Massacre at Dilesi

The Massacre at Dilesi was the kidnapping and murder of a group of English tourists and an Italian diplomat that occurred in 1870 at Dilesi, Boeotia.

Background

Post-independence Greece, despite the best efforts of the Bavarians and the subsequent Greek governments, had a problem with bandits who would use the mountains as their hideouts and would occasionally kidnap wealth persons for ransom.

On March 29, 1870, a group of English tourists consisting of:

• Lord and Lady Muncaster,
• Frederick Vyner - a grandson of Count de Grey,
• diplomat Edward Herbert
• barrister Lloyd with his wife and daughter

as well as an Italians:

• diplomat Alberto de Boyl and his secretary,

went on a tour of Marathon escorted by a Greek guide - Alexandros Anemoyiannis - and four policemen.

At Pikermi, they were met and attacked by the bandit gang of Takos and Christos Arvanitakis who killed two of the policemen and wounded the other two.

The bandits then demanded initially a ransom of £32,000 which they later raised to £50,000.

Negotiations

The British government urged Greece to accept the Arvanitakis gang's demands for the ransom and amnesty but Minister for the Military, Skarlatos Soutsos, refused to consider them. Instead, he sent the military after the bandits.

To be continued