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Merchants and migrants in nineteenth-century Beirut Article/book #: 152780 Title: Merchants and migrants in nineteenth-century Beirut By: Leila Tarazi Fawaz Date of issue: 1983 ISBN: 0674569253
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Commentary Abstract: Page 92 International creditors and the Khedive tried, the first to pressure and the second to resist, until finally the British and French governments pushed the Ottomans to depose Isma′il, as he found out when he received a telegram addressed to the "ex-Khedive Isma′il Pasha" in 1879.23 Isma′il was out of power, but not before the Sursocks had acquired sharesin the Suez Canal Company. If local rumor is true, the Sursocks, who were close friends of both viceroy Sa′id and Khedive Isma′il as well as their bankers, refused to support British and French creditors when they tried to pressure Isma′il into paying his debts. In gratitude the Khedive paid back what he owed them in shares of Suez stock. Whether the Sursocks acquired those shares because of their loyalty to the Khedive Isma′il or because of their loans to him, their connections with him were certainly important to their successes in Egypt. Beirut remained their base of operations, however, and they returned from Egypt in the 1860s to build elaborate homes in the Ashra- fiyya suburb east of Beirut. The family of Musa Sursock returned at the Page 93 urging of Musa′s wife, who did not want her daughters to marry and settle in Egypt. Other considerations no doubt also played a part, but in any case success breeds success, and in Beirut the Sursock′s fortunes continued to grow through investments in trade, banking, real estate, and silk manufacture. In 1872, when the Russian Grand Duke Nicolas visited Beirut, he was tkaen to visit Nicolas Sursock. DA Skalon, who accompanied the grand duke, refers to Nicolas Sursock in his account of the trip as a "rich Syrian" and adds: "We were told his annual income amounted to � 60, 000."24 Between 1887, when Musa Sursock died, and 1890, when his will went into effect, hiss hare of the Sursock fortune was divided among his partners (brothers still living and nephews replacing deceased ones), his wife, his sons George, Michel, and Alfred, and his daughters Malvina, Labiba, Rosa, Mariam, and Isabelle. Musa′s inheritance included extensive real estate - residences, warehouses, shops, and vacant land in and around Beirut, in Mersine, Tarsus, and elsewhere in southern Turkey, and in Alexandria. It also included extensive rural holdings, including whole villages, in Egypt and Palestine. In addition, the family owned property in Mount Lebanon, including the house they had built in 1880-81 in Suq al-Gharb, and land in Sofar that became, in the first decades of the twentieth century, a fashionable resort for the cream of Beiruti society and for tourists. The Sursocks′ success was measured by their admission to the highest circles of both Ottoman and European high society XThey were intimate with officials in Istanbul; people often approached them to intercede on their behalf with the Ottoman government. One sign of their closeness to the sources of Ottoman power was the appointment of Alfred (Musa′s son) to the post of secretary at the Ottoman embassy in Paris in 1905. Alfred moved in the titled circles of Eruope and married Maria Serra di Cassano, from an old Italian princely family. Their daughter Yvonne eventually became Lady Cochrane. Alfred′s first cousin Nicolas married Alfred′s sister-in-law; Nicolas′ eldest sister married Marchese Alberto Theodoli, and his youngest married the head of the Colonna family. The Sursocks were part of an international set that that circulated amid Alexandria, Istanbul, Beirut, and Paris, Rome, and other European capitals. Their wealth and sophistication were also reflected in their residences, equal in elegance to any Italian palazzo. To be truly successful as a socialite, however, one must also be recognized at home. The Sursocks were, moving into the highest circles, close to Ottoman and European representatives in Beirut, and intimates ... Previous Next |