Charles was born in 1797 in Smyrna, Turkey and was the eldest son of James la Fontaine. He started out working in the family business, Hayes La Fontaine and Co in Constantinople (Istanbul), before managing the Pelion Silver Lead Mines in Macedonia. He later became Director of the Ottoman Bank's Smyrna branch.
Here follows an extract on Charles Constantin La Fontaine (known as C.C. La Fontaine) from Edmund Haydn's book on the Whittall, Giraud and la Fontaine families of Izmir and Istanbul:
Charles Constantine La Fontaine was born at Smyrna on the14th October, 1797. He was the eldest son of James La Fontaine, who settled in Smyrna in 1786. His ancestors were Huguenots of French extraction, residing at Montauban, who after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, sought refuge in Switzerland. James La Fontaine, son of John Gideon La Fontaine and Francoise Morier, was born and educated at Geneva, but later on, at the instigation of his uncle, Mr. Isaac Morier, he left Geneva and proceeded to London. While there, he and several other Huguenots were naturalised British subjects by Special Act of Parliament (Geo. III.). He subsequently was admitted to the freedom of the Honourable Levant Company (whose Charter dates from 158l in the reign of Queen Elizabeth) and left London for Smyrna, where he established himself as Merchant in connection with the firm of Morier and Wilkinson.
“Charles Constantine La Fontaine, after completing his studies at Smyrna, under the careful training of a Swiss tutor, was sent at an early age to Constantinople. He also repaired thither in 1821 during Sir Robert Liston’s Embassy. At that time however, he was in such delicate health, that at the request of his medical adviser, he started for Egypt, where he remained a year. He later on undertook a voyage to Trieste in a sailing vessel, again for the benefit of his health, and from thence proceeded overland on a trip through the Continent, subsequently crossing over to England. Whilst there he became in 1824 a Member of the Levant Company, and on his return eastwards through France, was fortunate enough to meet at Toulon a great friend of his father, Admiral de Rigny, who offered him a passage to Smyrna in his flagship “La Siréne”. Admiral de Rigny was then about starting on a mission to Greece in connection with the Greek Revolution. During the voyage which was bountiful of interesting events, Mr. La Fontaine, who often acted as interpreter to the Admiral, had rare opportunities of following up the phases of that momentous and noble struggle which had sent a thrill through Europe, and had enlisted in its cause so many champions of liberty. At Missilonghi, where the frigate remained some days, he made the acquaintance of the late Dr. Julius van Millingen, Lord Byron’s medical adviser.
“In 1825 Mr. La Fontaine was again sent by his father to Constantinople, where he started a branch establishment of the firm of Hayes La Fontaine & Co. In the following year was enacted the terrible tragedy of the massacre of the Janissaries, so horrible in its details, but so beneficial in its results. The British merchants resided at that time in what is now the Perchembé Bazaar quarter, and a number of those mercenaries who appealed to them for shelter were stowed away in their cellars. One of them, Kara Ibrahim, who in later years many have met at Tophane scala, was one of the Janissaries saved. A few years later, through the joint influence of Prince Mettemich and the Austrian inter-nuncio in Constantinople, Count Sturmer, Mr. C. C. La Fontaine although a British subject, succeeded in obtaining for himself and his brothers the agency of the Danube Steam Navigation Company, the pioneers of steam trade in the Levant. This Agency, the firm of Hayes La Fontaine & Co. retained for the space of 10 years when for reasons more political than expedient, the steamers of the Danube Steam Navigation Company, plying between Constantinople and the Levant Ports, were withdrawn to make room for those of the Austrian Lloyds.
“In the year 1846, Mr. C. C. La Fontaine and the late Mr. Chas Hanson, together with the Hon. H. Wellesley, formed the special Commission appointed by H.B.M.’s Government for the settlement of the celebrated Tripoli claims. For his services in this matter, which occupied several years in adjusting, he and his colleagues through the Foreign Office, received the thanks of the British Government.
“In the year 1853, after the liquidation of the firm with which he was connected, Mr. C. C. La Fontaine accepted the Directorship of the Pelion Silver Lead Mines, the concession of which had been obtained from the Turkish Government by the late Mr. George Zarifi. It was during his stay in the village of Zaghora and the Mill that he negotiated the surrender and pardon of the famous band of brigands, who for years had terrorised over the surrounding country and whose haunts, the dense forests of Pelion, Mr La Fontaine often visited alone, his only companion being one of the brigand guides. In one of his parleys with these bandits, he was recognised by one of them (an ex-lieutenant m the service of Grivas), who introduced himself as an old acquaintance, they having met before, so the brigand averred, under the hospitable roof of the great Eltchi.
“The Pelion mines having given unsatisfactory results, Mr. C. C. La Fontaine returned to Constantinople m 1855, about which time the charter of the Ottoman Bank was granted. He accepted the post of Director of the Smyrna Branch offered him by Sir Henry Layard, the then Chairman of the Board in London. Subsequently, in 1858, he was transferred m the same capacity to Constantinople and m 1863, when the Ottoman Bank was merged into the Imperial Ottoman Bank, the Marquis de Ploenc appointed him Director of the Stamboul Public Debt Office, which position he held up to his death.
“For services rendered at different intervals to the Turkish Government in the reigns of the Sultans Mahmout and Abdul Medjid, he received the Nishani-Iftihar and the Medjidié, the former in brilliants. He was likewise decorated with the order of the Lion and the Sun by the Shah of Persia. Abdul Medjid regarded him with great favour, and on three occasions presented him with jewelled snuff boxes in token of his friendship and esteem.
"During a residence in this country of over half a century, he witnessed many political changes, the barest record of which would have added an interesting chapter to the history of the period he traversed. All that was known by his friends of his past life and more especially of his experiences of an epoch in Ottoman history of so wide a range, was gleaned from him in personal intercourse. He left no diary or notes behind him.”
The Levant Herald was a well-known British newspaper published at Pera, Constantinople, and edited by Mr. Edgar Whitaker. The details appearing in the above article were communicated and written by my Uncle Sydney at the request of the Editor, who added several eulogistic remarks confirming the esteem and consideration in which Charles Constantine La Fontaine was held by the British members of the Community and in Turkish circles."