CROMER, EVELYN BARING, 1ST EARL OF

ēvˈlĭn bârˈĭng krōˈmər, 1841–1917, British administrator in Egypt. Appointed (1877) first British commissioner of the Egyptian public debt office, he directed investigations by France and England into the bankrupt administration of Ismail Pasha. After the deposition of Ismail and accession of Tewfik Pasha, Baring became (1879) British controller general in Egypt. He was (1880–83) finance minister in India and returned to Egypt after Arabi Pasha's nationalist revolt to become British agent and consul general in 1883. Until his resignation in 1907, Baring (created Baron Cromer in 1892 and earl in 1901) was the virtual ruler of Egypt. Faced with the Mahdist rebellion in Sudan, he recommended Egyptian withdrawal and only reluctantly agreed to the appointment of Charles George Gordon to arrange the evacuation. He reformed Egyptian finances, administration, and education; improved the railroads; and developed methods of agriculture and irrigation. After the reconquest (1896–98) of Sudan, he devised the Anglo-Egyptian system of government. Cromer was a Greek scholar and wrote books on imperial and Egyptian affairs.

See study by J. Marlowe (1970).

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