Demetrius Stefanovich Schilizzi
Greek businessman, diplomat, amateur composer and benefactor
Demetrius Stefanovich Schilizzi (many spellings; Greek: Δημήτριος Στεφάνοβικ Σκυλίτσης; 1839–1893) was an Ottoman-born Greek banker in London and Paris, and later a steamship owner in Constantinople. He was also the acting Italian consul in Calcutta for some time starting in 1864, and an amateur composer.
Life
Demetrius was born in Constantinople to Zannis Stefanovich Schilizzi (1806–1888), one of the Schilizzi merchant and shipping family originally from Chios, and Eleni Vouro. The Schilizzi family was one of the trading dynasties that arose after the 1822 Chios massacre of the Greek War of Independence. Demetrius' uncle J. S. Schilizzi (1805–1892) was in the Black Sea grain trade at Livorno, and founded a London branch in 1837. Demetrius Schilizzi began his banking career in Paris.
In 1871 Demetrius Schilizzi was living in Surrey Gardens, Hyde Park, London, with J. S. Schilizzi. In 1873 the London firm Schilizzi & Co. was restructured, with J. S. Schilizzi retaining the name, and Demetrius and two other family members forming Schilizzi Brothers, in business at 25 Austin Friars. He was also a director of the Imperial Bank, joining its board in 1873 on the death of Pantaleone Constantine Ralli.
“Demetrius Stefanovich Schilizzi” enters the record as greek businessman, diplomat, amateur composer and benefactor. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Demetrius, Stefanovich and Schilizzi can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q59328616. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1839, 1893, 1864 and 1806.
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This entry incorporates text from “Demetrius Stefanovich Schilizzi” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.