TWO SIMILAR OTTOMAN MAMELUKE SABRES19TH CENTURYEach with leather and white metal mounted scabbards, each with Rhinoceros horn gripApproximately 82cm long, 99cm longProvenance: By repute, presented to General Lord Hutchinson of Alexandria (1757-1832), 2nd Earl Donoughmore. Second in command to General Abercrombie in the 1801 expedition to Egypt.Catalogue Note:In 1801, during the Egyptian campaign in which the British army fought against Napoleon's French revolutionary forces, John Hely-Hutchinson, 2nd earl of Donoughmore (1757-1832), succeeded as commander-in-chief on the death of his superior, General Ralph Abercromby, in March. In July, he guaranteed the Mamluk beys British protection for their support against the numerically superior French troops at Rahmanie, and by October, he fully expected to establish the Mamluks in power. These sabres may have been presented to Hely-Hutchinson in recognition of this backing. Unfortunately, the British government had in parallel promised the Ottomans stewardship of Egypt. On 22 October, Kapudan Pasha, Grand Admiral of the navy of the Ottoman Empire, set an ambush for the Mamluk commanders, under the pretext of negotiations on board his flagship. All of the leading beys were either killed or captured, and although Hely-Hutchinson secured the release of the Mamluk prisoners, a settlement between Mamluks and Ottomans became impossible. As the British army withdrew from Egypt, this chaotic state of affairs was only settled when the Albanian contingent of the Ottoman army, commanded by Muhammad Ali, mutinied over lack of pay. Being the only fully trained unit in Egypt, they prevailed, and Ali became Pasha of Egypt in May 1805.