37-39, Marseille, France photo 2009

  
  

  Documents » Slide Show		Mr. Gladstone and the Greeks Liverpool Mercury 25 Sep 1877 article treats Mr. Negroponte as a victim
  		Menelaos Negroponte 1893 death certificate English translation by George Agelastos
  		Comment on the Negroponte Brothers Henry Du Pré Labouchere, Truth, v. III, n. 64, 21 Mar 1878, p. 355. The Gladstone-Negroponte affair is mentioned in several issues of this publication.

  
  

  Headstones		Negroponte Family Tomb (detail) Sec. 4, site 584; Athens First Cemetery, Athens, Greece; The poet is Kostas Ouranis, interred here with his wife, Eleni.
  		Negroponte Family Tomb (detail) Sec. 4, site 584; Athens First Cemetery, Athens, Greece

  
  

• Sources

  [S1] Philip P. Argenti, Argenti 1955, (London Oxford University Press). Included in Philip Argenti's Negroponte family tree, number 178. [S25] Greek State Archives (Syros). #146 Registry of Oaths of Allegiance [S88] Elia, Hellenic Literary and Historical Archive. [S17] Sturdza, Mihail-Dimitri, Sturdza, Dictionnaire Historique Genealogique ... Grece, (self, Paris, 1983), 364.