Information to Users

INFORMATION TO USERS The most advanced technology has been used to photograph and reproduce this manuscript from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in ^ew riter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand corner and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed iii one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI University Microfilms International A Bell & Howell Information Com pany 300 North Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor. Ml 48106-1346 USA 313 761-4700 800 521-0600 Order Number 9027884 Th<s public career of Sir Francis Reginald Wingate, High Commissioner for Egypt: 1917-1919 Coventry, Donald C., Ph.D. The American University, 1989 Copyright ©1989 by Coventry, Donald C. All rights reserved. UMI 300 N. Zeeb Rd. Ann Arbor, MI 48106 THE PUBLIC CAREER OF SIR FRANCIS REGINALD WINGATE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR EGYPT: 1917 - 1919 by Donald C . Coventry submitted to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of The American University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History Signatures of Committee: Chair: Dean of the College ■ 14 December 1989______ Date 1989 The American University Washington, D.C. 20016 I UffiEICM UNITORSlîï LIBRARY © COPYRIGHT BY DONALD C. COVENTRY 1989 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED THE PUBLIC CAREER OF SIR FRANCIS REGINALD WINGATE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR EGYPT: 1917 - 1919 BY Donald C. Coventry ABSTRACT The career of Sir Reginald Wingate was spent almost entirely in Egypt and the Sudan, and covered the period 1883 to 1919. Wingate became the first Governor-General of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan in 1899, and held that position until 1917. His subsequent appointment to the post of High Commissioner for Egypt was terminated abruptly in March 1919, after a nationalist uprising against the existing British Protectorate, ending his public career. This dissertation examines Wingate's public career, focusing on the events surrounding the political crisis in Egypt in 1919, and attempts, within the framework of British post-war policy in the Middle East, to determine the reasons for his downfall. The paper also attempts to assess Wingate's entire period of public service within the overall context of British imperial policy in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Wingate's long period of service in the Sudan, during the crucial early days of Anglo-Egyptian rule, is 11 assessed both in terms of his success in achieving the economic viability which England hoped to create there, and of the benefits, or lack thereof, which accrued to the Sudanese as the result of British rule. The procedure used in the writing of the dissertation was, most importantly, the evaluation of archival material. Wingate's private papers, from the Sudan Archive at Durham University, and the Curzon Papers from the India Office Records and Library in London, provided the main primary sources. Lord Curzon was Acting Foreign Secretary during the entire period of the Egyptian political crisis. The Parliamentary Debates were also consulted, as were Colonial Office annual reports and Confidential Prints. Despite the unfortunate conclusion of his career, Wingate's overall contribution — both to the attainment of British imperial policy objectives prior to the First World War, and to the success of British forces in the Middle East during the war — was of immense significance. Ill ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are a number of individuals to whom I owe a great debt of gratitude for their generous assistance and advice during the course of the research and writing of this dissertation. First among these are the members of my Dissertation Committee at the American University: Professors Janet Oppenheim (Chairperson), Ira Klein, and Terence Murphy. Their comments, advice, and patience contributed greatly to the final result. On three separate research trips to the University of Durham, invaluable help was provided by Lesley Forbes, Keeper of Oriental Books, and Jane Hogan, Archivist of the Sudan Archive. My visits to their beautiful Cathedral town were certainly the most enjoyable periods of research in the course of writing this paper. The staff of the India Office Records and Library in London were also most helpful during my two visits there, and Charles W. Bean of the Library of Congress in Washington provided me with a number of source references which would have taken a good deal longer to find on my own. Acknowledgement is due to Peter Lang Publishing, Inc. for permission to quote from John D. McIntyre’s The Boycott of the Milner Mission; A Study in Egyptian XV Nationalism. My thanks are owed also to the Harrap Publishing Group (formerly George G. Harrap & Co., Ltd.) for allowing me to quote from Archibald Wavell's Allenbv in Egypt. I am especially indebted to my supervisor, John P. Giannini, for permitting me to take extra time off from my regular employment to complete this dissertation. I would like to express my appreciation, as well, to Averill and Kenneth Ring, who typed my entire original draft onto floppy discs: enabling me to use a much more sophisticated personal computer than the simple word processor I had employed when I began writing the dissertation. Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Alison, for her indispensible help in the final preparation of this paper. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .......................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................. iv Chapter I. INTRODUCTORY ESSAY ........................ 1 II. EARLY LIFE AND DIRECTOR OF MILITARY INTELLIGENCE, CAIRO 1861 - 1899 19 III. WINGATE'S SUDANESE ADMINISTRATION 1899 - 1914 64 IV. WINGATE'S WARTIME ROLE 1914 - 1 9 1 8 ........ 110 V. THE EGYPTIAN POLITICAL CRISIS: NOVEMBER 1918 - MARCH 1 9 1 9 ................ 153 VI. THE EGYPTIAN REBELLION OF 1919 AND ITS AFTERMATH MARCH - DECEMBER 1919 190 VII. LORD MILNER'S SPECIAL MISSION TO EGYPT DECEMBER 1919 - MARCH 1922 ................ 230 VIII. ANGLO-EGYPTIAN NEGOTIATIONS AND ALLENBY'S HIGH COMMISSIONERSHIP 1922 - 1925 252 IX. WINGATE'S SUBSEQUENT CAREER 1920 - 1953 . 284 X. CONCLUSIONS .............................. 300 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................... 310 VI CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY ESSAY The three decades preceding the start of the First World War in 1914 were the years of what has become popularly known as the "New Imperialism". During this period the major western European nations and, to a far lesser degree, the United States, extended and consolidated their control over virtually the entire African continent, and much of Asia as well. The career of General Sir Francis Reginald Wingate (1861-1953), which took place entirely in the Middle East — most notably in Egypt and the Sudan — spans, almost precisely, the time frame of the "New Imperialism". Although Wingate never reached the apex of British imperial policy makers prior to the termination of his career, he was an extremely significant figure in his time and place. Indeed, the importance of the position of High Commissioner for Egypt, which Wingate held from 1917 to 1919, might well be argued to have been second only to the Viceroyalty of India in the hierarchy of British imperial administrative posts. As such, and in his earlier capacity as Governor-General of the Sudan and Sirdar (Commander of the Egyptian Army), Wingate's advice was sought at the highest levels of British government. It is the career of 2 this soldier and administrator which is the topic of this dissertation. There are a number of schools of historical thought on the issue of the causative factors behind the rapid expansion of European authority and domination which occurred during the final quarter of the nineteenth century and the opening decade of the twentieth. The majority of modern historical writers seem to place their emphasis on either strategic or economic motivations, although these two are by no means the only explanations put forth in attempting to understand the question. Those scholars espousing the economic argument for late nineteenth century imperialism stress the belief that the possession of a colonial empire would provide both a source of raw materials to be manufactured into finished products in Europe and, to some degree, a captive market for these products. The ownership of such an empire would, quite obviously, give a nation certain advantages over a rival country which had to obtain its raw materials from sources that it could not control. All historical writers who are advocates of the economic interpretation

Load more