Dinshaway Incident (1906)
DINSHAWAY INCIDENT (1906)
British atrocity committed in June 1906 against Egyptian peasants accused of assaulting British officers.
Some British officers were hunting pigeons near Dinshaway village in Minufiyya province. One officer died, most probably of sunstroke, but the villagers were accused of assaulting him. As the news spread, the British assumed that a national insurrection might occur, so they called for exemplary punishment of the villagers. The accused assailants were arrested and hastily tried by a special tribunal; some were sentenced to death, some to public flogging or imprisonment.
Their sentences led to widespread protests in Europe and in Egypt. The summary public execution of the convicted peasants caused the rise of Egypt's National Party and the retirement of Britain's consul general, Lord Cromer (born Evelyn Baring). For Egyptians, it remains a black mark against Britain's rule.
See also Baring, Evelyn; National Party (Egypt).
Bibliography
Blunt, Wilfrid Scawen. Atrocities of Justice under British Rule in Egypt. London: Unwin, 1907.
Marlowe, John. Cromer in Egypt. London: Elek; and New York: Praeger, 1970.
Sayyid-Marsot, Afaf Lutfi. Egypt and Cromer: A Study in Anglo– Egyptian Relations. London: Murray; New York: Praeger, 1968.
arthur goldschmidt