A headstrong Irish boy became part of the Greek resistance movement that won independence in 1832.
At sixteen, Richard Church (1784-1873) ran away from home in Cork and enlisted in the British Army. He made a name for himself liberating the Ionian Islands from Napoleon in 1809, and formed two new Greek regiments there in British pay. So when a favourite recruit wrote to him in 1826, pleading for help, he could hardly refuse.
Greek revolutionary Nikitarás gives his ungrateful men a sharp reminder of what really matters.
In 1821, Greeks living under the irksome rule of the Ottoman Empire declared independence, and a bitter struggle ensued which excited the sympathy of many in Britain, such as poet Lord Byron and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs George Canning. Irishman Richard Church (1784-1873) helped train many of the revolutionaries, among them Nikítas Stamatelópoulos (?1784-1849).
The British liberated the Ionian islands from Napoleon, then gave them fifty happy years and the game of cricket.
The Treaty of Paris in 1815 sought to settle the affairs of Napoleon Bonaparte, defeated at Waterloo and banished to the island of St Helena. Among the issues were the Ionian Islands (which include Zakynthos, Lefkada and Corfu) off the west coast of Greece.