An Officer & Policeman of the Empire

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If the mods feel this post is in the wrong section please feel free to move.

The below group of medals has been a part of my collection for quite some time now, and of course one of my favourites, many groups have come and gone over the years but this group is one of the very few that has stayed. Not to say it will not go in the future, if a great Officer Sudan 1910 group comes my way I may be persuaded to trade. It has been a great research project for me and thought I would share .

Colonel, Sir. George Samuel Abercrombie Harvey(Pasha), KBE, CMG,

Commandant, (Lewa, and Provost Marshal) Egyptian Police, late 42^nd Royal Highlanders.(Black Watch).

Awards.
K.B.E. First type. Civil Division. Neck badge and breast star.

C.M.G. Companions neck badge, in ‘Garrads’ case of issue. A breast badge converted for neck wear.

Egypt Medal. Dated 1882.‘Tel el Kebir’, ‘Suakin 1884’ & 'El-Teb’: Lieut, G.S.A..Harvey, 1/R.Highrs.

1914-15 Star (Col.G.S.A. Harvey).

British War Medal 1914-1918 (Col Sir, G.S.A.Harvey) .

Allied Victory Medal (Col Sir, G.S.A.Harvey).

1911 Coronation Medal.

Turkey : Order of the Medijie, 2nd Class Set (neck badge and breast star).

Egypt : Order of the Nile, 2nd Class Set (neck badge and breast star).

Turkey: Order of the Osmanieh. 3rd Class Commanders neck badge.

Egypt: Khedives Egypt Star. Dated 1882.

George Samuel Abercrombie Harvey was born in Banffshire, Scotland on 21 October 1854. Son of the late W.J. Harvey of Carnousie, Banffshire. Mother Elizabeth Diana Lily, 2^nd Daughter of the late lieutenant Colonel, Craigie-Halkett of Cramond, Midloathian and Hartnil Lanarkshire. His family had made their fortune in the West Indies. Educated at Glenalmond school, Perthshire, he gained a commission in the Royal Highlanders, or Black Watch – the premier Highland Regiment on 29^th November 1876, serving with the 1st Battalion Royal Highlanders during the Egypt Campaign of 1882.

The battle of Tel-el-Kebir.

On the evening of the 12th September, the tents of the Kassassin camp were struck at nightfall, and the attacking forces moved forward into the desert, to bivouac for a short time, and then to start at such an hour as would bring them to the enemy’s lines at the proper time for attack—namely about daybreak. The Highland Brigade, 3000 strong, formed the left hand front portion of the attacking force, and was so placed as to be about 1000 yards in advance of the right hand portion. The formation was in column of half-battalions in double companies, with the Black Watch on the right; and the march began with distances of 40 to 50 yards between half-battalions, and of 150 to 200 yards between regiments; "but," says Lieut.General Sir E. B. Hamley, "as it was most desirable that the men should march at ease, these intervals almost disappeared, and the brigade presented practically the appearance of two almost continuous lines, one about 50 yards behind the other, and occupying a front of about half a mile." At half-past one A.M. the bivouac was broken up, and, almost immediately after, the advance began—all that was known of the enemy’s works being that they were about five miles distant, and that they would be reached just at dawn. The Highland Brigade moved parallel to the railway and fresh water canal, and at a distance from them of about 2000 yards, and was guided in its westward march by Lieutenant Wyatt Rawson, RN., who rode opposite the centre of the brigade, and kept his course by the stars. Only one brief incident marked the march, when, on a short halt being called, the right and left wings advanced after the centre stopped, and, swinging round, "absolutely faced each other at a distance of some fifty yards." Had either mistaken the other for a body of Egyptians, the result might have been serious; but the error was at once discovered and rectified. About a quarter before five on the morning of the 13th, just as signs of daybreak began t appear, a few scattered shots, the sound of a bugle in front, and a dark line looming above the sand hills, showed that the time had come. The order was at once given, "Fix bayonets!" and just as this was done the whole line of entrenchment in front was lit up by a blaze of rifle-fire. The order was to attack with the bayonet without firing, and "at the magic word ‘Charge!’ the whole brigade sprang to its feet and rushed straight at the blazing line." The distance to be traversed was only some 150 yards, but in that short space nearly 200 men fell. The point attacked by the Highlanders was almost in the centre of the enemy’s line, and, occupying the highest ground, was, with the bastions on either side, the key to the whole position. Bearing the entire brunt of the earlier portion of the assault—for it attacked just before daybreak, while the right-hand portion of the attacking force was still over 1200 yards distant—and exposed to a heavy fire from almost overwhelming masses of Arabi’s troops, the brigade suffered a momentary check; but General
Hamley met this by pushing forward some small bodies he had kept in reserve at the ditch, and on the arrival of the 60th and 46th regiments—which formed the reserve behind the Highland Brigade—he advanced with the whole body against the
lines of entrenchment already mentioned as leading back towards Arabi’s camp. "Up the bank," says one of the Black Watch, "we went, and it was full of men, and they turned on us like rats in a trap; but the infantry did not stand long. However, honour to whom honour is due— the artillerymen stood to their guns like men, and we had to bayonet them. .As soon as that job was done; I saw two regiments of cavalry forming up on the right. ‘Prepare for cavalry’ was given, and in less time than it takes to write this we formed in a square, and were waiting for them; but when they saw this they wheeled to the right-about and off; they would not face a square of Scottish steel." The fighting was indeed over, and all that remained for the Highlanders to do was
to occupy Arabi’s camp and capture the railway station. They "had done their work; they had secured a number of trains, the engines only escaping; had captured the immense commissariat stores and thousands of camels; and by seven
o’clock had sat down comfortably to breakfast on the scene of the victory." The assault began at five minutes to five, the station was captured at half-past six, and at seven the whole brigade was again in order. "Thus," says General Hamley, "in that interval of time, the Highland Brigade had broken, under a tremendous fire, into the middle of the enemy’s entrenchments; had maintained itself there in an arduous and dubious conflict for twenty minutes; had then captured two miles of works and batteries, piercing the enemy’s centre, and loosening their whole system of defence; and had finished by taking the camp and the railway trains, and again assembling ready for any further enterprise. No doubt these troops were somewhat elated—perhaps even fancied that they had done something worthy of particular note and remembrance. And, in fact, the Scottish people may be satisfied with the bearing of those who represented them in the land of the Pharaohs."

“A letter written to Harvey from Lieut-General Sir W. Butler in 1901, touches on his service at Tel-el-Kebir”

Quote,

Government House,

Devonport. 7^thOctober 1901.

“I remember your brilliant service at Tel-el-Kebir, when you headed a party of your regiment into one of the works in the Egyptian Line of Defence which was very stubbornly held by it’s Garrison”.

Unquote.

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Service in Egypt must have appealed to George Harvey, for in the following year he joined the ‘Egyptian Gendarmerie’ and in 1884 was one of a dozen British officers to accompany Baker-Pasha’s force to the Suakin area to attempt to win over some of the Arab tribes which were at that time under the sway of the Mahdi’s Lieutenant, Osman Dinga. However, the local Sheiks, fearing that the British intended to withdraw from the Sudan decided that their long-term future lay with supporting Osman Dinga. Thus the relief of the Turkish garrison at Sinkat was now deemed impossible and Baker, eager to restore his reputation after a scandalous incident involving a young lady, on a train near Woking, in England, went on the offensive.

The composition of the force was, Commander-in-chief, Lieut.-General Valentine Baker Pasha. His head-quarter staff consisted of Colonel Abdul Russak Bey, native chief of the staff; Lieut.-Colonel Fitzroy Hay, late of the Highlanders, European chief of staff; Major Harvey, A.D.C., late 42nd Black Watch; Colonel Morice Bey, paymaster; Dr. Leslie, in charge of medical department. Commanding 1st Division was Major-General Sartorius Pasha, and on his staff were Lieut.-Colonel Harington, chief of divisional staff; Major Izzet Effendi; Captain Goodall, A.D.C.

In February 1884, the Gendarmerie, was ear-marked for the relief of Tokar which lay several miles inland from Trinkitat. Valentine Baker and his A.D.C., Harvey, the balloonatic and adventurer Colonel Fred Burnaby of the Blues, and Colonel Hay (Hay Bey) were given a lift down the coast in the flagship of one of the most bemedalled old salts afloat, Admiral James Hewett, V.C.. Once ashore, Harvey and Fred Burnaby set out to reconnoitre a path for the Army across the swamp that stretched between Trinkitat and the mainland proper. The next day, the troops were led out from ‘Fort Baker’ and at 0900 hours, a few
rounds from the Krupp guns announced that the action had began.. Baker then ordered G.D. Giles (Gilo) to charge a small group of mounted Arabs who had appeared on the right flank. But instead of just one troop advancing, the whole regiment took off to attack that handful of men. Fred Burnaby, attired that day in civilian clothes and armed with a pistol and umbrella, takes up the story;

Quote,

“Major Harvey was sent to recall them. I rode with him. After a gallop of about two miles he succeeded in halting the squadrons and induced them to return to their rightful positions in the line of march. As they were retiring, three Arab horsemen showed themselves over the brow of the hill. Our cavalry, instead of opposing their foes, broke into a gallop in spite of all that Major Harvey could do.

(Note: At this juncture in the battle Baker’s infantry panicked and fired on their own cavalry completing the scene of confusion).

Major Harvey and I now rode towards the square. Constant streams of bullets were now whistling in every direction, when, as we come over the crest of a little rising ground, the troops came into sight, but no longer in any order.
…The large square had broken up into confusion. The fleeing Egyptians had rushed into the two smaller squares composed of Turks and blacks and destroyed their formation…The sight was one never to be forgotten, some four thousand men running pell-mell for their lives with a few hundred Arabs behind them spearing everyone within reach.”

Unquote.

Seeing the day was lost, Baker with Saratorious, Hay, Burnaby, Harvey and a few others, charged together through the rebels towards the safety of the coast, leaving 112 officers and 2,350 men dead on the field of battle.

The whole remnant of the wretched army now crossed in straggling parties to the landing-place. By the time General Sartorius reached the shore, the Egyptians and a good many of the Bezingers had already got on board ship, and seeing the state of panic of the men, and the impossibility of doing anything with them should the rebels attempt to follow across the morass, it was decided that the troops should embark at once. As soon as this was known, all the Egyptian officers made haste to get on board, leaving their men on shore. They had to be sent for, and when they were brought back, most of them escaped and crept off again as soon as the general's back was turned. General Baker, General Sartorius, Major Harvey, and Lieut.-Colonel Hay had to do the work themselves, and were up nearly all the night. A more disgraceful ending to a desperate day's work could with difficulty be conceived.

On 18 February, a British Expeditionary Force under General Sir Gerald Graham, V.C. sailed from Suez for Suakin. Baker, Burnaby and Harvey were appointed Intelligence Officers and joined Graham’s force at Trinkitat. Four days later Harvey and Burnaby were again sent out over the marsh.

In the advance they could see a red flag flying over Fort Baker in defiance of the British advance, giving doubt as to whether the enemy were in occupation. “I will have that flag” shouted Harvey, spurring his charger forward. Burnaby, for once outdone in boldness, dashed after him but Harvey won the race and seizing the flag, drove a handful of Arabs into the desert. By this time, news had come in that Tokar had fallen to Osman Dinga, but nevertheless, it was decided to continue the operation and disperse the enemy. Thus Sir Gerald Graham, emulating Gordon’s offer to the Mahdi, by sending “;

Quote,

“Major Harvey of the Black Watch went forward to deliver an ultimatum to the foes. Which he did by planting a pole in the sand, bearing a letter in Arabic calling upon the Sheikhs, to disperse or take the consequences.”

Unquote.

Next day revealed that the letter had been removed and that no answer had been given. Therefore, on Leap Year’s Day, Graham advanced his force to El-Teb, and with a clear conscience and avenging spirit, caused great slaughter among the enemy on the battlefield where Baker had been so terribly beaten just a few weeks before.

At some point soon after returning from the Suakin Expedition Harvey raised a local corps known as ‘Harvey’s Blacks’.

On the 15^th September 1884 Harvey was appointed Commandant of the Police Depot and on 31^st December of the same year he was appointed the Commandant of the new Gendarmerie Force consisting of two battalions, an Infantry Battalion of 1000 men and a mounted Battalion of 480 men.

He was appointed Commandant of Police in Alexandria in 1888 after the death of General Baker and the transfer of the Gendarmerie to the Egyptian Army. By 1910 he had become the Commandant of the Cairo Police. In the spring, of the same year, an attempt was made on his life. The Illustrated London News reported that;

Quote,

“Apparently the motive…was personal rather than political, his assailant being a German Jew recently dismissed from the Secret Police as a bad character.”

Unquote.

On the outbreak of war in 1914, the task of deportation and internment of enemy aliens fell to one of Harvey Pasha’s most trusted officials, a Levantine named Philippides who used his position to settle old scores. Fortunately, Thomas Russell, who was later to become an almost legendary figure in the Egyptian Police, was at hand, and by risking his career, eventually managed to bring Philippides and his formidable wife to trail.

In 1916, Harvey Pasha, whom the ambitious Russell found to be ‘a martinet of the old school’, was faced with an altogether different sort of problem. The average incidence of venereal disease for the Egyptian Expeditionary Force was 12%, and was running as high as 25% in some units. Thus Harvey decided on drastic action to ‘clear up the scores of free-lance girls and catamite boys who had sprung up outside the licensed quarters. A special internment camp was set-up at Hilmiya, into which his police threw as many of these ‘long haired degenerates’ as they could find. However, to Russell’s annoyance, the key-figure in the trade, a huge transvestite Nubian known as el-Gharbi, remained at liberty simply because Harvey had never heard of him. When Russell sent for el-Gharbi, Harvey exploded;

Quote,

“Demanding what the hell everyone meant by bringing that disgusting patchouli-scented sodomite into his presence.”

Unquote.

From :DESPATCH .No. III.
Army Headquarters, Cairo.
1st March, 1916.

I am also greatly indebted to Colonel Harvey Pasha, C.M.G., and Colonel Hopkinson Pasha, C.M.G., the Commandants
of the Cairo and Alexandria Police respectively, for their strenuous and difficult work in keeping order under most difficult circumstances in these large cities, and who, in addition to their civil duties, have taken on that of Provost-Marshals at my special request. In fact, every branch of the Egyptian Government has been used to the uttermost with their whole and ungrudging consent. Consequently the resources of Egypt have been probed and developed with a result which has surprised even those who knew them best, and I have not only been able to carry on the administration of my command, but also to assist materially the interests of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force which were centred here, and to administer Martial Law without inconvenience and with a staff scarcely larger than that of the small garrison maintained here before the war.

I have the honour to be,

Your Lordships obedient servant,

J.G. MAXWELL, General Commanding the Force in Egypt.

In 1918, Harvey-Pasha, Head of Police and Provost Marshall of Cairo was made a K.B.E. He died in Edinburgh Scotland on 11 April 1930 – he had led a full and colourful life.

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THE ASSASSINATION OF THE EGYPTIAN PRIME-MINISTER AND THE IMPRISONMENT AND EXECUTION OF IBRAHIM NASSIF EL WARDANY

Ibrahim el Wardary's crime referred to in the extract was the assassination of the Egyptian Prime-Minister, Boutres Pasha. Egypt, still nominally part of the Turkish Empire, had been ruled de facto by Britain through the British Consul-General in Cairo since 1881. Note that Boutres Pasha was a Copt, a member of the Egyptian Christian minority.

Imprisonment

Ibrahim Nassif El Wardany was arrested on February 20th on the scene of his crime. During the preliminary inquiry he was confined in an isolated cell in the Mousky Police Station, under a strong guard.

On March 3rd he was transferred to the prison of the Appeal Court, where he remained until his execution. Special precautions were adopted. The Governor of the prison was a Copt, and every reliance could be placed upon him. Reliable warders were selected to guard Wardany's cell, and several prison officials, of known nationalist sympathies, were temporarily transferred. In his progress to and from the Court he was guarded by another specially chosen Coptic officer and four European constables.

On the 18th of May sentence of death was pronounced. From that date the number of warders was increased. Two extra sentries were posted and, as a further precaution against any possible attempt at rescue, thirty-two non-commissioned officers and men of the Guard Company, with rifles and ball-cartridge, remained on duty throughout the night, stationed in two posts of one non-commissioned officer and fifteen men each, at the only two points of the prison from which rescue could have been attempted.

On June 12th, the Court of Cassation rejected Wardany's appeal. From that date, until the end, in addition to the previous guards, a British Head Constable of the Cairo Police was continuously on duty outside the prisoner's cell, being relieved every six hours. The key of his cell was placed under a seal, which could only be broken in the presence of the Governor.

Wardany was, from the moment of his arrest, subjected to the ordinary prison discipline. After the sentence of May 18th, he was confined in a cell reserved for persons condemned to death and was kept under constant observation. He was, in accordance with the provisions of the Code, allowed to wear his own clothes until his sentence had become final on June 18th, at which
date he donned the prison dress. There were persistent rumours that he was either to take or to be given poison, and every precaution was adopted. His rations and water were specially inspected, and any extra articles of food ordered for him by the doctors were purchased by the Mamur of the prison in person; that officer tasted not only his food but his cough mixtures and other medicines. The medical report on the prisoner shows that he suffered from slight anaemia and was subject to bronchitis. On the night of the rejection of his appeal by the Court of Cassation, he had a violent gastric attack with vomiting, probably due to emotion.

His conduct in prison was irreproachable. He made no requests and complaints and remained on good terms with all the prison officials. The only privilege granted to the prisoner was to retain a few books and he spent nearly all his time in reading them. The works in his possession were: The English Constitution, by Walter Bagehot; a French political history of contemporary Europe; J.-J. Rousseau's Control Social; a volume of Arabic poetry and the Koran. During the early part of his imprisonment, before his condemnation, he was found to have engraved some writings in French and Arabic on the binding of one of these books with a tag of his boot-lace. One of these writings consisted of a series of headings for chapters, such as, Book 1, Chapter I: "Apergu du premier Gouvernement"; II "Democratic"; III "Com-munaute"; IV "Elements Sociaux et Politiques." Book 2, Chap-ter I, "Chambre des Deputes"; II "Senat"; III "Prince"; IV "Ministre"; V "Administration"; etc. When questioned on the subject, the prisoner admitted that these were chapters of a work he intended to compose and which was to be called "La Constitution d'un Gouvernement Musulman." On the same book he had engraved, after his condemnation, the following lines in Arabic:

Although death is destruction to the body, One like myself will never die; Being free, I shall become henceforth the martyr for my
country. Also a "hadice" (quotation from the Prophet) "You will have the Governors that you deserve."

Wardany came to be on good terms with Coles Pasha, the Inspector General of Prisons, and Colonel Harvey Pasha, Commandant of the Cairo Police, and he frequently conversed with them. He repeatedly inquired as to the effect of his deed in Egypt and as to whether it would result in good to his country. He said that he did not regret his crime, but was prepared to repeat it as Boutres Pasha had intended to sell his country on the Suez Canal question for £400,000. He maintained that he had com-mitted it entirely of his own accord, without any outside instigation whatsoever, and that he had no accomplices. It was impossible to shake his affirmations on this point. He denied the existence of any secret society for the perpetration of political murders and that any other assassinations were in contemplation.

At interviews, the last of which took place on the eve of his execution, with his uncle and mother the latter reproached him for his crime, and he replied that everyone had to die, but that his name would be immortalised.

He displayed the greatest interest in his will. His sole property consisted in his pharmacy, which he had established at a cost of £300. The concern was, as you are aware, hopelessly bankrupt and he left nothing but debts. Nevertheless, he nominated, to manage this pharmacy after his death, a committee comprising several of the best-known nationalist leaders. He directed that the profits were to be divided into five parts, and distributed, to a reserve fund, to his mother, to a kindergarten, to a girls' school, and to a scientific mission. This will and his language and attitude throughout his imprisonment tend to provethat he was suffering from a form of megalomania.

Execution

The fortnight's grace from the final judgment, during which period a pardon might be accorded, expired on June 27th. It had been decided that the execution should take place at the earliest possible date, viz., on the morning of the 28th, but not more than five or six officials were aware of this decision. On the afternoon of June 27th, the necessary document from the Procureur General, to the effect that the period of grace had expired and that the execution might be carried out, was delivered to me at the Ministry of the Interior and I handed it to Harvey Pasha, who had completed all the necessary arrangements.

Wardany was hanged at 6 A.M. on the following morning in the presence of the Sub-Governor of Cairo, Harvey Pasha, the Governor of the Prison, and two doctors. No other persons were admitted. The prisoner was very nervous, but showed no fear. He was evidently much disappointed at the small number and official character of the persons present. On the scaffold, he endeavoured to deliver a speech, but was requested to confine himself to a statement of his last wishes. He then said, "I com-mend my mother and sister to you- There is only one God and Muhammad is his prophet- Liberty and independence come from
God." Death was certified to have been instantaneous.

The native press had announced that the execution would be held on June 26th and, early that morning, a crowd of some 300 loafers of the lowest class assembled round the prison. They were kept moving by the police, but loitered in the neighbourhood. During the morning, Ashmawi, the executioner, who had been receiving orders from Harvey Pasha, left the prison
and entered a tramway. He was recognised by some of the loafers who, thinking that the execution had taken place, assumed a threatening attitude toward him and began to throw stones at the tramway. The police quickly extricated him; he remained for some time in a neighbouring police station and was afterwards sent to Alexandria to await instructions there, and he returned only on the eve of the execution.

The press then announced that June 29th was the date fixed for the event.

On the actual morning of the execution there was scarcely a soul in the vicinity of the prison. The few persons waiting there followed an empty sanitary cart which left the prison yard at 7 A.M. About the same time Wardany's body was removed in a similar cart from a private entrance of the Court of Appeal. Everyone entering the prison on the morning in question, including two journalists who protested loudly, was detained in-side until these proceedings were over. Wardany's body was taken to the cemetery of Imam el Shafei, where it was handed over to his uncle, Dr. Zeifal Effendi, an official of the Public Health Department, and quietly interred. Some grave diggers discovered what was taking place and a small crowd began to collect, but was easily persuaded to disperse by some plain-clothes police stationed at the spot. Dr. Zeifal helped to discourage manifestations of sympathy and the authorities are greatly indebted to this gentleman for his co-operation throughout the proceedings. The officer sent to inform Wardany's mother of the execution and to take her and her daughter to
the cemetery was unable to find her at her home, but discovered her at the house of a magician, to whom she had promised £23 in order that he should liberate her son by magic. The officer arrived before the money had been paid. The mother is reported to have been much affected and to have repeatedly said, "May God induce those who have persuaded you to fall into the same trap."

Under the provisions of the law, no official ceremony is per-mitted in the case of persons who have suffered capital punishment, and the family of Wardany was warned to this effect; but a large number of sympathizers, at least four or five hundred, comprising prominent nationalists, students, etc., have called at the mother's house, dressed in deep mourning, to express their condolences. Although Wardany's fate has undoubtedly provoked very general sympathy, there have been no attempts to disturb public order and perfect quiet prevails throughout the country.

The action of the authorities in avoiding publicity and in not following the usual course of inviting journalists to attend at the execution, has been bitterly criticised in the local press. Publicity would have entailed large crowds round the prison and consequent difficulty in removing the body; it was also undesirable that real or imaginary "last words of Wardany" should be circulated among a credulous public. I venture to submit that the arrangements made, with your approval, were justified, and that the result reflects credit upon Harvey Pasha, who was responsible for them.

(signed):
RONALD GRAHAM, June 30th, 1910.

[gavinmedals]

Excellent, thanks for sharing. Unfortunately do not have a Sudan group to tempt you with.

[Mervyn Mitton]

Not only a lovely collection to a distinguished officer - but also, exceptionally well researched. I am sure our Members will

enjoy reading through. Mervyn

[peter monahan]

Yes, indeed. Fascinating story. Thank you.

[Vanuatu Blue]

Gentlemen, thank you for your kind comments, as Mervyn says a very distinguished officer, and I have had great enjoyment with this group for a long time now.

The only award I have not yet been able to find in the London Gazette is his "Commander of the Order of the Osmanieh" he was awarded the 2nd class Medjidie in 1905 and the first photo of him in this post shows he is wearing both so post 1905, so he was awarded it and before 1905, if anyone is able to find that would be a great help ?.

Has anyone also noticed the very non regulation 42nd Highlanders glen badge on his cap, I suppose in his position he could wear what he wanted (or at least not many would have the authority or bottle to tell him to change it !

Last of all the dark arm band on his left arm, I assume identifies him also as the Provost Marshal ?

anyway I am glad others have enjoyed a good read, Regards, Brian.

Edited February 21, 2013 by Vanuatu Blue

[Mervyn Mitton]

Brian - some time ago we had an interesting exchange of views on what was a 'Pasha". I have always understood that it was

roughly equivalent to a Major - but, more civilian then military. I remember buying a nice Victorian ivory fly whisk in the Khan el

Kallil in Cairo - and was told it was the badge of office carried by a Pasha. I would be interested to hear your views - I could post

the fly whisk if you thought it of interest ? Mervyn

[Vanuatu Blue]

Hi Mervyn,

The term Pasha in the Turkish system is quite convoluted but put simply for use in the Anglo-Egyptian Army, "Pasha" was an honorific given to the ranks of Sirdar, Ferik and Lewa and that of "Bey" was given to the ranks of Miralai and Kaimakam.

The below ranks were Turkish in origin and were changed to Arabic equivalents when Egypt became a republic in the 1950's.

Few British Officers held a rank below Bimbashi and those that did were all NCO's commissioned whilst serving with the Egyptian Army.

Commander-in-Chief = Sirdar

Lieutenant General = Ferik

Major General = Lewa

Brigadier or Colonel = Miralai

Lieutenat Colonel = Kaimakam

Major = Bimbashi

Hope that helps, when I get time tomorrow I will add a little more info.

Regards, Brian.

Edited February 22, 2013 by Vanuatu Blue