Story of a Levantine family in late Ottoman Constantinople: Dr Julius van Millingen and Dr Edwin van Millingen

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Işil Ülman F. Y., Ilikan Rasimoğlu C. G.

JOURNAL OF MEDICAL BIOGRAPHY, cilt.34, sa.1, ss.13-24, 2026 (AHCI, Scopus)

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 34 Sayı: 1
  • Basım Tarihi: 2026
  • Dergi Adı: JOURNAL OF MEDICAL BIOGRAPHY
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Scopus, Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), American History and Life, Historical Abstracts, MEDLINE
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.13-24
  • Açık Arşiv Koleksiyonu: AVESİS Açık Erişim Koleksiyonu
  • Acıbadem Mehmet Ali Aydınlar Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Please cite as: Yesim Isil Ulman and Ceren Gulser Ilikan Rasimoglu, "Story of a Levantine family in late Ottoman Constantinople: Dr Julius van Millingen and Dr Edwin van Millingen", Journal of Medical Biography, 2026;34:13-24.

Abstract

This paper examines Drs Julius and Edwin van Millingen, father and son physicians from a Constantinople-based Levantine family. They thrived in late 19th-century Ottoman Constantinople, a period of modernization aimed at survival amid decline. The profiles of Millingen family members set an exemplary case of the Levantine families who preferred to settle and pursue their careers in the Ottoman capital, particularly for generations in the Pera (Beyoglu) bourgeoisie, associated with the prominent industrial and literate centers in Europe. Dr Julius Michael van Millingen (1800–1878) was physician and companion to Lord Byron (1788–1824), and served as the private physician of the Sultan Abdulmecid (1839–1861), and the Queen Mother, Bezm-i Alem Valide Sultan (1807–1853) at the Imperial Ottoman Palace. He published considerable writings on balneology, then. His son, Dr Edwin van Millingen (1850–1900), an Istanbul-born ophthalmologist, worked at top hospitals, taught at the Imperial School of Medicine, and collaborated with the Société Impériale de Médecine. He reported on common ophthalmological diseases, with detailed statistics and meticulously organized tabular data. The multicultural lives of this Levantine family offer a unique glimpse into 19th-century Turkish medical history, reflecting close ties with Western medical centers.

Keywords: Julius van Millingen, Edwin van Millingen, Constantinople, the late Ottoman era, Lord Byron, Levantines, ophthalmology