HO 334/150/12262

            Abdul Messeh Oundjian was born in Constantinople on February 15, 1878 to Ockribas and Luisa Oundjian, both identified on his naturalization certificate as Armenians. He applied for British naturalization as an Ottoman (Armenian), by which time he was a retired carpet merchant living at Mount Royal, Marble Arch, London, and single, his marriage having been dissolved. He was perhaps related to Anikdos Haig Oundjian, also of London, and to H. A. Oundjian (born March 2, 1915), who served in the British Armed Forces during World War II.[1] In the 1940s, a London trade publication carried the advertisement of “A. Oundjian,” specialists in high grade “Arak, Meched, Isfahan, Hamadan, Keshan, Kirman, and Tabriz” Persian carpets and rugs, “in exclusive designs and colours.”[2] The firm operated in London, New York, and Teheran. Abdul Messeh Oundjian was naturalized in 1938 but his naturalization application was not preserved.

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[1] TNAUK, WO 423/1244235, World War II military service record of H. A. Oundjian, (closed until January 1, 1931).

[2] “A. Oundjian,” Carpet Review 3: 36(September 1949): 26.