Patrizio Gunning, Lucia; (2018) Levantines and the British Consular Service. Presented at: The Levantine Heritage Foundation 3rd International Conference, Athens, Greece.

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Abstract

When the Foreign Office took over the British diplomatic representation in the Ottoman Empire from the Levant Company in 1825, a wave of newspaper articles attacked the reliability of the service due to the consistent presence of ‘Levantines’. Debates in Parliament discussed their engagement and inquiries assessed their involvement and the suitability of their employment in the context of the newly created government organisation. Due to the mistrust provoked by the press, for a number of years the government tried to eliminate the Levantines from the consular service in the Ottoman Empire and substitute them with British personnel. But when it came to it, the British born personnel lacked the understanding and familiarity with local habits, knowledge and ability to speak the language, and trust of the locals, which had made the Levantines a precious and fundamental part of the service. In the particular context of the search for antiquities for European museums, moreover, it was especially on this typology of personnel that British diplomats came to rely with increasing success. This paper will examine the perception of Levantines and their involvement in the British consular service in the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century and explain why, rather than being eliminated, their use consolidated with time, especially in the Aegean.

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