Ali Pasha Sherif
Encyclopedia
Arabian horse
The Arabian or Arab horse is a breed of horse that originated on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is one of the most easily recognizable horse breeds in the world. It is also one of the oldest breeds, with archaeological evidence of horses...
s during the late 19th century.
Family Background
Born in Egypt, Ali Pasha Sherif was a son of El Sayed Muhammad Sherif Pasha El-Kebir (d. 1865), who was a native of KavalaKavala
Kavala , is the second largest city in northern Greece, the principal seaport of eastern Macedonia and the capital of Kavala peripheral unit. It is situated on the Bay of Kavala, across from the island of Thasos...
, Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
.Muhammad was a brilliant student who caught the eye of his uncle, Muhammad Ali Pasha
Muhammad Ali of Egypt
Muhammad Ali Pasha al-Mas'ud ibn Agha was a commander in the Ottoman army, who became Wāli, and self-declared Khedive of Egypt and Sudan...
, the future Wāli
Wali
Walī , is an Arabic word meaning "custodian", "protector", "sponsor", or authority as denoted by its definition "crown". "Wali" is someone who has "Walayah" over somebody else. For example, in Fiqh the father is wali of his children. In Islam, the phrase ولي الله walīyu 'llāh...
, or Governor-General of Egypt, who was also a native of Kavala. Muhammad Ali adopted Muhammad Sherif, and when the latter was 12 years old Muhammad Ali took him to Egypt and had him educated with his own sons in an elite boarding school known as the Princes' School, which was located at El-Khanka, a city 12 miles northeast of Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
. Muhammad Sherif married one of Muhammad Ali's daughters, making him both an adopted son and a son-in-law. Muhammad Sherif went on to become an important administrator in Muhammed Ali's regime, eventually becoming Wali of "El Sham and Arabistan", or Governor-General of Syria and the Arab lands, from November 1832 to 1840. He also served as Finance Minister of Egypt in 1844.
Early Life
As a child, Ali Pasha Sherif developed a love of horses and horsemanship, and he later developed contacts with many desert Bedouin chieftains who were owners and breeders of Arabian horses. Also, as a child and young man, he was exposed to the Arabian horses collected by Muhammad Ali Pasha and his successor Abbas I of EgyptAbbas I of Egypt
Abbas I , , also known as Abbas Hilmi I Pasha Wāli of Egypt and Sudan, was a son of Tusun Pasha and grandson of Muhammad Ali, founder of the reigning dynasty of Egypt and Sudan at the time...
, also known as Abbas I Pasha, or Abbas Pasha.
In the first half of his life, Ali Pasha Sherif went by the name Ali Bey or Ali Bey Fahmy. As a teen, he attended the same elite boarding school at El-Khanka that his father had attended. His father next enrolled him in the École Militaire Égyptienne, a school established by Muhammad Ali Pasha in 1844 in Paris to train men for effective service in the Egyptian military corps. After completing his studies at the École Militaire Égyptienne, Ali Bey continued his education at the School of Application for the Staff, located on the Rue de Grenelle, Paris, close to Les Invalides
Les Invalides
Les Invalides , officially known as L'Hôtel national des Invalides , is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, the building's...
, many graduates of which were selected to become staff officers in the French army. As a result of this training Ali Bey became an artillery colonel in Mohammed Ali's Egyptian Army.
Career achievements
Following the death of his father in 1865, Ali Bey was notified by the Ottoman authorities in Constantinople that he was now qualified to use the title "Ali Sherif Pasha". However, he usually wrote his new name and title as "Ali Pasha Sherif", or its French form, "Ali Pacha Chérif." In his new capacity he served Egypt throughout the reigns of KhediveKhedive
The term Khedive is a title largely equivalent to the English word viceroy. It was first used, without official recognition, by Muhammad Ali Pasha , the Wāli of Egypt and Sudan, and vassal of the Ottoman Empire...
s Tewfik Pasha
Tewfik Pasha
HH Muhammed Tewfik Pasha ' was Khedive of Egypt and Sudan between 1879 and 1892, and the sixth ruler from the Muhammad Ali Dynasty.-Early life:...
and Abbas Hilmi Pasha
Abbas II of Egypt
HH Abbas II Hilmi Bey was the last Khedive of Egypt and Sudan .-Early life:...
(aka Abbas II). Major posts he held included Foreign Minister of Egypt, and at one point in his career, he was awarded the title of Knight Commander
Knight Commander
Knight Commander is the second most senior grade of seven British orders of chivalry, three of which are dormant . The rank entails admission into knighthood, allowing the recipient to use the title 'Sir' or 'Dame' before his or her name...
of the Order of the Star of India
Order of the Star of India
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 # Knight Commander # Companion...
by Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
.
Breeder of Arabian Horses
Ali Bey first obtained a few Arabian horses while his father was governor of Syria, and he obtained others directly from the breeding program of Abbas I Pasha. When Abbas I was murdered in 1854, his Arabian horseArabian horse
The Arabian or Arab horse is a breed of horse that originated on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is one of the most easily recognizable horse breeds in the world. It is also one of the oldest breeds, with archaeological evidence of horses...
s were inherited by his eighteen year old son Ibrahim Ilhami Pasha (aka El Hami Pasha) who had little interest in them, giving away several. Upon Ibrahim's death, his estate was bankrupt, and the executors of his estate sold his remaining horses at auction in December 1860. Ali Pasha Sherif purchased approximately 30 horses of the original Abbas I Pasha stock, ultimately owning four hundred horses by 1873.
Ali Pasha Sherif was reputed to have kept extensive records and manuscripts about his stud, which were passed on to his son, Huseyn Bey Sherif, who lent them to King Fouad
Fuad I of Egypt
Fuad I was the Sultan and later King of Egypt and Sudan, Sovereign of Nubia, Kordofan, and Darfur. The ninth ruler of Egypt and Sudan from the Muhammad Ali Dynasty, he became Sultan of Egypt and Sudan in 1917, succeeding his elder brother Sultan Hussein Kamel...
. These were never returned, and they are now considered lost.
In the late 1870s, a devastating epidemic of African horse sickness
African Horse sickness
African horse sickness is a highly infectious, and deadly disease. It commonly affects horses, mules, and donkeys. It is caused by a virus of the genus Orbivirus belonging to the family Reoviridae. This disease can be caused by any of the nine serotypes of this virus...
hit Egypt, killing thousands of horses, including many horses of prized bloodlines. Only the horses Ali Pasha Sherif had moved to upper Egypt were saved. As he aged, Ali Pasha Sherif's health failed and he encountered financial and political problems, leading to many problems for his stud farm, including a decline in the quality of his stock due to managers who bred to pedigree with no assessment of the ensuing livestock and often engaging in inbreeding
Inbreeding
Inbreeding is the reproduction from the mating of two genetically related parents. Inbreeding results in increased homozygosity, which can increase the chances of offspring being affected by recessive or deleterious traits. This generally leads to a decreased fitness of a population, which is...
.
In 1880 Ali Pasha Sherif made the acquaintance of Wilfred
Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Wilfrid Scawen Blunt was an English poet and writer. He was born at Petworth House in Sussex, and served in the Diplomatic Service from 1858 to 1869. His mother was a Catholic convert and he was educated at Twyford School, Stonyhurst and at St Mary's College, Oscott...
and Lady Anne Blunt
Lady Anne Blunt
Anne Isabella Noel Blunt, née King-Noel, 15th Baroness Wentworth , known for most of her life as Lady Anne Blunt, was co-founder, with her husband the poet Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, of the Crabbet Arabian Stud. The two married on 8 June 1869...
. Though he was generally reluctant to sell horses to foreigners, he eventually sold them the stallion Mesaoud
Mesaoud
Mesaoud, an Arabian stallion, foaled 1887, was one of the foundation sires of the Crabbet Arabian Stud in England. Bred in Egypt by Ali Pasha Sherif, he was imported to England by Wilfred and Lady Anne Blunt in 1891...
in 1889 as well as other horses. Ali Pasha Sherif died in 1897, and a month after his death his remaining horses went up for auction. At that time, Lady Anne Blunt
Lady Anne Blunt
Anne Isabella Noel Blunt, née King-Noel, 15th Baroness Wentworth , known for most of her life as Lady Anne Blunt, was co-founder, with her husband the poet Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, of the Crabbet Arabian Stud. The two married on 8 June 1869...
was able to purchase many of the best for her Sheykh Obeyd
Sheykh Obeyd
Sheykh Obeyd was a stud farm that raised Arabian horses, located near Cairo, Egypt. It was founded by Wilfred Scawen Blunt and Lady Anne Blunt in the late 19th century, was the home of Lady Anne following her divorce from Wilfred, and was where she lived until her death...
stud, later exporting some to their Crabbet Arabian Stud
Crabbet Arabian Stud
The Crabbet Arabian Stud, also known as the Crabbet Park Stud, was a horse breeding farm established on 2 July 1878 when the first Arabian horses brought to England by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt and Lady Anne Blunt arrived at Crabbet Park, their estate in Sussex...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
See also
- Arabian horseArabian horseThe Arabian or Arab horse is a breed of horse that originated on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is one of the most easily recognizable horse breeds in the world. It is also one of the oldest breeds, with archaeological evidence of horses...
- Lady Anne BluntLady Anne BluntAnne Isabella Noel Blunt, née King-Noel, 15th Baroness Wentworth , known for most of her life as Lady Anne Blunt, was co-founder, with her husband the poet Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, of the Crabbet Arabian Stud. The two married on 8 June 1869...
- Crabbet Arabian StudCrabbet Arabian StudThe Crabbet Arabian Stud, also known as the Crabbet Park Stud, was a horse breeding farm established on 2 July 1878 when the first Arabian horses brought to England by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt and Lady Anne Blunt arrived at Crabbet Park, their estate in Sussex...
- Muhammad Ali DynastyMuhammad Ali DynastyThe Muhammad Ali Dynasty was the ruling dynasty of Egypt and Sudan, from the 19th to the mid-20th Century. It is named after its progenitor, Muhammad Ali Pasha, regarded as the founder of modern Egypt. It was also more formally known as the Alawiyya Dynasty...