Hugo Pratt origin, his maternal grandfather was of Marrano (Jewish) descent, and his grandmother was of Turkish origin. He was also related to actor Boris Karloff (né William Henry Pratt). In 1937, Pratt moved with his mother to Abyssinia (Ethiopia), joining his father who was working there following the conquest of that country by Benito Mussolini's Italy. Pratt's father, a professional Italian soldier, was captured in 1941 by British troops and in late 1942, died from disease as a prisoner of war. The same year, Hugo Pratt and his mother were interned in a prison camp at Dirédaoua, where he would buy
Phineas Pratt "Phinehas Pratt and Some of His Descendants", written by Eleazer Franklin Pratt and published posthumously in 1897: "Tradition relates that the father of Henry was John, and that either John or the father of John, was a Frenchman who bore the surname of Plat or Platt; having fled from France during some political excitement in that country, he became and "Armor-bearer" to the Monarch of England, and his name was subsequently changed to Pratt." However, according to more recent genealogists, his grandfather, John Henry Pratt may have in fact been from Bishopworth, Somerset, England. Phineas Pratt was by profession a