Person    | Male  Born 19/12/1861  Died 13/9/1928

Italo Svevo

Categories: Commerce, Literature

Countries: Austria, Hungary, Italy

Businessman and author. Born in Trieste (then part of Austria-Hungary) as Aron Ettore Schmitz. The pseudonym translates as 'Swabian Italian', but as the only definitions of Swabian relate to places in Germany and Sicily, it is hard to understand the connection. He is best known for his novel, 'La Coscienza de Zeno', (Confessions of Zeno). He was befriended by James Joyce who taught him English and helped to publicise his book. He was supposedly the model for the character of Leopold Bloom in Joyce's 'Ulysses'. Died Motta di Livenza, Italy.

2019: At Greenwich Industrial History we read that "South East London Mercury ran a piece on 22nd September on the unveiling of a plaque to authoor, Italo Svevo, in Charlton Church Lane. It describes how in 1897 he had become a partner in his father-in-laws Triest based paint company. He negotiated a contract for anti-corrosive paint with the Admmiralty and came to Chatlton to set up a factory in Anchor and Hope Lane - hence the plaque. Further information and a picture can be found at http://www.veneziani.it/azienda/primati.html - which is actually the web site of the Italian paint company. This describes how ‘Veneziani fonda la prima fabbrica di antivegetativa all’estera Charlton in Inghilterra. A lavori vengono diretti dal genero del fondatore, Ettore Schmitzm, in arte Italo Svevo’. {We've not corrected typos, etc.}

Our Italian consultant, John Hartley, clarifies that the paint company was Veneziani and the Charlton factory was the first one set up overseas, making industrial paint used on naval ships. We note that Anchor and Hope Lane (contrary to its charming name) for most of its length is lost to modern sheds and car-parks.

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Italo Svevo

Commemorated ati

Italo Svevo

Ettore Schmitz alias Italo Svevo, 1861-1928, writer, lived here 1903-1913. En...

Read More

Other Subjects

The Padwa Group

The Padwa Group

Trader at Covent Garden Market at its original site.

Group, Commerce

1 memorial
Owen Owen

Owen Owen

Founder of a chain of department stores. Born Wales to a farming family. 1860 apprenticed to an uncle at a drapers shop in Bath. 1868 opened his own drapers in Liverpool. Very successful and by 18...

Person, Commerce, Wales

1 memorial
Charles Cheers, Baron Wakefield of Hythe CGE, LLD

Charles Cheers, Baron Wakefield of Hythe CGE, LLD

Charles Cheers Wakefield was born and raised in Liverpool. (Cheers was his mother's maiden name). Became an oil-broker, founding his own firm in 1899, C.C. Wakefield & Co. later Wakefield Oil C...

Person, Commerce, Lord Mayor, Philanthropy, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
National Bank

National Bank

Founded as the National Bank of Ireland, becoming The National Bank Limited in 1859. By 1884 it was a member of the Bankers Clearing House. In 1966 the branches in England and Wales were acquired b...

Group, Commerce, Ireland

3 memorials
Surrey Docks

Surrey Docks

The south bank of the Thames used to be in Surrey, now in Southwark. The first dock created here in 1696 was initially named Howland Great Wet Dock and then Greenland Dock due to the whaling ships ...

Place, Commerce, Transport

10 memorials