Mohamed Sherif Pasha
GCSI
The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1861. The Order includes members of three classes:
# Knight Grand Commander (:Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India, GCSI)
# ...
(1826–1887) ( ar, محمد شريف باشا) was an Egyptian statesman.
He served as
Prime Minister of Egypt
The prime minister of Egypt () is the head of the Egyptian government. A direct translation of the Arabic-language title is "Minister-President of Egypt" and "President of the Government". The Arabic title can also be translated as "President of ...
three times during his career. His first term was between April 7, 1879 and August 18, 1879. His second term was served from September 14, 1881 to February 4, 1882. His final term was served between August 21, 1882 and January 7, 1884.
Biography
Sherif, who was from
Kavala
Kavala ( el, Καβάλα, ''Kavála'' ) is a city in northern Greece, the principal seaport of eastern Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia and the capital of Kavala (regional unit), Kavala regional unit.
It is situated on the Bay of Kavala, across ...
in the Ottoman Empire (now in northern
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
)
, filled numerous administrative posts under
Sa'id Pasha
Mehmed Said Pasha ( ota, محمد سعيد پاشا ; 1838–1914), also known as Küçük Said Pasha ("Said Pasha the Younger") or Şapur Çelebi or in his youth as Mabeyn Başkatibi Said Bey, was an Ottoman monarchist, senator, statesman ...
and
Isma'il Pasha
Isma'il Pasha ( ar, إسماعيل باشا ; 12 January 1830 – 2 March 1895), was the Khedive of Egypt and conqueror of Sudan from 1863 to 1879, when he was removed at the behest of Great Britain. Sharing the ambitious outlook of his gran ...
. He was better educated than most of his contemporaries, and had married a daughter of Colonel Sèves, the French non-commissioned officer who became
Suleiman Pasha under
Mehmet Ali.
They were the maternal grandparents of
Queen consort Nazli of Egypt and
Regent
A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...
Sherif Sabri Pasha
Sherif Sabri Pasha (), born in Cairo in 1895, was the brother of Nazli Sabri, Queen consort of Egypt. He was thus the maternal uncle of Nazli's son King Farouk I, and served on the three-member Regency Council that was formed in 1936-37 during ...
As minister of foreign affairs he was useful to Ismail, who used Sherif's bluff bonhomie to veil many of his most insidious proposals. Of singularly lazy disposition, he yet possessed considerable tact; he was in fact an Egyptian
Lord Melbourne
William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, (15 March 177924 November 1848), in some sources called Henry William Lamb, was a British Whig politician who served as Home Secretary (1830–1834) and Prime Minister (1834 and 1835–1841). His first pre ...
, whose policy was to leave everything alone.
[
Sherif's favorite argument against any reform was to appeal to the ]Pyramids
A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...
as an immutable proof of the solidity of Egypt financially and politically. His fatal optimism rendered him largely responsible for the collapse of Egyptian credit which brought about the fall of Ismail.[
Upon the military insurrection of September 1881 under Urabi Pasha, Sherif was summoned by the khedive Tawfiq to form a new ministry. The impossibility of reconciling the financial requirements of the national party with the demands of the British and French controllers of the public debt, compelled him to resign in the following February.][
After the suppression of the Urabi Revolt he was again installed in office (August 1882) by Tawfiq, but in January 1884 he resigned rather than sanction the evacuation of the Sudanese regions of the ]Khedivate of Egypt
The Khedivate of Egypt ( or , ; ota, خدیویت مصر ') was an autonomous tributary state of the Ottoman Empire, established and ruled by the Muhammad Ali Dynasty following the defeat and expulsion of Napoleon Bonaparte's forces which br ...
. As to the strength of the Mahdist movement he had then no conception. When urged by Sir Evelyn Baring (Lord Cromer) early in 1883 to abandon some of the more distant parts of the Sudan, he replied with characteristic light-heartedness: "''Nous en causerons plus tard ; d'abord nous allons donner une bonne raclée à ce monsieur''" (We'll talk about that later, first we're going to give this gentleman (i.e. the self declared Mahdi, Muhammad Ahmad
Muhammad Ahmad ( ar, محمد أحمد ابن عبد الله; 12 August 1844 – 22 June 1885) was a Nubian Sufi religious leader of the Samaniyya order in Sudan who, as a youth, studied Sunni Islam. In 1881, he claimed to be the Mahdi, ...
) a good thrashing). Hicks Pasha
Colonel William Hicks, also known as Hicks Pasha, (18305 November 1883), British soldier, entered the Bombay Army in 1849, and served through the Indian mutiny, being mentioned in dispatches for good conduct at the action of Sitka Ghaut in 1 ...
's expedition was at the time preparing to march on El Obeid
El-Obeid ( ar, الأبيض, ''al-ʾAbyaḍ'', lit."the White"), also romanized as Al-Ubayyid, is the capital of the state of North Kurdufan, in Sudan.
History and overview
El-Obeid was founded by the pashas of Ottoman Egypt in 1821. It ...
.[
Sherif died in Graz, ]Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
, on April 20, 1887.
References
1826 births
1887 deaths
19th-century prime ministers of Egypt
Egyptian Muslims
Egyptian pashas
Egyptian people of Greek descent
People of the 'Urabi revolt
Prime Ministers of Egypt
Foreign ministers of Egypt
Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India
Grand Viziers of Egypt
Irrigation Ministers of Egypt
{{Egypt-politician-stub