The Ionian Gazettes – our next big research undertaking

A few years ago, through my research of the British Period of Kythera, I was introduced to a valuable resource, the Ionian Gazette. This newspaper was the official publication of the ruling British. It was printed on the island Kerkira (Corfu) at the government licenced printing presses and for many years during the British rule, was the only newspaper allowed to be printed. My research thus far indicates that the paper was produced between 1812 and 1864, spanning the years of the British Protectorate over the Ionian Islands, which included Corfu, Kefalonia, Zakinthos, Lefcada, Ithica, the Paxous islands and of course Kythera and Antikythera, albeit geographically removed from the others.

The title of the 25 May 1818 Ionian Gazette

Initially the newspapers were produced in Italian which had remained the language of official publications, court and police records for most of the period of British rule, a legacy of centuries of Venetian rule over the islands. Although Greek had been declared the language of official use in the islands in 1852 by the British, the Gazettes continued to be dominated by Italian, although they were often published throughout the years with varying combinations of Italian, Greek and English.

Although many volumes of the newspapers are available online through either the digital library of the Greek Parliament or the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, there are many volumes missing. To date we have identified over 1500 issues of the paper. My endeavour to locate all the missing volumes continues and I am following up leads including the Greek National Archives and the British Archives in London. These newspapers offer an invaluable insight into the political and social history of the islands, including Kythera. They not only offer information regarding the governing policies, royal decrees and laws which impacted the populations of the islands, but also provide an insight into what society was like for our ancestors living during that period.

Of course, our interest in these papers is to identify information about Kythera and in particular Kytherians who are mentioned in these Gazettes. I have started reading through these papers with fascination. I have located Royal decrees signed off by a young Queen Victoria impacting record keeping on the islands as well as gaining an insight into the workings of the Ionian Parliament, which included one sitting member from Kythera, usually from Chora’s elite families. We are systematically working our way through these papers with the hope of identifying new facts about individuals to add to our records. Depending on what we find, we may even create a searchable database with the information about individuals to add to our Resources page. Having randomly selected some papers as examples, in May 1860, I have located a civil case listed between the plaintiff “Anastasia Katsouli Georgopoulou and husband” and the defendant “Minas Katsoulis”, however details of what the dispute was about are not mentioned, as the table refers only to cases which had been held over to be heard in court at a future date. No doubt by going through the papers in chronological order we may be able to find out if this was a dispute over land or something more interesting. When we find out we will let you know!

Through dedicated research in locating and analysing a variety of sources, our goal at Kytherian Genealogy Project is not only to provide Kytherians with family trees containing the names of their ancestors dating back to the 1600s, but also to provide the story of how these ancestors lived and what circumstances they endured in their daily life which over the centuries led to many departing in search of more beyond the shores of the island. So, stay tuned for what exciting things we find!

Kalie Zervos  

Sources used to compile story:-  

Peter Prineas Britain’s Greek islands: Kythera and the Ionian Islands 1809 to 1864, Sydney, Plateia, 2009, p. 236.

Sakis Gekas, Xenocracy: State, Class, and Colonialism in the Ionian Islands, 1815-1864, New York, 2017, p. 24.

Digitial Library of Greek Parliament, https://digitallib.parliament.gr/ display_

Aristotle University Thessaloniki Digital Archive Collections - Old Greek Newspapers Collection -  Ionian Islands official newspaper (1814 - 1858)