William Pryor Binney

Father and mother: Stephen Binney and Emily Pryor

Dates: 1840-1888

Married: Polexeny Pateraki. See right.

Children: none known

Career: The obituary of Irwine Binney describes William as having been Her Britannic Majesty's consul at Syra, Greece.

The first letter of Emily Binney mentions getting a letter from Dear Willie who is threatening to send her a guest, Mr Pateraki. I think I detect a slight exasperation about this, despite the affection his mother obviously has for him. The guest is William's brother-in-law.

The first letter of Irwine Binney mentions getting a letter from Willie, saying "he was quite well and expecting to arrange about his wife & visit you but half of his plans are imaginations never to be realized". Irwine definitely disapproves of certain character traits of his brother! It is perhaps unfair to judge someone by comments of their family, but it's tempting to imahine William as rather a happy-go-lucky individual who makes grandious plans that either never happen or cause other people inconvenience.

Visiting card of Polexy given to William's sister, Emily

Reverse of visiting card - "Smyrna Turkey" - not to be confused with Syra, Greece!

The second letter of Emily Binney describes William's recent death at Syra, and Polexy's reaction to it.

From Genealogy of the Binney Family in the United States collected by Charles J. F. Binney (published in 1886):
William Pryor Binney, son of Stephen and Emily (Pryor) Binney, of Moncton, N.B., was born July 21, 1840; married Polexine Pateraki, daughter of the late George Pateraki, of Constantinople. Mr. Binney is the general manager of the submarine telegraph cable in the kingdom of Greece and Turkey, and in 1884,, lived at Syra, Greece. He is H.B.M. consul at Syra. Has no children in 1873. He had the title of Chevalier from the King of Greece and decoration of the order of the Saviour and order of the Iron Cross, from the Emperor of Austria.