HO 45/9931/B26292

            Dikran Constant was born at Hadley District, Hertford, Middlesex in England in February 1857 to Artin Constant (b. ca. 1816), a native of Smyrna and a draper by profession, and Marianna, an Englishwoman. Dikran’s sister Clara Virginia Constant had been born in 1855 and baptized in Weld Chapel, Southgate, London.

            Dikran’s father Artin Constant, also described as a merchant, had lived in London since at least the mid-nineteenth century. In 1851, then 35 years of age, Artin had been a lodger in Cheetham, Manchester, at the home of Hester M. Smith, age 22, and her sisters Frances and Myra Smith, ages 28 and 30, respectively. James Heyward, who was Artin’s age, was also a lodger. Living with them all was Fanny Brodie, a 15-year-old servant.

            Dikran Constant was baptized on March 22, 1857 at Saint Mary the Virgin, Monken Hadley, Barnet, England. He had resided in Smyrna since 1860 or 1861 and had paid annual registration fees as a British subject since coming of age. In 1898, his brother-in-law D. D. Macdonald brought Constant’s citizenship status before the British Foreign Office. Officials noted that Constant was ipso facto a British subject by virtue of his nativity in England. Officials also noted that he could also simultaneously be an Ottoman subject, and as such would be “liable to any obligations imposed on such subjects by Turkish law.” However, the Foreign Office conceded that the latter status would be a “point of Turkish law on which the Secretary of State” had no information. In comparison, Foreign Office officials alluded to the case of the Messrs. Souvazoglou from 1886. Nothing further is known about Dikran Constant. This file suggests that the British government was prepared to recognize dual Ottoman-British citizenship.