British in Egypt: Community, Crime and Crises 1882-1922

Egypt during the British occupation (1882-1922) was a strategically important site for securing British interests in the region. Most studies of Britons in Egypt during the occupation focus on the lives and activities of law-abiding British military and political elites. By using census and court records, private papers, and business, newspaper, military and missionary archives, this book sheds light on previously underemphasised aspects of the British community in Egypt during the British occupation, 1882-1922. Lanver Mak highlights the community’s demographic profile, its boundaries and symbols, socio-occupational diversity, criminal activities and varying responses to the events of World War I and the revolutionary period of 1919-22. The author suggests that the identity of Britons in Egypt seemed to be negotiable in certain circumstances rather than fixed. His findings challenge the impression that may have been given by existing sources that the British community consisted solely of law-abiding upper and middle class civil servants and military personnel by telling the stories of lower and working class Britons and those engaged in crime and misconduct. The British in Egypt contends that there was notable diversity within the British community by articulating the variety of responses that Egypt’s Britons had towards the challenges of World War I and the subsequent revolutionary period and their differences of opinion with the British authorities during these times. The work aims to contribute primarily to British imperial history and Egyptian and Middle Eastern history, and will be invaluable for students and scholars of these subjects. Its content will also be helpful for those interested in the history of crime, the trend for ‘history from below’, and business and missionary history.