Gladys Hadkinson (IV): her fathers family

Gladys Hadkinson (IV) 

her fathers family. 

Gladys' father Charles Richard Hadkinson for a reason not yet understood, had settled from Smyrne to the Greece" mainland around 1890; expansion of the family business, political reasons ? And what lead him and his brother later to Alexandria ?  

Charles and his sister Lilian (1874-1972)

Charles owned an estate (he is mentioned as "farmer") near Krivolak in Macedonia, and is also mentioned as a mine director and probably served in 1910/20's in the Britsh Armed Forces on the Balkan. His three children were born in Macedonia. After WW1 Smyrne was occupied buy the Greeck but in 1922 Kemal Ataturk liberated the region. Now all the mainland is Turkish. 

From the 17th century several European countries controlled the profitable Levantine trade. First of all the Dutch, controlling the trade from Amsterdam but the British and the French and many other European countries participated. 

All nations established consulates organizing legal and diplomatic services, trading houses, transport (ships) business, consuls, diplomats etc.. Many families came to stay, we find generations of European settled in their own communities and marriages between "European Greecs" were frequent. A very international and prosperous society. 
    

Smyrne (now Izmir) is a natural harbour situated on the East coast of Turkey, one of the important classic cities like Troie, of ancient Greece. It was and is the gateway to the Levant (Eastern Mediterranean world), the  Middle-East (through ancient Aleppo in Syria) and connected through the silk-route to Persia, India and the far east. 

Ancient Greece World and modern Greece after 1922
    

Gladys grandfather Robert Hadkinson (Smyrne 1840-1924) was born in Smyrna as oldest son of Charles Hadkinson (1815-1881) who was born in Malta while his father James Hadkinson (1788-1855) originated from Manchester and married in Malta 1814 Scottish Amalia Johnson (Moffat Sc. 1798-1866 Manchester) but after a few years settling in Smyrne around 1820. They followed trading routes and "the money" to the Levant. 

Smyrna harbour around 1895

Founding the first olive oil factory in the mid 1870's Robert Hadkinson soon after owned several more factories near the sea growing into Anatolia's largest oil producer at the end of the 20th century owning two sunflower-, four sesame-, six cottonseed and ten olive- oil factories. He imported steam engines from England to power his factories. His mother Constanza Makritz (1822-1894) was born in Lussino (Croatia) but her name indicates a possible German descent. Robert had 10 brothers and sisters.   

Robert Hadkinson came to lead the British olive-oil & soap factories financed by investors in London in which also several brothers were involved. It is not far fetched assuming the Hadkinson family around this time was of considerable financial means.  

Robert married Anna Elisabeth Keun (1846-1911) from a 4th generation Smyrne Keun family of diplomats. Her great-grandfather Abraham Keun came to Smyrne as consul appointed by the Dutch VOC "Levantine Chamber" from Amsterdam, which was residing in newly build the "Palace on the Dam" in the late 18th century. 

Prosperous Amsterdam around 1775 seen by Hendrik Keun (not related) 

Consul Abraham Keun and administrator Jean Jacques Dutilh, who was also to become one of Gladys' ancestors settled in Smyrne both marrying a daughter of George Boddington the British Consul. The Fantozzi and Purdie family's (above) were also (high) officials in Smyrne's administration. Dutilh was from French Huguenot descent, his protestant family  fled persecution from Bordeaux after 1685 (Edict of Fontainebleau) to Amsterdam.  

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This completes more or less my research in Gladys Hadksinson's ancestors and family. Please send any information, corrections or comments for sharing. 

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All pictures borrowed freely from the Internet for friendly, educational and non commercial use only.   

   

Gladys Hadkinson II: continued

Gladys Hadkinson (II)
(Macedonia/Greece 1895 - 1925 Paris)

 new information & continued

Last week a nice lady from the Hague emailed me. She'd started investigating a portrait drawing of a Indonesian noble boy (prince ?) in the "Kraton" (a palace of a Iocal Indonesian ruler) bought in an auction and since decades in her cherished possession, her late husband had been of Indonesian descent. Thus she found Gladys Hadkinson in the Blog. 

The drawing is dated 1919 and since Gladys is registered living (off and on) in the Hague 1911 - 1921 I assume she was visiting her sister Dorothy (read later) who, after marrying had emigrated to the Dutch East-Indies in 1915. My research into the artist Gladys Hadkinson started with finding this etching in a local car boot  and over the weeks has revealed a highly intriguing history worth sharing. 

Starting with what I know about her direct family: she was born and spend her youth with her younger brother Ronald Oliver (b.1897)  and elder sister Dorothy (b.1892) in an estate in Krivolak, Macedonia, a pretty desolate region, where her father Charles Hadkinson was a "farmer" no doubt in the olive and soap business started by his father in the late 19th century in Smyrna/Greece, now Izmir/Turkey. Much more about his family later. Charles Hadkinson I also found mentioned in the Macedonian Allchar mining business as a director.  

How her father and mother met is still a riddle but we find the Hadkinson family living in the-Hague Netherlands 1911/1921 arriving shortly before the outbreak of WW1: in the Halmstraat (1911/14) and later in the Daendelstraat 76 (until 1921 when mother Ernestine and daughter Gladys moved to Munich). Her mother writing from London and the Hague in the late 1890's and early 1900's. I think they choose settling in the Netherlands for the education of their children.  

The-Hague had been the birthplace of Gladys' mother Ernestine Seiffert (1863 - Surabaya 1928). She was from a very musical family: more later. Charles Hadkinson probably returned regularly to his Macedonian estate. He is also mentioned as a military in the British forces in Macedonia during WW1. The Hadkinson family travelled between London and the-Hague finally moving to Munich in 1921. Gladys died in Paris in 1925 and her mother in Surabaya in 1928. I will tell more about Gladys' Dutch maternal and Greek/British/Dutch/Italian/Turkish paternal ancestors in next posting. 

Gladys' sister Dorothy Hadkinson married in the-Hague in 1914 and 1915 emigrated with her husband Friedrich Neumann through London to Surabaya, Java in the Dutch East-Indies. His Neumann family had a long history as clerks, residents and plantation owners in Amboina (Ambon archipelago) and probably had arrived in 1792 with one Gottlieb Neumann sailing as a German soldier in the Dutch East-India company (VOC) (much more later). In 1916 her brother Ronald Oliver, aged 19, sailed for Medan with the steam-freighter SS Menado (below) probably to visit his sister. 

Gladys will have spent some 10 years in the Hague roughly between the age of 16 and 26 and probably was taught artistically privately by Philippe Zilcken (1857-1930) the etcher working and living in the Hague. Her mother had been in contact  with Zilcken from London in the late 1890's until 1907. I found Ronald-Oliver Hadkinson later living in London, before WW2. We know Gladys went to Paris, to study, but died tragically, only 29 years old in or shortly after giving birth to her daughter Sylvia Georgina Ruth Hadkinson in 1925.

The marriage between her parents Charles and Ernestine must have ended in separation because a year after her mother Ernestine died in Surabaya (living or visiting her daughter and grand-daughter Sylvia ?) in 1928 her father Charles Hadkinson (1865-1924) remarried in Athens but already having fathered a daughter Gladys Artemis (b. 1924) and Robert Theodor (b.1925). Charles Hadkinson died 1942 in Alexandria (Egypt) as did his younger brother Richard Hadkinson in 1943. 

Gladys' daughter Sylvia (left) was probably raised by her sister Dorothy Neumann-Hadkinson who'd emigrated to the Dutch East-Indies in 1915. I was not able to find if she and her husband  had any (other) children.  In the ships passengers list I found Dorothy Neumann-Hadkinson sailing from London in 1933 with SS Baloeran (below leaving Rotterdam) to Egypt. 

Somehow Sylvia found her way back to the Netherlands because shortly after WW2 she married Louis Kampman and started a family in Haarlem, then emigrating in 1952 to Brisbane, New South Wales, Australia. Where I also found Dorothy Neumann-Hadkinson. Sylvia Kampman-Hadkinson died in 2011. One of her daughters (Iris b. 1948) today is living in Brisbane. 

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With the publication of my personal research into the life and family of the short lived artist Gladys Hadkinson I sincerely hope not to have intruded in any family affairs. All the information revealed was, with some perseverance, found in the Internet. Next will be the highly interesting international ancestors of Charles Hadkinson (entrepreneurs) from Smyrne (now Izmir in Turkey) and Ernestine Seiffert (musicians) in the Hague originally from Germany. 

I have requested the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam for sending me the (not available for the public) correspondence of Ernestine Hadkinson with the etcher Philippe Zilcken, probably the teacher of her daughters and works of art, probably a bequest by Gladys sister Dorothy Neumann-Hadkinson, held in its archives. 

If you happen to stumble over this posting and have any knowledge for sharing about the persons mentioned and are willing to share please send.

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All pictures borrowed freely from the Internet for friendly, educational and non commercial use only.

Gladys Hadkinson and Philippe Zilcken.

Curious by heart my attention to this etching wasn't drawn by the quality or subject, some leafless trees surrounding a pond with a fence. But it hung for several weeks in a local charity shop and reminded me of Philippe Zilcken (the Hague 1857-1930) a Dutch painter/etcher who was appreciated and well known around the turn of the century because of his skills as an etcher for his etched copies of very popular paintings by Hendrik Willem Mesdag (1831-1915).

He was also known for his interest and travels in the Orient with his contemporary but much more famous and appreciated "Dutch Orientalist" Marius Bauer (the Hague 1867-1932) (below).

Zilcken's etchings, often unrecognized, can be regularly found in sales, car boots, charity shops etc.. Bauer's  work (with "Rembrandtesque" light) on the other hand is highly sought after and very collectable. (Follow the Label to read about my Bauer find or click here).   

The signature, after some serious puzzling reads G. Hadkinson and: '2  '16, probably indicating a "second state" print created in 1916. I thought there might be an interesting story in here somewhere. 

Googling, I found a mentioning of a correspondence in the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum (sadly not to be consulted by the public) between Ernestine Hadkinson (1863-1928) and Philippe Zilcken.  And also some works created by Gladys' younger sister Dorothy (1892-1958) are kept in "the Rijks".  

This Hadkinson family is mentioned living in Greece, Macedonia and Turkey. Ernestine Hadkinson-Seiffert was born in the Hague, Netherlands, her father was August Seiffert.  

Here's some genealogy maybe helping to solve the mystery concerning the maker. In here I found a G. for Gladys Hadkinson.  

  

Gladys Anna Eleanora Hadkinson was born in Kravolak in Macedonia-Vadar region in 1895 (although her birth was registered in 1918 by her grandfather at the British Consulate General in Saloniki in Greece: 23 years later !). 

Sadly Gladys Hadkinson died in Paris 1925 shortly after or during giving birth to a daughter: Sylvia Georgina Ruth Hadkinson (Paris 1925-2011 U.K.). I found her father Charles was a farmer in Macedonia and is mentioned as a RNVR (Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve) in the British army and is mentioned in publications with war-witness accounts. This particular corner of Europe (Balkan) has a violent past: wars, feuds and ethnic cleansing. 

Maybe Gladys travelled and settled in Paris to study further but she is not mentioned in any Artist Lexicon, dying so young of course, nor has she an artistic entry in the Internet. I suggest her mother Ernestine, one way or the other knew the etcher Zilcken (they were both from the Hague). Is it far fetched suggesting she possibly negotiated concerning etching or drawing lessons for her artistic daughter(s) ........ ?

Three Dutch etchers: Ph. Zilcken (1857-1930), Jan Veth (1864-1925) and Marius Bauer (1876-1932)
and a printing technician. 

Ernestine (Hadkinson) Seiffert died in Surabaya, Indonesia in 1928 so Gladys' parents probably divorced or separated earlier because her father Charles Hadkinson had two more children in Greece with a second wife in 1924 and 1925, he died in Alexandria Egypt 1942. Ernestine, probably well educated, wrote an article in an Amsterdam newspaper (de Groene Amsterdammer) in 1914 on Macedonia. 

I have no clue how this etching with an interesting family history ended up in my back-yard. It was donated to a local charity shop, its artistic and family ties and values long forgotten. 

Maybe this posting will be picked up by some-one interested in this particular Hadkinson family.  

All information and help is welcomed !