Sesostris Sidarouss Pasha. Credit: Marwan Awny.
Sidarouss
Pasha was born in Alexandria on January 8, 1873. He is the son of
Stépane Sidarouss, a high official of Egypt Post, and Mrs. Galila Kamel
Toueg. Sidarouss Jr. was educated at St. Andrew's Scottish School and
the Jesuits' College of St. Francis Xavier in Alexandria. After having
obtained his French degrees in Arts with honors, he took up the study of
law in Cairo and in Paris, and received his degree of Doctor of Laws in
the latter city.
His first practice was before the Mixed Court of Appeal in Alexandria as an assistant prosecutor in the office of the Attorney General. Later he was appointed in the Ministry of Justice in Cairo as private secretary to the Judical Adviser and secretary to the Committee of Judicial Surveillance.
In 1907, he was selected as Professor of Law at the Royal Faculty in Cairo where he was given the Chair of Civil Law, in both the English and the French sections. Later he was also entrusted with the direction of the Faculty, as Vice-Principal. In 1922 he was called to the Bench as Judge at the Mixed Court in Cairo.
Asked to join the Diplomatic Service, he was appointed First Secretary to the Royal Egyptian Legation in Paris in December 1923 and acted at the same time as Charge d'Affaires in Brussels until December 1924. He was promoted to the post of Counselor to the London legation in 1925 and given charge of the Legation as Charge d'Affaires ad interim.
In September 1929 he left London to take over his post of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Athens and Belgrade. In May 1930 he went, in the same capacity, to Brussels and The Hague, and from August 1930 until August 1931 he was on a mission in London. Sidarouss Pasha left England on August 1, 1931 to undertake his duties in Washington and on August fourteenth he presented to President Hoover the letters accrediting him as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Egypt to the Government of the United States of America. On February 11, 1933 and as he was retiring from office, he received an Honorary Degree of L.L.D. from the Catholic University of America.
Sidarouss Pasha's services have been recognized not only by his Government but also by several foreign countries. He holds, among others, the highest Egyptian title, that of "Pasha," which he was awarded on October 28, 1930, as well as the Egyptian Orders of the Medjedieh and the Nile. He is bearer of the Grand Cross of the Belgian Crown, of the Greek Order of the Phoenix and of the Yugoslav Order of St. Sava. He is Commander and Officer of several other Orders: The Royal Victorian Order, St. Gregory the Great, the Legion d'Honneur, the French Public Instruction, and St. Sylvester.
Sidarouss Pasha is not only a jurist and a diplomat but a writer and a linguist as well. His principal publications are: his famous and rare book on "The Patriarchates in the Ottoman Empire and especially in Egypt," Paris; "The Meglis Hasby and the Corresponding Patriarchal and Rabbinical Institutions in Egypt" or "The Personal Law Institutions in Egypt," Cairo; "The First Directory of the Ministry of Justice" or "The Year Book of the Egyptian Ministry of Justice" (1907), Cairo; "The Arabic Translation of the Codes of Sudan" (1899-1900), Cairo; "Penal, Criminal Instruction and Civil," Cairo, not to mention his various contributions to literary, legal and scientific Reviews and Magazines, such as "L’Égypte Contemporaine" or "Société d'Economie Politique, de Statistique et de Législation."
His first practice was before the Mixed Court of Appeal in Alexandria as an assistant prosecutor in the office of the Attorney General. Later he was appointed in the Ministry of Justice in Cairo as private secretary to the Judical Adviser and secretary to the Committee of Judicial Surveillance.
In 1907, he was selected as Professor of Law at the Royal Faculty in Cairo where he was given the Chair of Civil Law, in both the English and the French sections. Later he was also entrusted with the direction of the Faculty, as Vice-Principal. In 1922 he was called to the Bench as Judge at the Mixed Court in Cairo.
Asked to join the Diplomatic Service, he was appointed First Secretary to the Royal Egyptian Legation in Paris in December 1923 and acted at the same time as Charge d'Affaires in Brussels until December 1924. He was promoted to the post of Counselor to the London legation in 1925 and given charge of the Legation as Charge d'Affaires ad interim.
In September 1929 he left London to take over his post of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Athens and Belgrade. In May 1930 he went, in the same capacity, to Brussels and The Hague, and from August 1930 until August 1931 he was on a mission in London. Sidarouss Pasha left England on August 1, 1931 to undertake his duties in Washington and on August fourteenth he presented to President Hoover the letters accrediting him as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Egypt to the Government of the United States of America. On February 11, 1933 and as he was retiring from office, he received an Honorary Degree of L.L.D. from the Catholic University of America.
Sidarouss Pasha's services have been recognized not only by his Government but also by several foreign countries. He holds, among others, the highest Egyptian title, that of "Pasha," which he was awarded on October 28, 1930, as well as the Egyptian Orders of the Medjedieh and the Nile. He is bearer of the Grand Cross of the Belgian Crown, of the Greek Order of the Phoenix and of the Yugoslav Order of St. Sava. He is Commander and Officer of several other Orders: The Royal Victorian Order, St. Gregory the Great, the Legion d'Honneur, the French Public Instruction, and St. Sylvester.
Sidarouss Pasha is not only a jurist and a diplomat but a writer and a linguist as well. His principal publications are: his famous and rare book on "The Patriarchates in the Ottoman Empire and especially in Egypt," Paris; "The Meglis Hasby and the Corresponding Patriarchal and Rabbinical Institutions in Egypt" or "The Personal Law Institutions in Egypt," Cairo; "The First Directory of the Ministry of Justice" or "The Year Book of the Egyptian Ministry of Justice" (1907), Cairo; "The Arabic Translation of the Codes of Sudan" (1899-1900), Cairo; "Penal, Criminal Instruction and Civil," Cairo, not to mention his various contributions to literary, legal and scientific Reviews and Magazines, such as "L’Égypte Contemporaine" or "Société d'Economie Politique, de Statistique et de Législation."
Sidarous
Pasha was married to the daughter of the late Boghos Ghali Pasha and
his wife died in 1922. He had three children: two sons, Maitre Stephy
Sidarouss, a barrister before the Mixed Courts in Cairo, and Dr. Max
sidarouss, a specialist in Radiology and X-Rays practising at the
Kasr-el-Nil Hospital in Cairo (on the date of publishing this article
i.e. 1931), and a daughter who by marriage to a Frenchman in Paris had
become Countess Charles du Bourg.
Sidarouss Pasha
Mrs. Marie-Agathe Sidarouss
On
December 8, 1933, Sidarous Pasha married Marie-Agathe Ghali, the
daughter of Joseph Ghali, M.D. As of 1941, they were both living at 2
Rue el-Salamlik, Garden-City, Cairo and in summer at 9 rue des
Abbassides, Alexandria.
Credits: Le Mondain Egyptien 1941, page 258; Gerry Livadas; The Syrian World, November 1931, page 44-47.
