Wilfrid Scawen Blunt - Egyptian Garden Scandal

Egyptian Garden Scandal

In 1901 a pack of fox hounds was shipped over to Cairo to entertain the army officers, and subsequently a foxhunt took place in the desert near Cairo. The fox was chased into Blunt's garden, and the hounds and hunt followed it. As well as a house and garden, the land contained the Blunt's Sheykh Obeyd stud farm, housing a number of valuable Arabian horses. Blunt's staff challenged the trespassers - who, though army officers, were not in uniform - and beat them when they refused to turn back. For this, the staff were accused of assault against army officers and imprisoned. Blunt made strenuous efforts to free his staff, much to the embarrassment of the British army officers and civil servants involved.

Read more about this topic:  Wilfrid Scawen Blunt

Famous quotes containing the words egyptian, garden and/or scandal:

    ...the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.
    Bible: Hebrew, Exodus 1:19.

    Egyptian midwives to Pharaoh.

    And yonder in the gymnasts’ garden thrives
    The self-sown, self-begotten shape that gives
    Athenian intellect its mastery,
    Even the grey-leaved olive-tree
    Miracle-bred out of the living stone....
    William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)

    There’s no scandal like rags, nor any crime so shameful as poverty.
    George Farquhar (1678–1707)