John Jacob Mayer

John Jacob Mayer was a Swedish philhellene and Editor of the newspaper “Greek Chronicles” the first published newspaper of the war of independence. He was born in Switzerland on the 30th of December 1798. He belonged to a family of doctors and had a curious personality. He studied pharmacology and later medicine but never completed his studies.

That did not stop him from appearing in the philhellenic board in the city of Berne as a doctor and surgeon in order to gain free transport to Greece. There he took part in the Naval Battle of the Corinthian gulf on March 1822. Hence he lived in Messologhi married a Greek woman and became Christian Orthodox.When the Philhellene colonel Stanhope arrived in Messolonghi on December 1823 he brought with him three printing devices. Stanhope instantly recognized Mayer having previously received a letter about him. The letter quoted “A brilliant Swiss named Dr Mayer leaves here. He has all the good properties of his compatriots and is familiarized with the Greek temperament”. A few days later Mayer became the editor of the newspaper “Greek chronicles” along with print specialist Demetres Mestheneas from Thessaloniki. Originally the first newspaper of the independence was “The Greek horn” published in the town of Kalamata by Theocletus Farmakides, but only three issues were ever published.

Mayer had tense relations with Lord Byron. Byron in a letter from Messolonghi on March 1824 expresses his worries that Mayer’s articles against Monarchy and his ideas about the need for free press might negatively predispose the conservative Governments of the European Counties against Greece thus harming the Greek cause. He quotes” He is the author of an article against Monarchy, which may perhaps bring fame and profit to him but may bring great harm to the publishers if they do not take measures. From all the small tyrants, he is the smallest, like most of the demagogues I once met”

Many of the people from Messologhi had sent their families to the small English occupied island of Kalamos. However when the army of Resit Mehmed Pasha was withdrawn from the area, they thought that Messologhi was permanently safe and decided to bring their families back. First to give the bad example was Mayer himself. The siege however became painstaking and when Ibrahim arrived to reinforce Resit Mehmed Pasha and the Turkish Egyptian fleet prevented the Greek ships to bring food and armaments to Messologhi. On April of 1826 after a year of relentless enemy attacks and facing starvation, the people of Messolonghi decided to leave the beleaguered city in the "Exodus of its Guards". During the exodus Mayer his wife and 2 children all lost their lives.