Ralli Brothers

The five Ralli brothers, Zannis a.k.a. John (1785–1859), Augustus (1792–1878), Pandia a.k.a. Zeus (1793–1865), Toumazis (1799–1858), and Eustratios (1800–84), founded Ralli Brothers, perhaps the most successful expatriate Greek merchant business of the Victorian era. Born to a wealthy merchant family of Chios, their father, Stephanos Ralli (1755–1827), had settled in Marseille, but recognised that the nexus of trading had changed in the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars, and sent his eldest son, John, to London to explore business opportunities. Founding of the Ralli Brothers’ partnership John started trading in oriental silk and Russian grain in exchange for British textiles, and fetched his brothers over to help, incorporating as Ralli Brothers in London. His brother Eustratios ran the textile export operations from Manchester; Toumazis sourced raw materials and grain from Odessa and Constantinople; Pandia financed it from the Baltic Exchange in London; and Augustus oversaw the Mediterranean operations from Marseille.