Petros Ioannis Cavafy was born in 1851 in London (England) and was the second child of the Cavafy family. He was a British citizen. After the death of his father in 1870, he acted as Director of the Cavafy trading house in Liverpool. In 1877 he returned to Alexandria (Egypt) where he worked at the Health & Sanitation Board of the city. He was awarded the medals Metzidie and Osmanie. He died unexpectedly in 1891.