Draft:Edward Armstrong Johnson

E.A. Johnson (Pasha), born Dublin, Ireland, 1846, died Ballynapierce, Ireland, 1932, was a decorated soldier in the British army, an administrator in the British administration of Egypt, an amateur geologist, a mining promoter, and a desert explorer.

Early life and education

Edward Armstrong Johnson was born in Dublin on 15 August 1846, son of the Venerable John Evans Johnson, Archdeacon of Ferns in the Church of Ireland. Johnson was educated at Cheltenham College and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.^[1]

British Army Service

Johnson was commissioned into the Royal Artillery on 8 January 1868. He served with the British Army in India, where he held the position of Commissary of Ordnance at the Mhow arsenal, rising to the rank of captain on 1 July 1879. During the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878–1880), Captain Johnson was transferred from central India to the north and saw active service. After 16 years of service, Johnson retired from the Royal Artillery on 19 August 1884. He was awarded the Afghanistan Campaign Medal for his war service.^[1]

Egyptian Service and “Johnson Pasha”

Johnson entered colonial service in Khedival Egypt in late 1884, joining the Egyptian Police following the Anglo-Egyptian War of 1882. By 1887, he had become Inspector-General of the Egyptian police, based in Cairo.​^[2][1]

Johnson’s effective service led to his being honored by the Khedival government. He earned the title “Pasha,” an honorific rank conferred by the Khedive of Egypt, which led to his popular moniker “Johnson Pasha.” He was decorated twice by the Egyptian authorities. Johnson served for roughly two decades in the Egyptian civil service, chiefly in the Ministry of the Interior and Justice. In the 1890s he was appointed Director of the Bureau of Criminal Investigations​,^[3] where he worked closely with other British officials in reforms of Egypt’s law enforcement.

Geological and exploration work in Egypt

Johnson developed a passionate interest in geology and mineral exploration in Egypt. He often spent his leaves and holidays trekking into remote parts of the Eastern Desert and the Nile Valley, investigating what local Bedouin and villagers described as “numberless holes in the ground”, and which he believed were in fact the ancient gold mines of the pharaohs.^[1]

Johnson systematically catalogued old workings. By the late 1890s, Johnson’s findings helped stimulate renewed attempts to exploit Egypt’s mineral resources. British and international investors took interest after Johnson’s discoveries were publicized. In March 1903, The Daily Telegraph of London ran a feature on Egyptian gold mining, crediting a “versatile Pasha” (Johnson) as a driving force behind the small gold rush then underway.^[4]

In 1898, a chance meeting between Johnson and an Australian prospector, Albert “Knox” Brown, led to the formation of a syndicate to reopen some mines. Johnson secured mining concessions for an area in the Red Sea Hills, which were taken up by the Victoria Investment Corporation (an English company); the enterprise began work at sites including Um Rus on the Red Sea coast. Another concession, the Um Garaiat mine, was operated by the Nile Valley Gold Mines Company.^[1]

In the early 1880s, he collaborated on a scientific paper, “Notes on the Geology of the Nile Valley,” with H. Droop Richmond, F.I.C., published in the Geological Magazine in 1884. In it, Johnson and Richmond discussed Eocene rock distributions and other geological features of the Nile Valley, and noted evidence of ancient quarries along the river.^[5] He also attempted reopen the Jidami gold mines in the Red Sea hills.^[6]

In Egypt he discovered what he believed to be a previously unknown mineral which he named johnsonite; it was later identified as masrite ((Fe,Mn,Co)Al₂(SO₄)₄ · 24H₂O), a variety of halotrichite.^[7]

Kitāb al-Kanūz and the Book of Hidden Pearls

In the late 1800s, Johnson acquired a 15^th century Arabic manuscript of a work known informally as the Kitāb al-Kanūz or the Book of Hidden Pearls.^[8] This medieval manuscript is a guidebook to hidden treasures, ancient tombs and mines.

Around 1905, the Director of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities borrowed Johnson’s Kitāb al-Kanūz manuscript for study and translation. In 1907, Ahmed Bey Kamal, the first native Egyptian archaeologist, published Arabic and French editions of Kitāb al-Kanūz based on collating three different manuscript copies, including Johnson’s.^[8]

One of the entries in Kitāb al-Kanūz concerned the legendary lost oasis of Zerzura. In the late 1920s, as desert explorers and the Royal Geographical Society took up the “Zerzura” question in earnest, Johnson confirmed that the reference to Zerzura in Kitāb al-Kanūz was genuine and not a copyist’s mistake (Kamal had mis-transliterated it as “Farzourah”). Johnson also argued that Zerzura was to be sought near Dakhla Oasis, not in the Faiyum region as some had speculated, calling that idea “more like poking fun than serious discussion”.^[9]

Johnson believed that the book had likely been commissioned a few centuries ago by someone seeking to rediscover wealth in the desert. “My impression is that the book was compiled to order and paid for… the compiler took all the outlying ruins… and suggested ceremonies and magic; but the object of the man who ordered the book was the desert and the mines”.^[9]

Writings

Johnson also published translations of Arabic works, including his translation of all 762 known quatrains of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám from Persian into English.^[10]

Johnson also wrote on Irish local matters after returning to Ireland, including a pamphlet titled The Possibilities of an Irish Pottery Industry,^[11] reflecting his continued interest in economic development based on geological resources.

Later years in Ireland

In 1908, having resigned from the Egyptian service, he and his wife settled at Ballynapierce, County Wexford, Ireland,^[11][1] where he led the life of a gentleman scholar and squire, involving himself in local affairs and scientific hobbies.

In the summer of 1916, amid the aftermath of the Easter Rising, a band of armed men identified as Sinn Féin rebels broke into Johnson’s home at Ballynapierce. They stole a shotgun and Johnson’s Model T Ford automobile, which they crashed nearby. Johnson’s insurance company refused to pay out a claim of £85 for the wrecked car; Johnson took legal action and eventually won compensation.^[1]

During World War I, Johnson and a few associates invested over £1,000 of their own money in mineral exploration in County Wexford. Nothing however appears to have come of these investments. Johnson died in 1932, aged 85.^[1]

References

1. "Sold at Auction: The Afghanistan Medal awarded to Captain E. A. Johnson, Royal Artillery and British Colonial Service, who was affectionately known as 'Johnson Pasha' by the Bedouin tribesmen of Egypt, was twice decorated by the Khedive of Egypt, and was 'mentione..." invaluable.com. Retrieved 2025-04-25.
2. "A SURVIVOR OF HICKS PASHA'S ARMY". Argus. 1887-01-05. Retrieved 2025-04-25.
3. Harold H. Tollefson, Jr. (1990). "The 1894 British Takeover of the Egyptian Ministry of Interior". Middle Eastern Studies. 26 (4): 547–560. doi:10.1080/00263209008700836. ISSN 0026-3206. JSTOR 4283398.
4. "The Week's Finance: Egyptian Mines". The Daily Telegraph (London). 7 March 1903. p. 6.
5. Pasha, E. A. Johnson; Richmond, H. Droop (1892). "Notes on the Geology of the Nile Valley". Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London. 48 (1–4): 481–484. doi:10.1144/GSL.JGS.1892.048.01-04.33.
6. Egypt. al-Masāḥah al-Jiyūlūjīyah al-Miṣrīyah. [from old catalog]; Barron, Thomas; Hume, William Fraser (1902). Topography and geology of the Eastern desert of Egypt, central portion. unknown library. Cairo, National Print. Dept.
7. "Johnsonite". www.mindat.org. Retrieved 2025-04-25.
8. Kamal, Ahmed Bey (1907). Livre des perles enfouies et du mystère précieux au sujet des indications des cachettes, des trouvailles et des trésors [Book of Buried Pearls and the Precious Mystery on the Subject of Directions to Hiding Places, Finds and Treasures.] (in French). Cairo: L'imprimerie de l'Institut français d'archaéologie orientale.
9. Johnson, Edward A. (1930). "Zerzura". Geographical Journal. LXXV: 59–61.
10. Johnson, Edward A. (1913). The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, Translated from the Lucknow Edition by Johnson Pasha. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., London.
11. FUSIO. "Ballynapierce House, BALLYNAPIERCE, WEXFORD". Buildings of Ireland. Retrieved 2025-04-25.