Sir Robert Allason Furness (1883 – 4 December 1954), also known as Robin Furness, was Professor of English at

Cairo University Cairo University () is Egypt's premier public university. Its main campus is in Giza, immediately across the Nile from Cairo. It was founded on 21 December 1908;"Brief history and development of Cairo University." Cairo University Faculty of En ...

and the representative in Egypt of the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

between 1945 and 1950.Obituary in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', ''Sir Robert A. Furness'', 6 December 1954, p.10 He was an expert adviser on the establishment of

BBC Arabic BBC Arabic () consisted of the Modern Standard Arabic, Literary Arabic language radio station which was run by the BBC World Service, as well as the BBC Arabic Television, BBC's satellite TV channel, and the website that serves as a Literary Ar ...

, the BBC's first radio station to broadcast in Arabic. Shortly after Sir Robert's death, the writer and historian Hilary Wayment sent a tribute to ''

'' stating that Sir Robert 'seemed to have the gift of perpetual youth and to enter into the enthusiasms of his younger colleagues with the zest of an undergraduate'.''

'', 9 December 1954, p.10 The tribute concluded that to his friends in England and Egypt, 'the lasting impression he will leave behind is one of generous and high-spirited enjoyments, and of sheer charm and quality of mind'. He was also described as 'a very tall, elegant, sardonic man, learned about the poets of Ancient Alexandria, and with a line in extravagant bawdry'.

Early life

Robert Allason Furness was born in 1883, the son of the Reverend John Monteith Furness and Sophia Elizabeth Furness (née Haslam). He was educated at

Rugby School Rugby School is a Public school (United Kingdom), private boarding school for pupils aged 13–18, located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire in England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independ ...

, where he was head boy, and went up to

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

, where he was a friend of

John Maynard Keynes John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist and philosopher whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originall ...

and Edward Morgan Forster. At

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

he graduated with a first in the

Classical Tripos The Classical Tripos is the taught course in classics at the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge. It is equivalent to '' Literae Humaniores'' at Oxford University. It is traditionally a three-year degree, but for those who have not previ ...

. Furness was the youngest of four children. His eldest brother, John Monteith Furness (1869–1944), was a

Cambridge Apostle The Cambridge Apostles (also known as the Conversazione Society) is an intellectual society at the University of Cambridge founded in 1820 by George Tomlinson, a Cambridge student who became the first Bishop of Gibraltar. History Student ...

as an undergraduate at King's (from which he also graduated with a first in the

) and later an educationalist, becoming Headmaster of

Richmond School Richmond School & Sixth Form College, often referred to simply as Richmond School, is a coeducational comprehensive secondary school with academy status, located in North Yorkshire, England. It was created by the merger of three schools, the ...

, the Kedive School in Cairo and later Director of Egyptian Education in London. He was a close friend of

Oscar Browning Oscar Browning (17 January 1837 – 6 October 1923) was a British educationalist, historian and ''bon viveur'', a well-known Cambridge personality during the late Victorian and Edwardian eras. An innovator in the early development of prof ...

. Furness's sister, Sophia Mary Maud Furness (1871–1950), was educated at

Girton College, Cambridge Girton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college at Cambridge. In 1948, it was granted full college status by the un ...

, and became an authority on the painter

Georges de La Tour Georges de La Tour (13 March 1593 – 30 January 1652) was a French Baroque painter, who spent most of his working life in the Duchy of Lorraine, which was temporarily absorbed into France between 1641 and 1648. He painted mostly religious chia ...

publishing a book on the artist's work in 1949. Another brother, Everard Haslam Furness (1873–1941), won the

mile race The mile run (1,760 yards, 5,280 feet, or exactly 1,609.344 metres) is a middle-distance foot race. The history of the mile run event began in England, where it was used as a distance for gambling races. It survived track and field' ...

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

in 1891 and, following in the footsteps of his brothers, graduated with a first in the

from King's.

Public life

In 1905, Furness entered the Egyptian Civil Service, initially at the Ministry of the Interior. He left the service but then took up several appointments in Egypt. In 1919 he was seconded to the staff of the High Commissioner and was subsequently made Oriental Secretary. Around this time he introduced E.M. Forster to the Egyptian Greek poet

Constantine Cavafy Konstantinos Petrou Kavafis ( ; 29 April ( OS 17 April), 1863 – 29 April 1933), known, especially in English, as Constantine P. Cavafy and often published as C. P. Cavafy (), was a Greek poet, journalist, and civil servant from Alexandria. A ...

. Furness later served as Deputy Director-General of Egyptian State Broadcasting and was Press Officer to the Government of Palestine in 1934. In 1936 he was appointed Professor of English at

and, at the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, was made Deputy Chief Censor. After the war he gave up these posts to become the appointed representative of the

in Egypt. Furness was made

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 1926 and CMG in 1944. Following his wartime service and his contribution to the

he was made

KBE KBE may refer to: * Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, post-nominal letters * Knowledge-based engineering Knowledge-based engineering (KBE) is the application of knowledge-based systems technology to the domain o ...

in 1951.

Family life

In 1945, Furness married Joyce Lucy Sophie Marc. Joyce Marc was born in 1905 in Montmorency, France. Her father, Maximilian Marc, was the youngest of ten children to a Moscow based merchant banking family. Joyce was educated at Headington School and

King's College, London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

. In the 1930s Joyce Marc was a friend of

Herbert Butterfield Sir Herbert Butterfield (7 October 1900 – 20 July 1979) was an English historian and philosopher of history, who was Regius Professor of Modern History and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He is remembered chiefly for a sh ...

, Professor of History and later Vice-Chancellor at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. Robert and Joyce Furness had one daughter, Mary Alison Anthea Furness, who was born in Cairo in 1946 and later became a journalist and philosopher. The writer,

Martin Amis Sir Martin Louis Amis (25 August 1949 – 19 May 2023) was an English novelist, essayist, memoirist, screenwriter and critic. He is best known for his novels ''Money'' (1984) and '' London Fields'' (1989). He received the James Tait Black Mem ...

, proposed to Mary Furness in the 1970s. In 1986, Mary Furness married

James Waldegrave, 13th Earl Waldegrave James "Jamie" Sherbrooke Waldegrave, 13th Earl Waldegrave (born 8 December 1940), styled Viscount Chewton until 1995, is a British Peerage, British peer and businessman. Waldegrave is the son of Geoffrey Noel Waldegrave, 12th Earl Waldegrave (190 ...

, and by that line Sir Robert is the grandfather of Edward Robert Waldegrave, Viscount Chewton, and Robert Arthur Riversdale Waldegrave. Shortly after Sir Robert's death, Hilary Wayment sent a tribute to ''

'' stating that 'Sir Robert Furness seemed to have the gift of perpetual youth and to enter into the enthusiasms of his younger colleagues with the zest of an undergraduate'. The tribute concluded that to his friends in England and Egypt 'the lasting impression he will leave behind is one of generous and high-spirited enjoyments, and of sheer charm and quality of mind'.

Publication

* ''Poems of

Callimachus Callimachus (; ; ) was an ancient Greek poet, scholar, and librarian who was active in Alexandria during the 3rd century BC. A representative of Ancient Greek literature of the Hellenistic period, he wrote over 800 literary works, most of which ...

, Four Hymns and the Epigrams, with a Verse Translation'', by Robert Allason Furness, and Sixteen Illustrations. Published by

Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a British publishing firm headquartered in London and founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard (1893–1968) set up the publishing house in ...

, London, 1931

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Furness, Robert Allason 1883 births 1954 deaths People educated at Rugby School Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George People of the British Council