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Answer:
Since the Ionian Islands were liberated from Napoleon by British forces between 1809 and 1815, and up until the Second World War, there has been a small but significant presence of British families on the Ionian Islands. These families occupied positions of high social status, and their members often intermarried with the aristocracy of the Islands. When Greece was liberated from the Turkish occupation, many of these families made the move to the mainland, where education, wealth, political connections and social status enabled them to establish British dynasties in Greece. Despite intermarriage with Greeks most of these families continued to regard themselves as British, registering the births of their children at Somerset House in London to ensure British passports, and sending their sons to boarding schools in England. The second world war saw the exodus of many members of this community either to England (a unfamiliar place with an uncomfortable climate for most of them) or to other parts of the British Empire. Sydney Merlin is numbered among those who returned to Greece after the war. Ergo4sum (talk) 22:09, 21 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]
