Pages

Support The Stories!


Do you like these stories?
Please help me to continue bringing them to you.
A contribution, no matter how small will help.

https://www.paypal.me/LizChater




Showing posts with label Insolvent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Insolvent. Show all posts

12 May 2019

Peter Nicholas Pogose the less successful cousin


Not all the Pogose’s were successful in life. Peter Nicholas Pogose had to learn at a very young age to live by his wits and words. He never really had the same flourish as his more successful cousin Joakim Gregory Nicholas Pogose the Pogose School founder. 

In 1867 Peter's father Nicholas was briefly one of four proprietors of the “Dhaka Daily News”, a Planter’s Journal issued weekly. Only 225 copies were printed and distributed. In 1876[1]  he was also a Warden of the Armenian Church Dhaka, but during his lifetime was declared “hopelessly insolvent”. Nicholas’s son Peter Nicholas Pogose and his wife Eugenie née Manook seem to spend the majority of their lives playing catch-up and trying to avoid their creditors. Peter was embroiled in a spectacular court case for fraud, eventually being found guilty.

In 1884 Peter Nicholas Pogose, (son of Nicholas Peter Pogose[2] and Mary née  Sarkies, and great grandson of Nicholas Marcar Pogose)[3], was embroiled in a sensational court case of fraud where it was alleged he used his marriage settlement to his wife (who was a minor) to deliberately avoid paying his ever growing and impatient creditors by ensuring his finances had been transferred in to his wife’s name, Eugene née Manook. 

In June 1877 the Delhi and London Bank obtained a decree against him for a sum of Rs 11,076. Later that month Pogose entered into an agreement with the Bank Manager to pay them Rs 2,000 quarterly until the debt, including interest had been cleared. However, he dragged his feet in making payments and in August 1877 wrote to the Bank claiming he was having trouble finding the first instalment and asked for their patience in the matter until January 1878 when he indicated he would be in a position to pay them. Between September 1877 and February 1878 he managed to find Rs 4,000 towards his debt. After the last payment on the 25th February of a measly Rs 490, Peter Pogose and his wife immediately left Dacca and sailed for England, no further payments were made. The Bank’s patience waning, they applied to the Mymensingh Court for an execution of an attachment to his properties in that district. In June 1880 Pogose put in a claim stating that on the 5th November 1877, the day prior to his marriage to Eugene Manook he has entered into an ante-nuptial settlement in which his properties in Mymensingh were part of that agreement [a modern day pre-nup] with her, and these properties rested with Eugene for her life, and after her death to her children by him.  Astutely, Pogose had ensured a clause in the marriage settlement that stated his wife was to support him for his lifetime, and concluded “…and that henceforth all my rights to the same shall cease to exist….” In June 1878 he took out a certificate to manage these properties on behalf of his wife. The courts could see he was trying to circumnavigate his financial situation, and dismissed this in December 1880 where it was stated that the settlement was “….no more than a mere ostensible transfer, carrying with it no change of ownership….” Further action was initiated by Eugene to declare her interest in the properties but it was concluded that the whole process had been set up with a view to “defraud the creditors of P.N. Pogose, and that the judgement-debtor, his father-in-law, Mr. Manook and friends had collusively got up the deed, with the object of protecting the properties of P.N. Pogose.”  The courts decided that it was highly unlikely that Eugene’s parents didn’t know of Pogose’s financial woes and were colluding to try and minimise any repayments.
Graphic showing the cousin connection between Joakim Gregory Nicholas Pogose and Nicholas Peter Pogose
 The courts were simply not having any of the arguments put before them, and concluded: “… at the time when Mr. Pogose was hopelessly in debt, he contracted a marriage, in consideration of which he settled whatever property he had upon his wife and children, subject to his maintenance, and a debt which had previously been charged on the property in dispute. The circumstances under which the deed was executed, as well as the nature of the transaction, tend to show that the conveyance was made with a view to screen the property from the creditors.” The Court went on: “…before the marriage between Mr and Mrs Pogose, they had been related to each other, and it is probably that Mrs. Pogose and her parents were aware of the insolvent state of Mr. Pogose, when the conveyance was executed………..The fact that Mr. Pogose conveyed all his property charging it with his maintenance and the payment of the mortgage debt only, in consideration of his marriage to Mrs. Manook, who did not in return advance any sum to, or place any property at the dispose of Mr. Pogose, clearly tends to show that the settlement was made under the cloak of marriage with a view to defraud creditors.”

The court described Mr. Pogose and that of his family: “…Mr. Peter Nicholas Pogose, against whom the decree has been obtained, was the son of Mr. Nicholas Petroos Pogose, who is now dead. The latter was once a gentleman of very large property; but he became hopelessly and notoriously insolvent, and his property was assigned to trustees for the benefit of his creditors.  The first witness for the plaintiff, who has been in the service of the Pogose family as mohurir since the year 1841, described the property of Mr. Pogose’s father as worth seven or eight lacs of rupees, whilst his debts were upwards of twelve lacs.

Simplified chart showing Peter Nicholas Pogose and Eugene Manook as 2nd cousins and husband and wife
 The plaintiff was a second cousin of her husband, and the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Carlo (sic) Johannes Manook.  The plaintiff at the time of the marriage was sixteen years of age; and we are told by her parents that the proposals for the marriage took place in 1876, about a year before the marriage. Mr. Pogose had a one-seventh share of his mother’s property, which consisted of an 8-anna share in an estate in Mymensingh, and in four other smaller properties in Backergunge.  There was no honest reason, so far as we can see, why Mr. Pogose should have so completely denuded himself [financially]; and it does not appear that Mrs. Pogose brought anything whatever into the settlement.

We entirely agree with the Courts below that the manifest object of this transaction was to defraud Mr. Pogose’s creditors.

At the time of his marriage, Mr. Pogose still owed the Bank upwards of Rs 10,000, he owed his solicitors Rs, 4,000; and there  is evidence of three other Small Cause Court decrees being out against him, which were taken at the hearing before us to amount to Rs 3,000.  He therefore owed at least Rs 17,000; and it is possible, of course, that his debts may have been very much larger.”

Peter Pogose inherited nothing from his insolvent father, but rather his mother. Desperate times call for desperate measures, but his plan was never going to work.

“It must be borne in mind, that the Manooks were nearly [closely] related to the Pogose family.  They must have known perfectly well, what was notorious through the country at the time, that Mr. Pogose’s father, who was once a man of fortune, had become hopelessly insolvent.  Mr. Manook could hardly under such circumstances have allowed his daughter to marry Mr. Pogose without ascertaining his pecuniary position. And considering that Mr. Pogose’s Babus were perfectly aware of his indebtedness, it seems impossible to suppose that Mr. Manook should not have known this.

Then the extraordinary character of the settlement itself appears to us a clear indication of fraud.

Then, what was the value of the property settled? His father had died hopelessly insolvent. [Since the marriage] he has ever since managed the property and been in receipt of the rents and profits of it, through his brother, Mr. Carr Pogose.  So soon as Mr. Pogose had paid the Bank Rs, 2,000 in February 1878, he at once went off to England with Mrs. Pogose, and so far as appears, he has been there ever since”

In addition, the Court observed: “Further evidence indicated that Mrs. Pogose returned to Dacca after a year in England, only to go back to England again, Mr. Pogose never having set foot back in India[4] after the court case and both of them NEVER having made a personal appearance during any part of the hearing.”

Their appeal was dismissed and Mr. and Mrs. Peter Nicholas Pogose were found guilty of fraud.

After the court case, and by 1883 he had moved his family to England, their next child, Lily was born in Paddington in March of that year.

Another child, Gladys was born in India in April 1884, but the peripatetic lifestyle of Peter and Eugene was such that Gladys was baptised in London in November of that year. 

Two further children were born in England; Weenie in 1886 and Kate in 1887.
Whilst Eugene had 7 young children to look after ranging from 11 years to a new born baby, Peter once again got himself into trouble in 1887.

This time, he found himself in court charged with fraud and perjury.  The newspapers reported the case over several days and it would appear he had changed his name slightly, to perhaps put off the scent from India. In England he was Peter Nicholas Thaddeus Pogose, a law student, but no record can be found for him passing any law examinations.  In the Shrewsbury Conspiracy Case, the courts found him guilty and he was sent to prison for four months hard labour. In the Staffordshire Chronicle[5] it was reported that “..he had begun life as a ‘law student’, but had taken to bill dealing……” One newspaper did report a whiff of his previous bankruptcy[6] but did not dwell on it, preferring to report on the current case, rather than what had happened in the past.

Reinventing himself for a second time because of his fraudulent way and trying to put Dacca into a dim and distant past, he turned to the United States, putting miles and years between him and his fall from grace in Bangladesh.  He found respectability - eventually. It is unclear exactly when he arrived in the USA, but it is thought that once he had served his prison term, he left England to seek another new start, his wife and children joined him there in 1890.

The last two offspring of Peter and Eugene were born in New York; Leslie in 1895 and Olivette in 1898.

Eugene Pogose nee Manook.
Portrait from a passport application.

He became a travelling salesman for ink and printing products. Working for the Jaenecke Printing Co[7]., in New Jersey, he regularly travelled around the US and by all accounts, was well liked and respected.

The Eagle newspaper in Texas noted on 23rd July 1912:

“N.P. Pogose of New York State spent last night and today in Bryan. He is travelling salesman for Jaenecke Printing Ink Co., and has been travelling for twenty-nine years. We find him a very agreeable old gentleman and hope he will make Bryan often.”

He must have been doing very well for himself because he listed in the Classified Ads of “The Record” in 1915 a New Jersey paper, that he had a six roomed flat with “bath and all improvements” to let, as well as a large store and office[8]. However in the same newspaper in May 1916 Nicholas was found guilty and fine $50 with costs of $18.40 for maintaining a disorderly house and a gambling den.[9]

Descendants of Peter and Eugenie’s children all now live in the USA. Peter passed away in May 1925 in New York, Eugenie passed away in December 1949 also in New York. A long way from the family lands and Zamindari of Dacca, they are buried together in Rockland Cemetery, New Jersey.



[1] ‘The Indian Mirror’ of 28th November 1875
[2] Nicholas Peter Pogose is often incorrectly attributed as the founder of the Pogose School. He was not. It was his cousin, Joakim Gregory Nicholas Pogose, also known as "Nicky" who founded the school. Nicholas can be found listed as the Secretary at the school rather than the founder and headmaster. See Bengal Directory 1875 for entry. 
Nicholas Peter Pogose lost his father, Peter Nicholas Pogose at the age of 12. Nicholas’s mother Elizabeth re-married in 1842 a year after her husband’s death to Deare John Christian the son of a Jewish Polish immigrant. Evidence of Nicholas Peter Pogose being in early education at the time of the founding of the Pogose School lends additional weight that he could not have started the Pogose School.  This can be seen in the “General Report on Public Instruction in the Lower Provinces of the Bengal Presidency for 1845-46” where Nicholas Peter Pogose is noted as having obtained a ‘junior scholarship’ at the Dacca College aged 15 in June 1846. The report notes that some students in this school continued education there until they were in their early 20’s. Certainly, Nicholas Peter Pogose would not have been equipped nor experienced enough between the ages of 15 and 17 to create the Pogose School by June 1848 when he would have been just 5 months shy of his 18th birthday. Furthermore, Nicholas Peter Pogose spent a great deal of his early adult years fighting debtors and bankruptcy and was never as successful as his cousin Joakim.

[3] See family tree below for a better understanding of this branch of the Pogose stem
[4] This couldn’t have been the case, because their first three children, Nicholas, Eva and Richard  were all born in India between 1878 and 1881.
[5] 27th November 1887 P.6
[6] He had a County Court Judgement against him dated 9 January 1882 for £17-16s-2d, at today’s values that is approximately £1,700. (see “Extracts from the Register of County Courts” Commercial Gazette 2 February 1882). The address for him at the time was given as Rose Lawn, Catford Bridge, London.
In January 1883 he was declared bankrupt, and Trustees Robert Lindsay and Sidney Smith were appointed to oversee the property and debts of Pogose, his address at the declaration of bankruptcy was 2 Roseford Terrace, Shepherds Bush, London.(See London Gazette 27 February 1883 P.1170). By July 1885, his long-suffering wife, Eugenie appears to have entered into a “Bill of Sale Agreement” with a Thomas Bromwich for the sum of £150 (Today’s value would be around £15,000). She is described as ‘wife of Peter Nicholas Pogose of 10 Wharton Road, Addison Park, London’. By putting the debt in her name, was this a case of Eugenie being used once more by her husband to try and get himself out of trouble, just the same way it was disclosed in the Court Case in India?
[7] The Tampa Tribune, 30 October 1906
[8] The Record, Hackensack New Jersey 25th April 1915 P.7
[9] The Record, Hackensack New Jersey 20th May 1916. P.1

02 March 2014

The Arathoon Nicholas Story of the Missing Millions

This is another of my occasional reviews concerning Armenian family history. A story of great riches, unpaid legacies and inevitably great disappointment, of women, legitimate and illegitmate children, a woman scorned, a spell in jail, desperate insolvency, a dishonest apprentice and a priest whose head was turned by the contents of a will.

Various documents are slowly being brought together that fleshes out the story of a vast fortune now lost somewhere.


Arathoon Nicholas, son of Nicholas Arathoon Nicholas was born in Julfa around 1807. Like so many Armenians he travelled to India in the hope of starting a business and enriching his life. In 1832 he married Khachkhatun Hyrapiet in Calcutta and they went on to have 8 children, 4 boys 4 girls. During this marriage he had a relationship with a woman called Anna Catchick Ter Astwachatoor. Exactly what her personal circumstances were are unclear, but no marriage record can be found for them. They did however have a son whom they named Tegran Arathoon Nicholas born in 1841. Meanwhile his wife Khachkhatun died in 1858, no formal union appears to have taken place with Anna. In 1883 Arrathoon married the widow Varvar Lucas nee Sarkies with whom he went on to have two daughters.

Arathoon’s fortunes do not appear to have gone successfully as he can be found in government gazettes applying to the courts in Calcutta for relief in December 1855 his occupation listed as River Merchant. It would appear from original documents I have obtained of the insolvency order (see image Nos. 1,6,7 & 8 ) that not only was he applying for relief, he had been in jail since October of that year brought about by Anna the mother of the illegitimate Tegran above for unpaid debts.

Image No. 1
He tried and failed to get court protection from arrest in respect to the debts he owed and hoped that he would be allowed to appear before the court to plead his side. He was refused and remained in jail, how long for is unclear.


His two eldest sons by Khachkhatun, Nicholas and John both die as children aged 5 and 16 repectively. His youngest son Astur died at the age of 22 leaving only one legitimate son Nicholas Arrathoon Nicholas and the illegitimate son Tegran Arathoon Nicholas. These two half brothers became engineers. They worked together on the ship the SS Scotia, Tegran as the chief Engineer and Nicholas as the 2nd engineer. On the 17th June 1876 they were sailing the ship from Calcutta to Penang delivering her to new owners, the ship must have hit a storm it never made it to Penang and nothing was ever heard from her again. All perished.

 Arathoon Nicholas now did not have any male heirs.

Image No. 6

 Jumping forward 70+ years
 A story of a vast lost fortune was the talk not only of Calcutta but of Julfa too.

In a letter written by Mayill Jordan to his nephew Johny Jordan dated 20th June 1947 Mayill explains to him about a lost fortune and how, with Johny’s help they could help recover it and earn themselves a portion for their trouble. 

(See Image No. 9 - transcription of image is below)

Image No. 7
























Image No. 8
























Image No. 9
Tehran
20th June 1947

“Now dear old Johny there is a more important and profitable matter which I would like to explain to you as briefly as possible and ask your co-operation.

You must have no doubt heard of the existence of a Amirkhanian Legacy involving several millions of Pounds. I am now explaining you the whole affair as has been explained to me by one of the heirs, Mr. Harutune, the son of Mariam Bulbulian. From the copies of documents shown to me by Harutune it appears that some 60 or 80 years ago there has been a Harutune Nicholas, possessing river steamers and one or two indigo factories somewhere near Calcutta. He had two small sons who could not help him in his business. Harutune Nicholas inherits a young and energetic Armenian called Amirkhanian, who gradually masters the whole business in a faithful manner. Amirkhanian goes to the Straits on business and upon arrival at Penang he gets seriously sick. Ter Sahak is being called form Singapore or Rangoon to make his will. Amirkhanian in this will gives everything to his two step brothers (the two young sons of his kind step father) and goes to the next world. Ter Sahak seeing the weight and value of the will, instead of handing it over to our priesthood in Calcutta puts it in his pocket and while transferred to Julfa he brings the will to Julfa with him without saying a word to any official source, except to his daughter Assaneth. The latter for years tries to get heir of some sort and share the legacy with him. She fails. Upon hearing that one of the real heirs – Levon Tussikian – lives in Tiflis, she takes the will to Tiflis, where Tussikian’s wife becomes aware of the case and makes her [missing text] and to apply for his share. He succeeds, however, in getting [missing text] it being £8.000.000. Assaneth returns to Julfa without [missing text] success where she dies and no body knows what became of [missing text] original of the will. Amirkhanian will has been in every mouth for a score of years. Anybody in American, Afrika, Turkey, and elsewhere bearing that name has claimed to be the proper heir of the deceased Amirkhanian. People with their advocates have gone to Madras Court but have returned as empty as they had gone. Mrs. Mariam Bulbulian claims to be the real heir of the Legacy. She has a pile of documents and certificates proving that and has been following the case since the past 15 years. She has a good advocate who, I am told, has gone 70% of the work and he has got to take Mrs. Mariam to Madras to the madras Court where copy of the Will is and make her claim. To finish the case she needs nearly Rupees 40.000 which I would not mind to accord provided what I have been told are bare facts, they are substantiated by authentic documents, she is really the heir and she will appropriate the legacy. I want you to go through all the file that Mrs. Mariam will put before you. If you find the business clear and solid as has been put before me you may advance her the necessary money for her journey, and that of her advocate, to Madras and for all the expenses for the first session which, as I am told will amount to rupees ten thousand. Should you not have this money at your disposal, or being unable to raise it from somewhere to pay her at once till I arrange the remittance upon hearing form you, you may at once wire me to remit you. By the time this letter reaches you our relation with Lahoti [a business contact with whom Mayill is having trouble with] might have been cleared and I may have plenty of money with him to be remitted to me for my preliminary expenses. I am enclosing, however, a line or two to Lahoti to be presented to him or his friend should you find our relation with these people clear and friendly enough to present this draft of mine when quite sure that it will not be refused. Anyhow I want to help this lady first of all because she belongs to my race. She is a child of Julfa. Her late husband has been my teacher whom I am indebted for my schooling. Once she gets the will out she will be one of the biggest millioneers (sic) of the world. Many people will get enriched. She will make a rich contribution to our dear country and in the meantime she will make me a liberal remuneration for my co-operation. All you have to do is to see that her papers are absolutely right and she is recognised to be the proper heir. Once this is proved you must see what she is prepared to pay me for my co-operation. The money is a big one and I don’t think Mrs. Mariam will fail to accommodate me in a liberal manner. After closing the bargain with her you must get her [to] sign an official agreement for the amount she promises to pay on collection of the will. You are a smart boy and you must be very careful in your investigations. This is not a commercial risk I am going to do. Very few people will make risks like this and you must be careful that besides that I do not lose I fairly liberal remuneration is made to me. I leave the size to you. Once you ascertain that there is a will in the Madras Court in the name of Amirkhanian you must try to find out what is nature is. Is it true that everything has been made in the name of Arratoon Nicholas’s two sons who were drowned with their own steamer. Should this statement be correct then there is no doubt that the father of the deceased 2 boys must be recognised as heir. And in as much as Arratoon Nikolas died after his two sons the legacy will going to the latter’s heir. As I said in the above after going through the papers Mrs. Mariam will show you and you find them all in order and after you are convinced that the legacy is hers and she will inherit it during current year you may apply to Lahoti for Rs. 10.000 and pay her at once, should our relation with this Morvari will have been put on clear understanding and footing then, otherwise you must not refer to him for money. If you cannot raise the money and pay her at once, pending my remittance from here. I believe everything is more than clear to you……
My kind regards to your mother, Lucie and Haik. Your loving uncle
Mar---l [his signature is not clear]

Mrs. Mariam Bulbulian
Fairlawn Hotel
13a Sudder St
Calcutta “

Image No. 2,3,4 &5 show that T.A. Zachary a nephew of Arathoon Nicholas was trying to enlist the help of the US government to track down his rightful legacy to “millions of Pounds and property”.
Image No. 2
Image No. 3

It would seem that after his spell in jail Arathoon Nicholas turned his luck around, and if we are to believe the above story, became a wealthy man. But what became of him and his wealth and how and why did Amirkhanian think he had a fortune to leave in his will in the first place?

Unfortunately [at the moment] I have not been able to find anything about Amirkhanian, his presence in Penang (if indeed that is where he died) is eluding me. However I have the wills of both Tegran Nicholas and his father Arrathoon Nicholas.

Tegran made his will on the 16th June 1876 naming his two sisters Catherine and Regina as exectutrixes and beneficiaries of his estate inheriting the profits from the sale of his house in Bow Bazar street.

Arrathoon Nicholas made his will on the 27th January 1890 in which he devised and bequeathed all his property both real and personal to his beloved wife Varvar to enable her to look after their two daughters. Arrathoon subsequently died on the 29th January 1896 in Calcutta.

As far as I can tell, there never was a fortune; a holy grail pot of gold inherited by Amirkhanian from Arathoon Nicholas. For nearly 100 years “legitimate heirs” have been chasing the rainbow trail of Amirkhanian……does it exist? Who knows but Arathoon Nicholas does not appear to have left him anything.


Image No. 4






Image No. 5

26 February 2014

Insolvency of Henry George Kinsey Captain of the Barque 'Johannes Sarkies' 1848



Exhibit B referred to in the annexed affidavit of Arrakiel Gentloom Aviet Summon this 31 day of July called before me.

In the Court for the Relief of Insolvent Debtors at Calcutta.

In the matter of the Petition of Henry George Kinsey late of Howrah in the twenty four Purgunnah Master Mariner and late Commander of the Barque Johannes Sarkies and now a prisoner confined in the common gaol of Calcutta seeking the benefit of the act of the ninth year of the reign of His late majesty George the fourth entitled an act to provide for the relief of Insolvent Debtors in the East Indies.

Victoria by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Queen Defender of the faith and so forth.

Upon the application of Mr. Pearl attorney for an on behalf of the above named Insolvent and upon reading a petition and schedule an assignment the certificate of the Gaoler of the Calcutta jail and a certificate of Patrick Hanton Esquire the Examiner of this Court written at the foot of the said petition and a certificate of the attorney of the said Insolvent written at the foot of the said schedule filed this day. It is ordered that Saturday the fifth day of August next be appointed for hearing the matters of the said Petition. It is further ordered that notice of the day so appointed as aforesaid be personally served upon the detaining creditor and also upon all the other creditors of the said Insolvent stated in the said schedule to be resident in Calcutta or the suburbs thereof one month before the day so appointed for hearing as aforesaid.


It is further ordered that notice of the day so appointed as aforesaid be inserted once in the Englishman the Bengal Hurkaru and the Calcutta Exchange Gazette newspapers of Calcutta and also once in the Bengallee and English in the Bengallee Government Gazette printed at Serampore and once in the Bengallee Newspaper styled the Somachar Chundrica or in the Bengallee newspaper styled the Prohakurin the Bengallee and English language one month before the day so appointed as aforesaid and it is further ordered that the gaoler of the Calcutta gaol do upon being served with this order bring up the body of the said Insolvent before this Court on Saturday the fifth day of August next at the hour of eleven o’clock in the forenoon and in like manner from day to day until the further order of this Court to be examined before the said court pursuant to the stated in this behalf provided and it is further ordered that no creditor of the said Insolvent shall be allowed at the hearing to oppose his discharge unless he shall have given notice of his intention to the Chief Clerk three clear days before the day of hearing.

Witness Sir Lawrence Peel Knight Chief Justice at Fort William in Bengal the seventeenth day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty eight.
Chief Clerk.