'The chain that is round us now...'
Victoria College: A History Revealed, Sahar Hamouda, Colin Clement & Hala Halim, Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2002. pp324
One in a long line of foreign educational establishments -- Greek, Armenian, German, British and American -- that started in Egypt as early as 1645, Victoria College in Alexandria has the title of being Egypt's, and the region's, most distinguished international school.
"On 22 January 1901, Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India, died. Some three months later, on 15 April, the foundation stone of Victoria College was laid in the town of Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt." On this note, Victoria College: A History Revealed sets out to tell the tale of this famous school. Modelled on an English public school, yet without explicit ties either to the expatriate British community or to the church, Victoria College reflected both the rising commercial position of Alexandria and the city's distinctive early 20th-century cosmopolitanism, the school's first 26 students being Syrio-Lebanese, Greek and Jewish, with Egyptians making up a tiny minority of three.
While the book's narrative is panoramic and comprehensive, it remains consistently focused, achieved, in no small part, by its division into four main chapters. The story is rich, long and complicated. With no official backing from the British government, whose hands-off policy with regard to education in the colonies was markedly different from that of the French, the undertaking was the work of individuals from the beginning, with eight Alexandria notables, two of whom were non- British, spearheading the project.
To put the story of the College into perspective, the book also provides material on the political, social and educational background of Alexandria and beyond. Dubbed the Egyptian Eton, after Eton College in Berkshire, England, Victoria College was keen from the start to transplant the English public-school ethos, with its emphasis on games, houses, traditions, and above all on the fostering of a collective identity. Relying on school records, personal reminiscences, memoirs and letters, the book starts with early pupils' fumbling first attempts to learn English, going on to describe their later roles as mediators between East and West, made easier by their bilingual and multicultural training.
However, while the book thus records the school's successes, it also describes the financial hurdles, administrative blunders, unforeseen political and social changes, both local and worldwide, and more endearingly, human foibles and boyish pranks, that sometimes came close to threatening the institution's existence. Put simply, like many other human tales, this is a story of vision and revision. While the three contributors to the book quote facts and figures regarding the school, they never lose sight of the human factor, conveying the timeless truth that it is individuals who make or break such institutions. In keeping with the school's tradition, they trace not only the fortunes of the future kings and ministers, counsellors and movie stars, who attended the school at different times, but also those of the College's stewards and carpenters.
Towering above all the other characters profiled in the book, however, is Mr Reed, headmaster of Victoria College from 1922 to 1945. Though plagued by ill-health throughout his life, Reed combined administrative acumen with individual humility. He was a larger-than-life figure, with a network of contacts in and outside Egypt. However, his role as headmaster of the College involved sickbed vigils, as well as anonymous gifts to the deserving, in addition to his academic duties. It is perhaps no surprise that a whole chapter is devoted to this enigmatic man.
The story of Victoria College is also that of Alexandria and of Egypt as a whole. In October 1902, the school was closed because of a cholera epidemic; it repeatedly made efforts to admit girls; and the lives of many old boys were cut short by personal tragedy or by war. During World War II, the school was transformed into a military hospital to accommodate the British Army, then fighting to the West in Libya, and classes were moved to the San Stefano hotel. As confidence in the school increased, there were attempts to capitalise on its renown by creating sister schools, both in Cairo or Jordan, but these sometimes fell short of the high standards set by Victoria College itself.
However, Victoria College's greatest challenge came in 1956. During that watershed year in the history of Egypt, major changes came to the College, as they did to most foreign schools in the country, notably with regard to student enrolment and staffing, not to mention political tensions and other forms of friction. Increased student enrolment, along with other abrupt and uncharted changes, sent the school on a downward course from which, as the book makes clear, it has never really recovered.
The book's three contributors have clearly spent years researching and putting together this delightful book. Their four chapters, prefaced by meticulously chosen epigraphs, are uniformly informative and insightful. Photographs and facsimiles add to the elegance of the book. One poignant addition is the programme of the late King Hussein of Jordan's memorial service held at the school (King Hussein was an old boy), and the thoughtfully worded thank-you note from Queen Nur.
Beyond its evident importance for Old Victorians, or for those working in the field of education, this book is also a mine of information on Egyptian social history. Even those whose interest lies elsewhere will find in it information of interest: the etymology of the word Siouf, for example, the links between the school and the Victoria tramline in Alexandria, and between the school and the real-estate business of an Iraqi Jew by the name of Joseph Smouha, a name which will ring bells for anyone familiar with Alexandria.
The book's wistful note is unmistakable, the harmony achieved by Victoria College being proof enough that East and West could meet -- if only for a season or two.
Reviewed by Nazek Fahmy
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 19 - 25 December 2002 (Issue No. 617)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2002/617/bo5.htm