Histories

Notes

Books

Letters

Named Photos

Un-named Photos

French Docs.

Russian Docs

Unknown Lang. Docs

APPENDICES

Notes on Gabriel de Wesselitsky Bojidarovitch ?? to 1930

His place of birth: Saint Petersburg.

Places of Residence.

Heidelburg.

Montenegro and

Hercegovina.

Family Document of 1767.

6.

Books written.

Copy of letter which he received from Mr W.S Churchill M.P

Order sand Decorations.

Some of those whom he met.

10.

Obituaries.

Saint Petersburg Petrograd Leningrad

City of Russia (then of the U.S.S.R).

Founded and built from 1703 onwards by Tsar Peter the Great 1682-1725

.

Situated at the mouth of the River Neva.

Three river channels lead to the Gulf of Bothnia.

The city was known as Petrograd from 1914 -1924

,

Now the city is known as Leningradsince1924.

It was the capital city of Russia and the Russian Empire from 1703 to 1917.

It is now the second largest city of the U.S.S.R and an important naval base.

Many magnificent buildings survive.

Many of the former Imperial Palaces have been preserved.

From its foundation it was known as St Petersburg.The vision of Peter the Great was that the city should be "a window into Europe".

The city is now of great importance commercially and industrially.

In 1942 the city enduredand surviveda very severeand exhausting seige by the Germans during the second World War for over a year.

Notes on Palaces at Saint Petersburg.

The former Imperial Winter Palace is now known as the Hermitage Museum.This houses an important national collection of paintings and works of art and artifacts.

Most of these were originally bought by Empress CatherineII from Sir Robert Walpole.It was formerly the largest palace in the world.

Building of the palace was begun by Empress Elizabeth and completed by Empress Catherine.

The Palace of Peterhof was begunin 1709 by Peter the Great and completed by Empress Catherine II. The oldest of the palaces,it lies on the shore of the Gulf of Finland,18 miles from Saint Petersburg.

TsarskoyeSelo village and palace was built between1779 and 1799.

Saint Petersburg was capital of the Russian Empire from 1703 ~1917

.

41 Notable Architects of the Palaces were:

Italian

Bartolemeo Rastrelli1700 - 1771

Scottish

Charles Cameron1740 - 1820

-

Giacomo Quarenghi 1744-1817 Italian

Russian

V. I Bazhenov 1737 - 1799

Russian

M. F Kazakov1733 - 1812

.

Personal

—

1

Dr Gabrielde Wessilitsky Bojidarovitch 1841-1930 was born at Tsarskoye Selo near to the capital.

Many years later he wrote a novel entitled"The Enigma of Peterhof".

Note dated November 1989.

25

Heidelberg

An ancient town situated on the River Neckar some 380 feet above sea level. There are ruins of a castle dating from the 13th century nearby. It is magnificently situated in the vicinity of a deep river gorge.

Historically Heidelberg was capital of the County Palatine of the Rhine.

Later on and until1945 it was in Land Baden.

The city is now in the province of Land Wurtemberg.

Presently its industries include bookbinding, printing,publishing, brewing and Tobacco manufacturing.

The University of Heidelberg

It was founded in 1385 and is the oldest universityin Germany.

It is often compared with Oxford University.

During the 18th and 19th centuries the University of Heidelberg was considered to be one of the leading Universities in Europe.

Dr de Wesselitsky Bojidarovitch attended the University from 1860— 1864.He was awarded a Doctorate of Philosophy.

3. Montenegroand Hercegovina

Montenegro

An ancient mountainous country of the Balkans with its former capital at Cetinje.

It is located in Southern Yugoslavia adjoining the Adriatic Sea.

The country was autonomous from 1389.It kept substantially free from foreign Domination partly on account of its mountainous character and partly becauseof its

Independent people.

During the 19th century it became a principality. Later in the century it had Prince Nicholas as its ruler.

In 1910 Nicholas became King Nicholas I of Montenegro,its first King.

From 1921 it became part of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

From 1929 Montenegro has been part of Yugoslavia,the people are Slavs.Their religion is substantially that of the Christian Orthodox Church.

From 1943 it was under communist control under Marshal Tito.

Montenegro from1945 becameone of the six republics of Yugoslavia which is a federation of republics.

The present capital is Titograd.

Hercegovina

The meaning of the name is "Duke's County".It is situated in a central position in Yugoslavia.

For its background story please refer to the historical sketches of the whole country.

—

Hercegovina is mainly in mountainous country limestonemountainsgivinga type

of climate known as Karst. There are many streams and rivers.

Politically it has been linked with Bosnia for many years. Since 1945 these two provinces share a former republic with its capital at Serajevo.

44 4.Places of Residence

were principally as follows:

1841 -1867

Saint Petersburg

1857—1861

Heidelberg

1861 -1865

Saint Petersburg

1866 -1870

Paris and Saint Petersburg

1870 =1878

Geneva

1878 - 1888

Dresden

1888 - 1889

Vienna

~

1892 Berlin and travelling widely

1892 - 1930 London

Summary of Dr Gabriel de Wesselitsky Bojidarovitch's Periods of Activity

18563 — 1878

Soldier

1864— 1919

Diplomat

1867— 1930

Journalist

1876. = 1930

Author

Berlin Congress

1878

Treaty of Versailles

1919

Adviser to the British Government 1902 - 1930

-

British Foreign Office Linguist and Censor 1915-1918

5.Family Document of 1767

The original of this document is held by the Family.

A Serbian Document in Church

Slavonic Language of 1767, it was translated into Russian, into French and into English.

English Copy of the Family Document

In the name of the Father,of the Son and of the Holy Spirit who we revere to the end of the whole world.

Amen.

We tell what follows from our knowledge of all the circumstances.

Our Superiorand Brotherof the Holy Monasterydedicatedto the Assumption

of the VirginMary has informed us as follows:-

We have found in the Register of our Convent that the family Bojidari who settled down during past centuries In Serbia were princes (jupanes or zupanes)and owned land and towns (in Serbia).

But it was found that there was cruelty and enmity towards them and that persecution of them persisted.

The Bojidari were compelled to leave.

Once in different lands they adopted different names: Vesselitchik.

One of the members of this family Vesseletchik (variablespelling) selected for himself a piece of land near to Trebinjein Hercegovina and he and his family settled there. They populated the town of Gomeliani at the same time they owned lands called Matchkoui, Liorite and Popoulitze.

The said Vesselitchik had a son named Radomir,who had a son named Peter.

Peter inherited land and property which continued in the same ownership up to the time of the war of 1711 on the River Pruth between the holy Muscovite Czar (Peter the Great) and the Ottoman Turks, during the course of which Vesselitchik lost all his possessions and land.

The above mentioned Peter, son of Radomir—— left one heir, his only son, Peter. Whilst still a child it was decided that all possessions must be left behind also all ancestral goods and that he must travel away.

Actually it is known that he arrived in the Holy Russian Empire. For this record it was discovered that evidence was found of the princely, noble and ancient line of Bojidari(or Bodari)and their descendants.

We certify that these matters are precisely true.

Accordingly we are delivering these documents which we have signed to the care of our Holy Convent.Given at the Convent dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, Trebinje, Hercegovina.

This 11th day of July 1767

Signed MATTHIEU Mouine Prestre

Superior for me and for the brotherhood.

Note1

subscribe a certified translation after the tribunal arranged by the

Department of the Seine (France): certified after translation at the present time

(from the Serbian language).

Paris27th August18756

Consulate General de Russea Paris

(Translated from Church Slavonic in French)

-

In 1931 Sergei de Wesselitsky Bojidarovitch (1882- 1957)

Applied for a change of name by Deed Poll in London.

The family name then became de VesselitskyMerriman

Merriman was a direct translation from the Russianised name : de Vesselitsky.

47 6. Books Written

—

Gabriel de Wesselitsky Bojidarovitch(1841-1930)

The Books and Pamphlets (lectures) he wrote

1The Problem of Asia

A Lecture to the Central Asian Society of London 1904

25 Ten Months of My Life : Dix Mois de me Vie

A Book written in French1876

3.The Russian Revolution

A lecture to the Sociological Society in London.

Delivered a message from Czar Nicholas II addressing his love of peace and friendship for England.

1906

4.Anglo-RussianReflections

"Always a firm friend of Britain"— a lecture given in Britain 1908

Also delivered to the Politicalclub in Petrograd (Leningrad) 1910

5.The German Peril and the Grand Alliance

A lecture given in London at the Central Hall, Westminster,

London to a thousand specially invited guests. 1916

6.The German Canker in Russia

A book which was translated into many languages from the

English in which it was originally written.1915

Russia and Democracy

This book was published widely particularly in the United

States of America and had important war time propaganda effects.

1916

8.Bosnia and Herzegovina

A lecture given in London.

9.New World Situation and New World Policy

A lecture given to the Geographical Society of Saint Petersburg.

It was the first public political speech ever permitted in Russia.19056

10.Russo—-German Relations

A lecture given to the Political Club in Petrograd.1912

The Enigma of Peterhof

A Novel written in French.