Helena Schilizzi

Helena Stefanovich Schilizzi (Greek: Έλενα Σκυλίτση-Στεφάνοβικ, Elena Skylitsi-Stefanovik; 18 September 1873 — 7 September 1959), was a wealthy British philanthropist, and second wife of the Greek statesman Eleftherios Venizelos.

Helena Schilizzi Venizelos, from a 1921 publication.

Early life

Helena Stefanovich Schilizzi was born in London, the daughter of John Stefanovich Schilizzi and Virginia Sechiari Schilizzi. Her parents were both Greeks, but according to surname Stefanovich father could be Serb origin, born in Constantinople; her father was a wealthy merchant.[1][2]

Philanthropy and other contributions

In 1917, Helena Schilizzi endowed the Koraes Chair of Modern Greek and Byzantine History, Language and Literature, a professorship at King's College London, to promote studies in modern Greek literature and history.[3][4] The first holder of the Koraes Chair was economic historian Arnold Toynbee, from 1919 to 1924.[5]

Schilizzi donated money for hospitals, theatres, schools, and for war relief and other emergencies in Greece. In widowhood, she sold her house in Athens to become the British embassy in Greece.[6] One of her London houses in Grosvenor Square was used as a Greek embassy, during the tenure of diplomat and writer Giorgos Seferis.[7] Helena Schilizzi Venizelos published a short memoir, À l'ombre de Veniselos ("In the shadow of Venizelos"), in 1955.[8]

Personal life and legacy
The Square of Elena Venizelou, in Chania, Crete.

Helena Schilizzi met Greek statesman Eleftherios Venizelos in 1912, and married him in 1921.[9] She was injured in an assassination attempt against her husband in 1933, and widowed when he died in 1936.[10] She died in Paris in 1959, aged 85 years. Today there are Schilizzi Foundation Scholarships named in her memory, awarded to students of Greek nationality studying at King's College London.[11] In Crete (her husband's homeland) the Elena Venizelou Prize is named in her memory, and awarded to advanced music students.[12] In Athens, there is a city square and a maternity hospital named for Helena Venizelos.[13] There was also an oil tanker named the Helena Venizelos, built in Norway in 1958, now decommissioned or lost.[14]

Politician Helen Schilizzi (1904-1988) was Helena Schilizzi's niece, the daughter of Helena's brother Stephen Schilizzi.[15]

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References
  1. Helena Schilizzi, Agelastos Family Genealogy Pages.
  2. "A Greek Merchant's Fortune" The Guardian (November 3, 1908): 4. via Newspapers.com
  3. Richard Clogg, Politics and the Academy: Arnold Toynbee and the Koraes Chair (Routledge 2013): 7-17. ISBN 9781135175986
  4. The Koraes Chair, King's College London Alumni Greece.
  5. The Koraes Chair, King's College London.
  6. "Athens: two mission houses" Room for Diplomacy: Catalogue of British embassy and consulate buildings, 1800 – 2010.
  7. Roderick Beaton, George Seferis: Waiting for the Angel: A Biography (Yale University Press 2003): 343. ISBN 9780300101355
  8. Helena Schilizzi Venizelos, À l'ombre de Veniselos (Librairie de Médicis, 1955).
  9. "Venizelos Will Arrive with his Bride Today" The Washington Post (October 21, 1921): 3.
  10. "Venizelos, of Greece, Dead in Paris at 72" Chicago Daily Tribune (March 18, 1936): 1.
  11. Postgraduate UK study and funding guide (Hotcourses 2007): 112. ISBN 9781904735311
  12. Elena Venizelou Prize, National Research Foundation "Eleftherios K. Venizelos".
  13. Gregory I. Tsoucalas, et al., "The 1947's Newborns Emergency Transportation in Greece, a Forethought in Baby Caring, Stepping into the Future" International Journal of Caring Sciences 9(3)(September-December 2016): 1117-1123.
  14. "Helena Venizelos" vessel, Baltic Shipping Services.
  15. Alexandra Helen Schilizzi, The Peerage.
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