MESA Banner
Denying Revolution: The British Non-Official Community of Cairo in 1919
Abstract by Dr. Nathan Fonder On Session 208  (Narratives of Nation Building)

On Saturday, October 12 at 5:00 pm

2013 Annual Meeting

Abstract
The Egyptian Revolution of 1919 was the most significant challenge to British imperial rule since the start of occupation in 1882. The suddenness and scale of the uprising, which included massive strikes, demonstrations, and incidents of violence, fractured the country along national lines. Scholarly approaches to this historical moment have broadened since Kedourie detailed its diplomatic history and Deeb explored the tensions and rivalries within the Egyptian political class. Moving beyond the political history of great men, Goldberg, Lockman, and Beinin investigated the role of peasants, workers, and trade unionists, while Baron and Badran analyzed the public participation of women in the nationalist movement. Most recently, Manela showed how the 1919 revolution reflected the contested internationalization of Wilsonian ideals. Egyptian participation in the revolution is well-documented, and yet analysis of British voices on the ground in Cairo has focused on official figures in the Residency, military, and Foreign Office. What of those British voices outside the formal offices of empire? How did the non-official British community characterize this mass manifestation of Egyptian national will? This paper performs a close reading of a previously unused source, the “Report of the Council of Cairo Non-official British Community to the British Mission of Enquiry,” written during the tumultuous and decisive events that shook Egypt prior to the arrival of the diplomatic mission of Alfred Milner. I excavate the political views and socio-economic positions of this “non-official” community, which included W. E. Kingsford, Chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in Cairo, the controversial irrigation specialist Sir William Willcocks, and other pillars of the colonial establishment. By examining the assumptions and essentializations that informed their view of Egyptian society, I show that the official narrative as set down by Lord Cromer and pre-war colonial apologists remained unshaken after months of widespread resistance to British imperialism. Yet despite their endorsement of continued colonial occupation, this conservative group directed pointed criticism at the British officials charged with ruling Egypt, and this tension within the British colonial edifice was unprecedented. Scholars are unanimous in their view that the Egyptian boycott of the Milner mission was effective and severely limited Milner’s access to local voices. This paper considers how non-official British interlocutors may have affected Milner’s reasoning and perception of Egypt and thereby adds a layer to the historiography of the Egyptian revolution of 1919 and the creation of the Milner report.
Discipline
History
Geographic Area
Egypt
Sub Area
None