Mustafa Fahmi Pasha:
Mustafa Fahmi Pasha (Arabic: مصطفى فهمي باشا ) (1840 – 13 September 1914) was an Egyptian politician, cabinet minister, and twice premier.
[edit] Early life
He was born in Crete to a Turkish family that had earlier settled in Algeria. His father, Husayn Efendi, a colonel, died in the Crimean War, and Mustafa Fahmi was adopted by an uncle, Muhammad Zaki, director of the Public Works Department. Fahmi was educated at the Egyptian Military Academy and, upon being commissioned, rose through the Egyptian Army to the rank of lieutenant general. He then was appointed governor of Monufia, then of Cairo, and, finally, of Port Said. He later became director of the khedivial estates and then master of ceremonies. Prefect of the Cairo police in 1876, he was widely suspected of murdering the Mufattish, Isma'il Siddiq.
[edit] Political career
He served as minister of public works (1879), foreign affairs (1879-1882), justice (1882), finance (1884-1887), interior three times (1887-1888, 1891-1893, and 1895-1908),[1] and war and marine twice (1887-1891 and 1894-1895). He was prime minister from 1891 to 1893 and again from 1895 to 1908. His illness early in 1893 caused a crisis between Lord Cromer and Khedive Abbas Hilmi II, who tried to replace his cabinet with one headed by Husayn Fakhri Pasha without consulting the British consul. Fahmi was allowed to leave the government for a while to recover his health, but returned under Nubar Pasha and soon afterward took charge of what would be Egypt's longest-lasting cabinet, one in which the power of the British advisers far outweighed that of the ministers.
[edit] Later life
He was pro-British for most of his active career, deferring repeatedly to Lord Cromer, but after he left office, he fell under the influence of Saad Zaghlul, who was married to Fahmi's youngest daughter Safiyya. It was rumored that Fahmi might head a cabinet in 1914 after Muhammad Said Pasha's resignation, but he was in poor health and died shortly afterward in Cairo. Most Egyptians regard him as having been too complaisant toward the British.
[edit] References
- General
- Specific
|
