Alexander Meyrick Broadley (19 July 1847 – 16 April 1916), also known as Broadley Pasha, was a British barrister, author, company promoter and social figure. He is best known for being the defence lawyer for Ahmed 'Urabi after the failure of the 'Urabi Revolt.
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Early life
Broadley was the son of the Rev. Alexander Broadley, vicar of Bradpole, in Dorset, and his wife Frances Jane, daughter of Thomas Meyrick of Pembroke. He was educated at Lord Weymouth's Grammar School, Warminster, and Marlborough Grammar School."Broadley, Alexander Meyrick (19 July 1847–16 April 1916), lawyer, author, journalist, and collector" in Who Was Who, online edition, accessed 10 March 2025 He entered Lincoln's Inn as a law student in 1866 and after taking the examination to enter the Indian Civil Service, went in 1869 to India,Allen's Indian Mail and Official Gazette, Vol XXVII, 5 January 1870, W.H.Allen, London, p. 15 where he became Assistant Magistrate and Collector of Patna, Bengal.Hart, H.G. Col. The New Army List, Militia List, And Indian Civil Service List, NoCXXXV, John Murray, 1872, p. 488 In 1872 he conducted a survey of the ruins of the Nálanda monasteries at Burgàon, and formed a magnificent collection of sculptures from the region, going on to establish a museum for the collection. The colonial administrator and explorer Sir Harry H. Johnston noted that Broadley was "very orthodox on account of his father" and "was led into rude interruptions of any speech which traversed the belief that the Earth was only six or seven thousand years old".Johnston, Sir Harry H. The Story of My Life, The Roger Merrill Company, 1923, p. 63
In 1871 Broadley delivered a public lecture English Legislation for India.Journal of the National Indian Association in Aid of Social Progress in India, No13, January 1872, London, p. 127Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal: 1871, p. 136 He also put forward the view that imprisonment for civil debts should be abolished.Venkataswami, Maidara Nagaya Life of M. Nagloo (Maidara Nagaya): "The Father of Hotel Enterprise" in the Central Provinces, and Head Goomastha in the "Mahanadu", Solden & Company, 1928, p. 143
In 1872 he spoke at a large meeting on education in Bengal, where he condemned the educational policy of the Indian Government. He was not punished, but later that year he spoke at a public meeting of the Dacca People's Association. His remarks on educational policy and on the Criminal Procedure Code, which were reported in newspapers and created angry discussions, were objected to by the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, Sir George Campbell and officially denied. Broadley applied for leave, which Campbell rejected, demanding an explanation.
In May 1872 it was reported that charges of a serious nature had been brought against Broadley: he was suspended and sent to Patna pending an investigation. The following month he was reported to have been posted to Noynabad, and ordered to remain there, having been invested with the power to try cases arising from riots of the Muslim Ferazi sect. In November the Calcutta Gazette reported him as being officially on leave and transferred to Chittagong by Campbell's order. When a warrant for his arrest for homosexual offences was issued, Broadley absconded.General Foreign News, Chicago Tribune, 17 June 1891; http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1891/06/17/page/5/article/general-foreign-newsThe Parliamentary Debates, Reuter's Telegram Company, 1898, p. 78Topics of the Day: A Mysterious Disappearance, Evening Star (Dunedin, New Zealand), Issue 8154, 1 March 1890, Page 2, http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=ESD18900301.2.33.14The West End Scandal: Another Flight, Evening News (Sydney, Australia), Tuesday 14 January 1890, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article108795706 One report stated that "his reputation was known to every Englishman who ever lived in India",Another London Society Leader Gone., The Salt Lake Herald Wednesday, 1 January 1890; http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85058130/1890-01-01/ed-1/seq-1.pdf and his presence was taboo in European clubs in Malta and Egypt.La Marquise de Fontenoy (pseudonym of Marguerite Cunliffe-Owen), Chicago Tribune, 8 May 1916 http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1916/05/08/page/6/article/la-marquise-de-fontenoy
Due to the scandal he was unable to return immediately to England. He moved to Tunis, where he worked as a lawyer and as a correspondent for The Times. One of his clients was the Bey of Tunis. He also became influential in freemasonry, founding the prestigious Drury Lane Masonic Lodge, which is likely to have aided his social rise. In 1882 he published The last Punic war. Tunis, past and present, which drew admiring reviews, Vanity Fair writing: "If Mr. Broadley's book on Tunis were only read by all citizens who influence the policy of Ministers, I question very much whether anything like our Egyptian crime could be repeated. The dullest would see how far we have been led".Vanity Fair, Volume 28, p. 106
Given Broadley's knowledge of Muslim law, and the fact he was "abnormally clever", that same year Wilfrid Blunt engaged him as counsel for Ahmed ʻUrabi, otherwise known as Aribi Pasha, an Egyptian nationalist who was put on trial in Cairo for insurrection. Broadley forced the compromise which enabled Pasha and his companions to be sent as pensioners to Colombo.Broadley Pasha And His Career, The Brisbane Courier (Australia), Monday 24 February 1890; http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3507173 Broadley was paid 10,000 guineas,Our London Letter, Citizen (Gloucester, England), Thursday, 24 April 1902; pg. 3; Issue 97 and was henceforth nicknamed 'Broadley Pasha' by his friends, the press, and English Society.Stratmann, Linda Fraudsters and Charlatans: A Peek at Some of History's Greatest Rogues (The Crooks Who Conned Millions), The History Press, 2010
Return to England
Following the trial Broadley returned to England as the agent and legal adviser of the ex-Khedive Ismail. His social skills also saw him appointed de facto editor of Edmund Yates' periodical World, and despite his previous disgrace, for a few years he achieved an exceptionally high profile in London Society. "He knew everyone in London and all paid court to him."'Broadley Pasha in Disgrace', New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8192, 1 March 1890, Page 2, http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=NZH18900301.2.76.17 Of his 40th birthday party in 1887 one newspaper recorded: "Princes and princesses, peers and peeresses, bishops and baronets, diplomatists and doctors, members of Parliament and musicians, authors and artists, actors and actresses availed themselves of the opportunity of offering birthday congratulations".London Letter, The York Herald (York, England), Thursday, 21 July 1887; pg. 5
An Indian official suggested that Broadley had not been compelled to return to India to answer the charges against him, as such a threat hanging over the head of the editor of an important society newspaper guaranteed that he would not publish anything of embarrassment to those in high places.
Of "Falstaffian proportions", Broadley was described as "that strange being…who, amongst other avocations, acts as a sort of social broker 'for bringing together people who would not otherwise meet' ".A Strange Dinner,Auckland Star (New Zealand), Volume XX, Issue 93, 20 April 1889, Page 3, http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=AS18890420.2.47.23 According to one report "he had the faculty of attaching himself to and 'running' whomsoever was the most amusing and useful person of the hour". They included the 'nitrate king' John Thomas North and would-be national leader General Georges Boulanger.Broadley Pasha in Disgrace, New Zealand Herald Volume XXVII, Issue 8192, 1 March 1890, Page 2 It was at Broadley's Regents Park home, Cairo Cottage at 2 Beta Place,Palmer, Charles George A Londoner's Own London, Cecil Palmer, London 1927, p. 227Bow Bells: a magazine of general literature and art for family reading, 11 Jan 1889, pp. 22–23 that Boulanger made his London debut. Broadley also became connected with the management of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, acting as a financial and business adviser to Augustus Harris.Dramatic Gossip by Orpheus, The Press (Canterbury, New Zealand), Volume XLVI, Issue 7274, 2 April 1889, Page 3, http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=CHP18890402.2.4
Broadley's social ascendency continued until 1889 when his portrait by Spy appeared in the magazine Vanity Fair. Edward VII, then Prince of Wales, whose sons' portraits had also appeared in the magazine, and who had knowledge of Broadley's reputation in India, took offence at his inclusion. After making enquiries at Scotland Yard, the magazine's owner Edmund Yates dismissed Broadley, and published an apology. Broadley was told to leave the country within 12 hours. The reason was not just the earlier scandal in India: Broadley was implicated as a client of the male brothel at the centre of the Cleveland Street Scandal. With the Prince of Wales' equerry involved, and rumours also connecting his eldest son, the Prince was reported to be "in a very stern and unbending mood." Said one newspaper report: "Everybody knows it was H.R.H. caused Broadley Pasha's extinction."About Newspapers, Marlborough Express (New Zealand), Volume XXVII, Issue 111, 23 May 1891, Page 2; http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=MEX18910523.2.28& Le Figaro later alleged that Broadley had taken Boulanger and his propagandist Henri Rochefort to the brothel;"Boulanger Mixed Up in a Scandal", Chicago Tribune, 2 February 1890, p4; http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1890/02/02/page/4/article/to-fight-this-morning the allegation was dismissed by Boulanger's right-hand man Count Dillon."Brevities by Cable", Chicago Tribune, 1 August 1890 On the witness stand the rentboy John Saul stated that he had briefly secured employment in the 1889 production The Royal Oak at Drury Lane, which was during Broadley's time there."The Cleveland Street Scandal", Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 54, 6 March 1890, Page 8; http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=AS18900306.2.54
Exile
Broadley moved to ParisEnglish Exiles, The Weekly Argus News (Melbourne, Australia), 14 October 1899, p. 8 and then Brussels, where he edited the English language newspaper The Belgian News.Vanity Fair by J.M.D. The Australasian (Melbourne), 1 April 1893;http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138108892 In August 1890 it was reported of Broadley that "he has been guilty here of all the practices charged to him and others in Cleveland Street. His last line of operations was to invite young boys and scholars attending school to his rooms to supper."Broadley Pasha in Brussels, Chicago Tribune, 1 August 1890 One of the boys informed his mother of the lavishness of these meals provided by a "benevolent old gentleman", which included "stupefying cordials". Broadley was placed under police surveillance. In 1891 he was reported to be 'loafing' in Tunis with fellow Cleveland Street exile Lord Arthur Somerset.
Broadley's ability to reinvent himself provoked a mockingly Wildean paragraph in a British syndicated newspaper column in 1892, which stated that in Brussels he had "renewed his youth" and was: