Shepheard's Hotel

Shepheard's Hotel was the leading hotel in Cairo and one of the most celebrated hotels in the world between the middle of the 19th century and 1952.

Originally opened in the early 1840s, the hotel was renamed after its owner, Samuel Shepheard, of Eathorpe Hall, Eathorpe, in 1860. It was famed for its grandeur and opulence, though a frequent complaint was that its cuisine "leaves much to be desired". [John Gardner Wilkinson, "A Handbook for Travellers in Egypt" (John Murray, 1867)] It was extensively renovated in 1891, 1899, 1904, 1909 and 1927.

In the First World War, the hotel served as British Headquarters in the Near East. The hotel was destroyed in an explosion in January 1952, in the course of the civil unrest that led to the July 23 Revolution.

The hotel had many notable guests, both real and fictional. Among the former were Henry Morton Stanley, Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener and T. E. Lawrence. The hotel formed the setting for a number of scenes in "The English Patient".

References

Elaine Denby, "Grand Hotels: Reality and Illusion" (1998)