Azad-Hye Special

The story of an Armenian Family in the Far East

Immigrant Armenians have settled in many locations in the world, including the Indian subcontinent and Far Asia.

The Indian Armenian community has a history that goes back to several hundred years.

The Armenian influence in Hong Kong has been remarkable as well, where Sir Catchick Paul Chater and his dynasty had a very big role in the development of the city.

Elizabeth Chater is a distant relative of Sir Chater, with roots going back to India and Hong Kong.

At the kind invitation of Bishop Armash Nalbandian, Primate of the Armenian Diocese in Damascus, Elizabeth (Liz), who currently resides in London, visited Damascus, Syria, from 01 February 2009.

During her stay in Damascus she met the Armenian community and talked about this most unique Armenian who lived in the 19th and early 20th centuries in Hong Kong.

The presentation took place on 06 February 2009, at 9pm, in Saint Sarkiss Armenian Church Hall - Tarkmantchats School (next to the Diocese building) in the Bab Sharki, old Damascus famous neighbourhood.

"The story of an Armenian family in the Far East" attracted the attention of Damascus Armenians, who followed Liz with great attention and asked her questions about the story of the Chater family and its legacy.

Below is a brief biography on Elizabeth Chater, an Armenian family history researcher:

Specialising in Armenians in India Liz Chater, who is based in the UK, has been researching the Armenians in India for the last nine years. Her interest in the Armenians came about because she knew very little about her father’s family, and so started looking into her family history. She soon discovered that she had Armenian ancestry.

At the time, there was very little information available on the Armenians in India, and so as she discovered information she shared it with others interested in the India connection.

Four years ago, she decided to start an ambitious project to photograph and transcribe all the Armenian graves in India and to make that information freely available to other interested researchers. Following many trips to India she was able to place approximately 3000 pictures of the Armenian graves on her extremely popular website. However, due to lack of funding she has had to close her website for the  foreseeable future, but is hopeful that a benefactor will be found to help fund the website and her unique research so that she can once again resume her research and complete the project.

Liz’s genealogical database has over 5,500 Armenians who once lived, worked and died in Asia and it is hoped that she will be able to get this information published and into the wider arena for others to benefit from.

During her research Liz also took time to look into the life of a distant ancestor of hers, Sir Catchick Paul Chater who was born in Calcutta in 1846 and, by all accounts, lived a most remarkable and successful life in the Far East.

For more information please contact:

ARMENIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH DIOCESE OF DAMASCUS
Bishop Armash Nalbandian, Primate
Bab Sharki, P.O. Box 2059
Damascus - Syria
Tel:  00 963 11 5447969 office
Fax: 00 963 11 5421577
Email: armdiocesedamas@web.de