Michail Melas

[2] He was born in Syros, the son of Georgios Melas, a member of the Filiki Eteria and the scion of a distinguished Epirote family.

He studied law in Paris and became involved with commerce at an early age, importing Russian wheat to London and Marseilles.

Melas also served in the founding board of the Hellenic Red Cross, and as chairman of the Ethniki Etaireia, a secret nationalist society, which played a major role in the outbreak of the disastrous Greco-Turkish War of 1897.

Melas is also notable as one of the first Athenians to build a house in Kifissia, then a suburban summer resort for the capital's wealthy families.

He was married with Eleni Voutsina and had seven children: Maria, wife of Ektoras Romanos, chamberlain of Prince Nicholas of Greece; Anna, wife of the landowner Apostolos Papadopoulos; Georgios (1866–1931) a judge and private secretary of King Constantine I; Pavlos (1870–1904), an Army officer and hero of the Macedonian Struggle; Leon (1872–1905), a lawyer and politician; Konstantinos Melas (1874–1953), a Navy officer and politician; and Vassilios (1879–1956), a General and also president of the Athens Club.