HO 405/231 and HO 334/349/17166
Estrea Aelion (née Matalon) was born in Rustchuck, Bulgaria on May 5, 1888 to Jacob and Rachel Matalon (née Errera), both of Italian nationality.[1] Estrea finished secondary school in Rustchuck at the age of 17. Thereafter, she “assisted her mother in domestic duties at home” until her marriage to Saltie Aelion, from whom she acquired Spanish nationality, on October 9, 1905, in Salonika. The couple lived in Rustchuck until 1913, when they settled in Salonika. The couple had two children: Leon Luiz (a naturalized British subject born on February 16, 1907 in Rustchuck) and Irene (born January 5, 1910 in Rustchuck). Irene married Maurice Franses, a naturalized British subject, and resided with him at 10 Garden Court, Abbey Road, St. John’s Wood.
In 1913, Estrea and Saltie relocated from Rustchuck to Salonica. In 1923, they moved to Paris, where they remained until immigrating to the United Kingdom on March 29, 1936. They lived with their son Leon Luiz, a carpet merchant, at 9 Priory Court, N.W.6. Saltie had previously retired and in the same month of their immigration, the Home Office gave them permission to remain in the U.K. indefinitely. At the time, Estrea owned property in Greece and lived on income derived from it until the Germans occupied Greece. From that point on, they lived on their capital, with some assistance from their son, until Saltie died on July 1, 1947. Since then, Estrea was supported by her son. Irene Estrea traveled on a Spanish passport, issued in London on September 6, 1946. From 1947-1950, she made brief trips to Belgium, Spain, and France for holiday purposes. She was registered with Metropolitan Police as Spanish.
By the time of her naturalization application in 1950, Estrea and her son Leon Luiz lived at Beechcroft, Manor House Drive, Brondesbury Park, London, N.W.6. She had a deposit account at the National Provincial Bank Ltd., Willesden Green Branch, with £6,818, most of which had been left to her by her husband upon his death, and the remainder representing revenues from the sale of her property in Greece in 1947. Her English was “adequate” and her son Leon Luiz assisted her complete her naturalization application. Estrea’s agents for naturalization were Fletcher, Napper & Co., 13 Bloomsbury Square, W.C.1. She was naturalized in January of 1951 and was described as a widow living by “private means.”
This file was originally classified until 2051.
[1] Aelion’s stated birthplace may have been tactical, to avoid conscription into the Ottoman military. Estrea’s granddaughter reports that Saltie Aelion was born in Salonika and that the family applied for Spanish citizenship while in Paris in the 1930s, perhaps in anticipation of Nazi persecution. Andrée Aelion Brooks to Aviva Ben-Ur, August 4, 2024.