Lecture: An Ottoman souvenir from Cyprus: The coral seal pendant of John Houseman Hutchinson (1822-1902)
By Robert S.Merrillees
Date: Wednesday, 1 November 2023
Commencement: 18:30
Location: CVAR | Ermou 285, Nicosia, 1017
The lecture will be delivered in English.
John Houseman Hutchinson, whose coral seal pendant recently came up for sale in Honfleur, France, was born and brought up in England but spent much of his working life in the Levant. After serving in the Army Works Corps in Crimea from 1855 to 1856, he was engaged as a private contractor on railway and other infrastructure projects in the Balkans and Anatolia from 1856 to 1878 and carried out numerous buildings and architectural renovations in Cyprus between 1878 and 1902. He wrote nothing about his experiences and made no collections of objets d’art that we know of but took a keen interest in horse racing. He and his family were well integrated into local society in Cyprus and still have descendants on the island and in England. John Houseman Hutchinson and his wife died in Cyprus and are buried in the old British Cemetery in Nicosia, together with two of their daughters and one of their grandsons.
The lecture is made possible with the support of the Active Citizens Fund.
