Images of Empire: Photographic Sources for the British in the Sudan (review)

The photographs in this interesting and useful book have been selected from the Sudan Archive at Durham University where the co-author, Jane Hogan, is the assistant keeper. When the British left the Sudan in 1954–55 they returned to a homeland unsympathetic to their mission. Nevertheless, some among them believed that the record should be preserved. On his retirement from the Sudan Government Railways, Richard Hill became a lecturer in history at Durham and initiated the archive on which this book is based. Over the years, other families and their descendants sent additional papers and photographs to Durham, forming a valuable record not only for historians but also for policymakers interested in development issues. Housed here, for instance, safe and available to aid organizations, are the Jonglei Investigation Team's multidisciplinary findings on the Southern Sudan.

The book begins with an informative and succinct introduction by Martin Daly. Eleven chapters follow: "The Journey Out," "Khartoum," "The North," "The South," "Transport," "Official Architecture," "The British Connection," "The Sudan at War," "Leisure," "British Women in the Sudan," and "Departures." Each chapter is well illustrated with an introduction and informative captions. Notes identify most of the major people and give brief accounts of their careers. There is a useful reminder that Egypt provided the bulk of the funds for the basic sinews of communication in the first two decades of the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium. But after 1924, with the murder of Sir Lee Stack in Egypt and with mutiny and unrest in the Sudan, the partners in the Condominium became estranged, greatly complicating the political process.

Daly submits somewhat to revisionist temptation, implying that Sudan officials were not as devoted or hard working as they appeared. Much is made of how comfortable Khartoum was. Indeed, it is still a delightful place from November to March, but baking hot with occasional dust storms (there are three photographs of these) the other seven months. In the early 1950s there was only one air-conditioned house in Khartoum, that of the general manager of Shell. There is an excellent chapter on British women in the Sudan. Divorce was almost unknown, though most wives would sensibly extend their stay to six months in the British summer, sharing eighty days of that time with their husbands, who took early or late leave. Daly suggests that no one, even at the end of the war, would have envisaged a Sudanese occupying the governor general's palace one day. This is groundless speculation: when on appointment in 1949 on contract (not pensionable) terms, I received a letter from the governor general stating that the job was to help prepare the Sudan for independence.

There is one serious error. A 1928 photograph of an inspector of agriculture with the tusks of an elephant is captioned "The Sudan Government's role was as exploiter, not regulator or conserver: the country's enormous herds have by now been wiped out." It is untrue that there was no regulation or conservation during the British period. There was a fully staffed Game Department with Sudanese game scouts in the appropriate districts. Rifles were strictly controlled and had to be of adequate caliber. Licenses were obtainable for three elephants—mature bulls only—at £15 each per year. This would not diminish the reproductive capacity of the herd. On the open plains in the north of Western Nuer District the hunting of giraffe by Baggara Arabs was subject to a quota, agreed between respective chiefs and district commissioners. Independent Sudan inherited its magnificent fauna in good order.

Disappointingly, this book fails to address two huge questions that are of the utmost importance for the future of Africa: How was it that between 1899 and 1954 about four hundred men (with departmental support) managed to bring peace and order to this vast and diverse country? And once order was established, how did they...