Reginald Edmund Turrell (1879 - 1933)

Born 19 Mar 1879 in Bournebat (Bornova), Smyrna (Izmir) Turkey

Ancestors

Husband of Helen Ruth (Whittall) Turrell — married 22 Mar 1906 in Consulate General, Smyrna (Izmir), Turkey

Husband of Jessy Maud (Whittall) Turrell — married 17 Apr 1909 in Consulate General, Smyrna (Izmir), Turkey

Descendants

Died 10 Apr 1933 at age 54 in Bornova, Izmir, Turkey

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Whittall Family Project

Biography

Birth and Christening

Reginald Edmund Turrell was born in Bournebat (Bornova) near Smyrna (Izmir) Turkey on 19th March 1879 and was christened on 21st May 1879. . ^[1] Reginald had a younger brother Frederick Arthur Ramsay Turrell who died in 1885, aged 4. He also had an older half brother Wallace Henry Turrell who was a lawyer and 2 older half sisters, Edith Annie Turrell and Alice Maud Turrell.

Reginald lived all his life in the family home where he and his siblings had grown up and from which his father had run a private school for boys. He raised his own family there, living with his mother and his half sisters. ^[2]

Marriages

Reginald married Helen Ruth Whittall in Smyrna (Izmir) in 1906. ^[3]She died in childbirth the same year along with their infant daughter Marion.

In 1909, Reginald married Helen's first cousin, Jessica Maud Whittall known as Jessy, ^[4]and they had 3 daughters, Nancy, Ray and Helen. They all lived in the Turrell family home, which was run by Reginald's older half sister. There were three generations including Reginald's mother Frances Honorine née Perkins, his half sisters and servants living in the house.

Occupation

Reginald spoke English, French, Greek and Turkish. He worked as a sub Bank Manager in Smyrna until 1915 and was very at home in Turkish dress and with Turkish customs. In 1915, he and a friend established a car dealership in Smyrna. The business was subsequently split with his friend continuing the Ford dealership while Reginald continued with the General Motors dealership, importing Buicks and Chevrolets. He was the sole agent for Chevrolet in Turkey and owned one of the first cars in Bournebat, a village near Smyrna where Reginald and his family lived along with many wealthy Levantine merchants and extended family members. ^{[5] [6] [7]}

Destruction of Smyrna and Exile

In 1922, the Turkish Army defeated Greece at the end of a 3 year Greco-Turkish war and irregular soldiers went on a rampage in Smyrna . There were massive atrocities and vengeance for past deeds by Greek soldiers. It amounted to genocide of the Greek and Armenian populations in Smyrna and most of the city was burnt to the ground. Reginald took his family to safety on Mytilene (Lesvos) aboard the British hospital ship Thalia. His mother in law, Mary Whittall, brother in law, 2 sisters in law and some of his wife's cousins accompanied them. They remained in Mytilene on the Greek island Lesvos for a year before returning to Smyrna (now Izmir). ^[8]

The Turrell house had been looted and their possessions sold or damaged. Five of their Greek servants had been murdered and their bodies thrown in the well in the garden. Many houses in the Bournebat (Bornova) community had been destroyed or looted and some never returned.

Reginald's car dealership was destroyed and he lacked the finance to start again until General Motors extended him credit and he was able to re-stock his business and resume trade.

Deaths

In 1918, Reginald's mother and his younger sister Alice passed away. It is uncertain what happened to his sister Edith. There does not seem to be any record of her death or burial in Izmir.

Reginald's wife Jessy died of a stroke in 1928, aged 44. Her death was attributed by family to heartbreak over the events of 1922. In addition to all the aforementioned, graves of ancestors and relatives had been broken open and the church built by her great grandfather had been ransacked. Reginald was left with 3 teenage daughters when Jessy died. ^{[9] [10] [11] [12]} Reginald's brother Wallace died in Greece in 1932 and Reginald died suddenly of a stroke the year after that on 10th April 1933, at the age of 54. ^[13] He died intestate and his son in law Jack O'Carroll who was a chartered accountant, arranged for the sale of Reginald's business to a Turk and settled Reginald's estate on his 3 daughters. Probate was granted in London on 5th July 1933. Reginald's effects in the UK amounted to £24,826 and 5s. ^[14] His estate was worth approximately £1.65 million today. ^[15]

Burial

Reginald and Jessy were buried in the Bornova Anglican cemetery in Izmir.

Daughters

Reginald's youngest daughter Helen married in Izmir in 1931, just after she turned 18. He became a grandfather the following year in 1932. His eldest daughter Nancy married in Izmir in 1933.

Reginald's daughters all left Turkey within a few years of his death. Nancy went to South Africa, Ray went to England and Helen, the youngest, to England and Wales, then to Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and then South Africa. There are no Turrells remaining in Turkey.

Memory

(Memory of Sebastian Bell as told to him by his mother Ray Bell née Turrell).

Reginald Turrell had a wonderful sense of humour. As a boy, he told his daughters that the would ride his bicycle out of town and intercept camel drivers bringing trade goods to Smyrna. He would stand in the road and insult them, telling them they were sons of donkeys (a huge insult in Turkey). The camel driver would then beat his beast to chase down this dreadful boy. Reginald would cycle ahead of him, stop and repeat the tirade. This sequence would be repeated several times with the camel driver becoming more and more enraged and frustrated. As a business man he would often catch the local train and come home from Smyrna to have lunch at home in Bournabat. The train station was several hundred yards from their house and the road between had bends in it. One day he set out in good time to catch the early afternoon train, but noticed that a rather fat lady was following him, also obviously bound for the station. He raised his arm prominently to consult his watch and began jogging. As soon as he was out of her sight round a bend, he stopped and just walked. When she appeared again behind him, he resumed jogging. She was running herself by this time. As he reached the station she rushed up beside him completely out of breath and realised that the train hadn’t even arrived yet. She was furious and accused him of enticing her to run when there was no need. His response was that he was merely taking a little exercise! Of course, he was highly amused by it all and told his family about it that evening.

My mother tells of a time when she and her sisters dug holes in their vegetable garden and covered them over. That evening they invited their father to come and see all the good work they had done in the garden. Apparently, he went round everywhere stepping into each hole and expressing great surprise to the delight of his daughters who were convinced they had fooled him.

When he was working for the bank, from time to time, he was required to go into the interior to deal with business. On such trips he would lodge with the local Turkish people and eat with them in the evenings. On one occasion, he went with a colleague who had never done this before. Reginald advised him to help himself from the communal bowl of food that they would all be sitting around. His colleague was reluctant to do this. Their Turkish hosts understood and served him plate after plate of their offerings. Reginald Turrell assured him that, if he didn’t eat everything on the plates, their hosts would be deeply offended. While he ate a little bit of this and a little bit of that from the communal bowl, his poor colleague had a terrible time trying to consume the bounty that was for ever being replaced in front of him!

Sources

1. ↑ MS 29744 P.103: Guildhall Manuscripts Collection at LMA, "Register of Births & Baptisms 1800-1959 and Burials 1801-1958" Author: C of E, Smyrna Anglican Chaplaincy. Reginald Edmund Turrell, son of Frederick Wallace Turrell & Frances Honorine his wife, was born. March 19th 1879, chr. May 21st 1879.
2. ↑ Scrapbook 1809 - 1922 by Ray Turrell, a Village near Smyrna, published Surrey UK, 1987
3. ↑ GRO Consular Marriages 1906-1908 Vol. 12 Page 1908, marriage to Helen Whittall.
4. ↑ GRO Consular Marriages 1906-1908 Vol. 12 Page 1917, marriage to Jessica Maud Whittall
5. ↑ Family tree and notes authored by Colin Reginald O'Carroll, 1997 - 1998, Johannesburg, South Africa.
6. ↑ Scrapbook 1809 - 1922 by Ray Turrell, a Village near Smyrna, published Surrey UK, 1987.
7. ↑ Information from Stephen and Sebastian Bell
8. ↑ Paradise Lost, Smyrna 1922, by Giles Milton, 2008, published by Sceptre.
9. ↑ Family tree and notes authored by Colin Reginald O'Carroll, 1997 - 1998, Johannesburg, South Africa.
10. ↑ Scrapbook 1809 - 1922 by Ray Bell, a Village near Smyrna, published Surrey UK, 1987.
11. ↑ nformation from Stephen and Sebastian Bell
12. ↑ Information from Helen O'Carroll as told to David O'Carroll, Val O'Carroll, Joe O'Carroll
13. ↑ MS 29745 P.2 Nr. 16: Guildhall Manuscripts Collection at LMA, "Register of Bournabat Burials" dd. April 10th 1933, 54 years.
14. ↑ England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966
15. ↑ http://www.in2013dollars.com/1933-GBP-in-2017?amount=25000

• Marriage Certificate, copy dated 15th December 2010, held by Stephen Bell.
• Paradise Lost, Smyrna 1922, by Giles Milton, 2008, published by Sceptre.
• Family tree and notes authored by Colin Reginald O'Carroll, 1997 - 1998, Johannesburg, South Africa.
• Information from living descendants, Stephen and Sebastian Bell.
• Information from Helen O'Carroll as told to living descendants David O'Carroll, Val O'Carroll and Joe O'Carroll and passed onto Susan O'Carroll.
• Scrapbook 1809 - 1922 by Ray Bell, published by Richard Bell, Surrey UK, 1988.
• The Genealogy of the Whittall Family of Turkey by Betty & Paul McKernan, London, 1996.

Acknowledgements

Ray Turrell for biographical narrative information in her book "Scrapbook 1809 - 1922" by Ray Bell, published Surrey UK, 1987.

Stephen Bell and Sebastian Bell for biographical information and photographs.

Brigitte Theuma for uploading GEDCOM David, Val and Joe O'Carroll for information.