Background

No other country had as extensive a network of consulates in the eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire as Britain, which kept a close eye on local affairs. This role was strengthened after the Treaty of Berlin in 1878, when Britain undertook to monitor the situation of Armenians even on a case-by-case basis. As a result, British consular files often contain the names of local people, mostly Armenians. These records are of some value to genealogists as they can show the whereabouts of ancestors.

This index lists the names of people I came across during my archival research, alphabetically by surname. The documents have not been selected according to any criteria other than their possible value for genealogical research.

Most documents are from British consular files preserved in the UK National Archives. Also some files distributed by the Armenian patriarchate among foreign consulates have been used.

How it works

You can search by surname and by place (Ottoman province/ subprovince/ district). If you are not sure to which Ottoman geographical unit the place you search for belonged, consult the district list.

If the source is available on this website, a link is provided, otherwise you will only find a document number and a brief description of the document. Below is a list of the sources included. The documents included are mostly from the period 1890-1900. Of course, this is only a tiny fraction of what is available in the archives.

The original spelling of the personal names as given in the sources has been retained. No attempt has been made at standardisation. Especially for Armenian names, it is highly recommended to search as widely as possible for possible variants of the name. For example, Agopian may be Hagopian, Carabet may be Karabet, Couyoumdjian may be Kouyoumdjan. A surname like Megerditchian could also be spelt Meguerditchian or Mekrtidjian, to give just a few examples. Even in this relatively simple index, you will find sometimes about 10-15 variants of the same name.

Wherever possible, the place of origin and the province (vilayet) to which this place belonged are given for each person mentioned in the index. Place names are spelled according to modern Turkish spelling. If a place name has changed, both the 19th century name and the current name are included.

Sources included

- List of Church Refugees in Pera (1895) →

- List of Armenian prisoners in Acre, near Haifa, Palestine (1893) →

- List of Zeitoun prisoners at Aleppo exempted from benefit of Amnesty of July 1895

- Statement of Armenians killed in the Government House at Malatia, 1896

- List of Armenian political prisoners released in Aleppo under General Amnesty of December 1896 →

- Résumé d'un rapport en date de 24 Décembre (v.s.) arrivé de Chabine-Cara-Hissar (vilayet du Sivas) (File of Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople). Contains list of Armenians imprisoned in Şebinkarahisar in 1895.

- List of Armenian Political Prisoners at Trebizond on December 16, 1895 →

Please let me know your opinions and suggestions. Depending on the feedback this project will be continued and expanded.