The British Protectorate of Egypt: 1914-22.

    There could have been few milder occupations than the one the British imposed on Egypt upon the outbreak of the First World War. They had been there for years, concerned with their lifeline to India: the Suez Canal. But politically, Egypt was under the suzerainty of Turkey and the Egyptian Khedive, Muhammad V, was understandably pro-Turkish/anti-British. Muhammad was conveniently on a visit to Constantinople when the war broke out and, when Turkey came in on the side of the Central Powers in October, 1914, he was declared deposed by the British. In his place as sultan ruled his uncle, Hussein Kamil Pasha and, as of 18 December 1914, Egypt was declared a British Protectorate under the nominal rule of Hussein Kamil.

    Economically, the war years were a boom time for Egypt as millions of pounds flowed into this staging area for operations in Gallipoli, Mesopotamia and Palestine. The price of Egyptian cotton – the country’s main commodity – soared and chronic unemployment was relieved by the demand for labour. Best of all, few Egyptians had to actually go to war – some 96,000 nominally served in the ranks but only 12,000 could remotely be called troops, the rest were steadily-employed labourers.

    The former coinage of Egypt soon became inadequate for the demands made upon it as British and Commonwealth troops poured into the country. British coin was imported into the country through the Army Paymaster to the extent of £930,000 (1915-18), the British pound in whatever form declared legal tender at the rate of £1 = 975 Egyptian milliemes. The Egyptian pound (1000 milliemes) was therefore worth slightly more than the British – actually £1. 0s. 6½d sterling. In addition were a lot of Indian rupees without legal status.

    But for the country as whole, it was necessary that an extensive coinage based on the Egyptian pound be struck and this the British proceeded to have done at two British (Heaton’s and King’s Norton) and two Indian (Calcutta and Bombay) mints beginning in 1916. For the first time, English as well as Arabic appeared on Egyptian coins, necessary for the edification of the occupying troops. In general there were three main designs:

1. the little bronze ½-millieme had a design somewhat like the upper denominations. This coin appeared only in 1917 and despite its rather large mintage was never very popular with a value of only about a ¼-cent U.S. In large part, it served as a cheap source of bronze for the jewellery-makers and so forth. While not rare today, it is somewhat scarce in better conditions.

 

1. Copper-nickel holed coins appeared in denominations of 1-, 2-, 5- and 10-milliemes (1916-17) from a number of mints.

1. Unholed silver pieces, .833 fine, were struck in denominations of 2-, 5-, 10- and 20-piastres (1916-17). The last, a crown-sized coin, was called a fallari (dollar) by the indigenous population – which it was, having an exchange value of almost exactly $1 U.S. The same design carried over into the gold 100-piastre (1 Egyptian pound) piece coined only in 1916.

 

Catalogue:

½-millieme. Bronze (95 Copper : 4 Tin :1 Zinc). 1917(Calcutta). 1 issue: 4,000,000

 

EGYPT. ½-Millieme, 1917/١٣٣٥ Obv: “Sultan Hussein Kamil” and titles in arabic; ١٣٣٣ (1333 date of accession) below. Rev: “Sultantate of Egypt”, denomination and date. Designed: John Harvey Rowntree, Survey Dept.

 

   1 Millieme. Copper-nickel. Holed. ca 17mm. Design as 10-millieme. Obv: “Hussein Kamil” above hole and “Sultan of Egypt” below, both in Arabic. Date in Christian and Hejira on each side of hole. Reverse: Denomination in Arabic and English above and below; numerals in English and Arabic to sides. Mintmark, if any, at bottom. All the holed copper-nickel coins were designed by Hamid Effendi Sirry of the Government Assay Office, Egypt.

   Coined:    1917(B) -  4,002,000               1917-H    -    12,000,000

   2 Milliemes. Copper-nickel, holed. ca 20mm. Design as 10-millieme. Inscriptions as last.

    Coined:   1916-H,  1917-H  (9,000,000 total)       1917(B)     -   3,006,413

   5 Milliemes.  Copper-nickel, holed. ca 23mm. Design as 10-millieme. Inscriptions as 1 -millieme.

    Coined:       1916-(B)       -        3,000,050                    1916-H         -       3,000,000
                        1917-(B)       -        6,775,605                    1917-H        -      37,000,000

   10 Milliemes. Copper-nickel, holed. ca 26mm. Design shown below. Inscriptions as 1-millieme.

    Coined:  1916-(B)  -   1,007,400        1916-H  -  1,000,000
                   1917-(B) -    1,011,399        1917-H  -  6,000,000      1917-KN  -  4,000,000

      

    2 Piastres. Silver, .833 fine. Unholed. ca. 19mm. Design as 20-Piastres shown below. Setup of inscription in general as on ½-millieme. All of the silver and gold coins were designed by John Harvey Rowntree.

   Coined:   1916-(B) -  2,504,614       1917-(B)  -  4,461,226         1917-H  -  2,180,000

5 Piastres. Silver, .833 fine. Unholed.  ca. 26mm. Design as 20-piastres shown below. Setup of inscriptions in general as on ½-millieme.

   Coined:  1916-(B)  -  6,000,043       1917-(B)  -  9,218,229         1917-H  -  5,036,000

10 Piastres. Silver, .833 fine. Unholed. ca. 33mm. Design as 20-piastres shown below. Inscription setup in general as on ½-millieme.

   Coined:  1916-(B)  -  2,900,041       1917-(B)  -  4,859,270         1917-H  -  2,000,000

20 Piastres. Silver, .833 fine. Unholed. ca. 40mm. Shown below.

  Coined:   1916-(B) – 1,500,030            1917-(B) – 840,395             1917-H  -  249,500

100 Piastres. Gold, .875 fine. Designs similar to last.

   Coined:   1916-(B)  -  10,001

    Sultan Hussein Kamil Pasha died 9 October, 1917 and he was succeeded by a young relative, Sultan Ahmad Fuad. Although the Protectorate did not come to an end until 28 February, 1922, Faud I made only a single coin issue in 1920 consisting of silver 2-, 5-, 10- and 20-piastres pieces (the last with only 2 known and probably a pattern piece). In size, weight, fineness and exchange values, these coins were the same as Kamil’s. The designs were somewhat simplified but, again, Faud’s name and titles in Arabic as well as his accession date of AH 1335 appears on the obverse while on the reverse the denomination is written out in Arabic – but only “2 Piastres” (or whatever) in English. Below is the dual date: “1920 - ١٣٣٨”. The coins were struck only at Heaton’s, the “H” mintmark appearing at bottom reverse between the two dates.

Catalogue:      2 Piastres.     1920-H     -     2,820,000
                       5 Piastres.     1920-H     -     1,000,000
                      10 Piastres     1920-H     -        500,000
                      20 Piastres     1920-H     -    (?  - 2 known)

   Upon the ending of the Protectorate in 1922, Faud was made King of Egypt and ruled until 1952.

 

Wayne Jacobs is a numismatic expert. Currently secretary and editor of the "Mid-Island Coin Club Numismatic Journal"of Nanaimo, Vancouver Island , British Columbia, he is the award winning author of numerous articles. The MICC journal are hosted here: MICC webpages Copyright 2006 Wayne Jacobs. This article may be reprinted freely for non commercial purpose only if the resource box is left intact, linking back to us.