Ernest Michel (Dimitri) Vlasto & Helen (Michael) Zarifi

Family Group Sheet

NameErnest Michel (Dimitri) Vlasto, 11G Grandson

Birth1 Jan 1848, Jassy/Iasi, Romania

MemoOr 2 Jan 1848. Kerofilas says 13 Jan 1848.

Death26 Mar 1900, 6 Rue Chateaubriand, Paris 8ème, France

MemoProbably a clinic of some sort. His death certificate is signed by his brother Antoine Vlasto and his brother-in-law John Zarifi of London.

Burial29 Mar 1900, Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris, France

MemoBoulogne-Billlancourt. Service at the Greek Church, Rue Bizet, Paris

Residence1888, 69 Boulevard Haussmann, Paris 8ème, France

Residence1900, 7 Rue Lamennais, Paris 8ème, France

Residence1884-94, 44 Rue des Ecoles, Paris, France

MemoAddress given to the Société Française de Photographie: perhaps where he was teaching or had an office?

OccupationEngineer. Pioneer of the French telephony and sub-marine telephone cabling systems.

EducationLycée Henri lV, Paris (then the Lycée Napoleon). École Normale, Paris (1868). Qualified 1871. But see Extrait du Bulletin of the École Central 1899-1900 (p. 139).

OriginWallachia/Moldavia.

Note 1Author of ‘Leçons Des Choses’. Became ill in the 1890s and died in a Paris clinic in 1900. Member of the Société Française de Photographie from 1884 to 1894 (the year that his terminal illness started).

Note 2See ‘L'Industrie des Cables Sous-marins’. Extrait des mémoires de la Société des Ingénieurs Civils. Paris, 1891. “A much loved colleague,” according to M. G. Dumont at his funeral.

Note 3His son M.E.T.D. Vlasto said his death was a consequence of Yellow Fever contracted in South America but in 1999 Fanny Charles-Roux said the cause was perhaps a result of a degenerative condition (syphilis?).

Note 4While still a student at he became a Captain of the artillery in the Armée de la Loire in 1870. As a consequence, apparently, he had a French passport issued to him in Smyrna on 19 Nov 1888 on his way to France.

Note 5Industrialist in telephonic cables, mining and chemicals. Greek Commissioner for the 1889 Paris Exhibition. Administrator of the French telephone and telegraph service, managing the Bézons factory producing sub-marine cables at Calais.

Note 5Traité pratique de chimie métallurgique par le Baron Hanns Jüptner de Jonstorff ; traduit de l'allemand par Ernest Vlasto 1891.

Note 5He manufactured sub-marine cables at his Rattier factories in Bézons (on the Seine) and Calais. It is highly likely that a degree of industrial ‘espionage’ was required in order to obtain information on Britain’s world-leading production techniques

FlagsArgenti, Cantacuzene, Caralli, Coressi, Dwerniki, Giustiniani Fi, London, Maximo, Petrocochino, Ralli(Chaviara), Rodocanachi, Romania, Scanavi, Vlasto

FatherDimitri (Michael) Vlasto (1820-1863)

MotherNathalia (Antonio) Winkler de Dwernicka (1826-1915)

Marriage28 Jan 1882, Greek Orthodox Cathedral, St Sophia, Moscow Road, Bayswater, Westminster, London, England

Married MemoMarriage notice in the The Pall Mall Gazette, 31 Jan 1882. Ernest Vlasto and Helene Zarifi announced their intent to marry on 18 Dec 1881.

SpouseHelen (Michael) Zarifi

Birth27 Jul 1860, London, England

Death24 Oct 1946, 29 Cleveland Gardens, Westminster, London, England

MemoCAL has a copy of her Will.

Burial26 Oct 1946, Hellenic Enclosure, West Norwood Cemetery, London, England

MemoCremated 26 Oct 1946. Commemorated on her family tomb.

Baptism2 Sep 1860, Church of Our Saviour, London Wall, City of London, England

Residence1888, 69 Boulevard Haussmann, Paris 8ème, France

Residencebef 1900, 7 Rue Lamennais, Paris 8ème, France

Residence48 Porchester Terrace, Bayswater, Westminster, London, England

Residence1939, 6 Irvine Court, 37 Porchester Terrace, Bayswater, Westminster, London, England

OriginLondon.

Note 1A plaintiff in the 1921 Kessisoglu libel trial. Among her closest friends were Miss Margaret Bisland, Miss Elpiniki Eumorfopoulos and Mrs Penelope Cassavetti (née Constantinidi).

Note 2Ernest Vlasto and Helene Zarifi announced their intent to marry on 18 Dec 1881. Marriage notice in the The Pall Mall Gazette, 31 Jan 1882.

Note 3She hosted large annual family house parties in GB each year from at least ca. 1909 to 1939 a rich source of photographs of members of the Vlasto, Zarifi, Rodocanachi and other families over about 30 years.

Note 4In 1911 she was living at 29 Porchester Terrace, London W1 with her mother, her son and 5 resident servants: Ellen Marian Brinton, Sarah Jane Chapman, Lizzie Hicks, Ethel Emily Powley and Constance Eva Matthews.

Note 5In Jun 1881 she was engaged (soon cancelled) to Solon Chr. Zographos, son of the great Ottoman banker Christakis Zographos whose great competitor was George Zarifi. The ‘marriage’ of the two banks would have been dynastic, creating a huge monopoly.

Marr. WitnessStephen Zafiropoulos and A. Vlasto (presumably Antoine Vlasto).

God-parentsAriadne Sevastopoulos.

FlagsBoscovic, Giustiniani Pi, Kaplanoglou, London, Mavrogordato, Maximo, OurSaviourLondonWall, Scanavi, Zarifi

FatherMichael (Ioannis) Zarifi (1818-1891)

MotherFanny (Theodore) Kessisoglu (1837-1911)

Children