Page:EB1911 - Volume 26.djvu/720

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TEWKESBURY—TEXARKANA
687

the cholera broke out, he insisted upon going to Alexandria. His wife accompanied him, and he went round the hospitals, setting an excellent example to the authorities of the city, and encouraging the patients by kind and hopeful words. In 1884 Sir Evelyn Baring went back to Egypt as diplomatic agent and consul-general of Great Britain. His first task was to demand that Tewfik should abandon the Sudan. Tewfik gave his consent with natural reluctance, but, having consented, he did everything he could to ensure the success of the policy which Baring had been sent to carry out. He behaved with equal propriety during the negotiations between Sir H. Drummond Wolff and the Turkish envoy, Mukhtar Pasha, in 1886. His position was not a dignified one—that of a titular ruler compelled to stand by while others discussed and managed the affairs of his country. The sultan was his suzerain; in Great Britain he recognized his protector: to the representative of each he endeavoured to show friendliness and esteem. As time went on his confidence in Baring increased, until at last he deferred to the British agent in almost everything. On occasion, however, he acted on his own initiative, as when in June 1888 he dismissed Nubar Pasha and summoned Riaz Pasha to form a ministry—an action influenced, nevertheless, by Tewfik’s knowledge of the divergence of views between Nubar and the British agent. Baring encouraged Tewfik to show his activity in matters of administration, and he took a great interest in all matters connected with irrigation, education and justice. He was not a particularly strong man either in mind or in character, but he showed a genuine desire to govern his country for its own benefit. He understood the importance to Egypt of British assistance and support; his natural shrewdness made him accept the British conditions; his natural good feeling kept him from any inclination to intrigue. In private life he was courteous and amiable. He had no desire to keep up the unapproachable state of an oriental ruler. Indeed, in many ways his manners and habits were less oriental than European. He married in 1873 his kinswoman, Amina Hanem, with whom he lived very happily. She was his only wife and Tewfik was a strong advocate of monogamy. He died on the 7th to January 1892, at the Heluan palace near Cairo, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Abbas II. (q.v.). A warm tribute to Tewfik’s many admirable qualities was paid by Baring (Lord Cromer) in his report on the administration of Egypt for 1891 (see Egypt, No. 3, 1892, pp. 1 and 2).


TEWKESBURY, a market town and municipal borough in the Tewkesbury parliamentary division of Gloucestershire, England, 151/2 m. N.E. of Gloucester by the Midland railway, Pop. (1901) 5419. It lies in a flat pastoral district, with low hills to the south, on the Warwickshire Avon, close to its junction with the Severn. The Severn is crossed by an iron bridge with a flattened arch of 170 ft. span, erected by Telford in 1824. Of the great Benedictine abbey, one of the richest foundations in England, refounded and enlarged by Sir Robert Fitz-Hamon in the 12th century on the site of an ancient hermitage and Saxon monastery, there only remain the gate and a few other fragments. The abbey church, however, consecrated in 1125, is a magnificent specimen of early Norman. This elaborate cruciform building consists of nave and side aisles, with transepts united by a grand central tower richly arcaded. The choir terminates in an apse and is surrounded by an ambulatory. One of the most remarkable features of the building is the unique western front, the central part of which is occupied by one vast arch extending from the ground to the roof. Originally it was filled in with Norman windows, but a Perpendicular window now occupies the space. The whole building underwent restoration in the Decorated period, and of this style it is one of the finest existing examples. The Norman windows in the nave were replaced, and stone groining was substituted for the carved wooden ceiling, a like transformation taking place in the transepts. The Norman columns in the choir still exist; but above them rises a grand superstructure of Decorated work. The elegant clerestory windows are of the 14th century, with stained glass of the same date. The ambulatory was rebuilt some distance farther out, and from it projected a beautiful series of chapels. The elaborate tombs include those of Sir Robert Fitz-Hamon, the De Spensers, Alan prior of Canterbury, Sir Guy de Brien, and the vault of George duke of Clarence (murdered in the Tower) and his wife Isabella. Edward, prince of Wales, slain after the battle of Tewkesbury (1471) by the Yorkists, is also buried in the church. Of the two organs, one, dating from the early 17th century, is of singularly beautiful tone. In the High Street there are several ancient. timbered and gabled houses. Remains of an ancient wall have been discovered adjoining the town. There are a free grammar school (1625) and a number of charities and almshouses. Tewkesbury is chiefly dependent on its agricultural trade. Below the junction of the rivers there is a great lock and weir on the Severn, up to which the stream is sometimes reversed by the tidal bore. The borough is under a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. Area, 2532 acres.

Remains of Roman encampments and roads prove that the earliest settlement near Tewkesbury (Theotesburg, Theockesburia, Thooksburi) of which we have evidence was a military encampment against the British. It was the site of a Saxon castle and monastery, and its position near navigable rivers led to the growth of a town, which was a borough with a market in 1087 when it was part of the royal domain. It was subsequently granted to Earl Robert of Gloucester, who granted a charter before 1107, which exempted the borough from certain tolls and from suit at the hundred court. Edward III. confirmed this charter in 1337, and made Tewkesbury free from tolls throughout England. The borough was incorporated by Elizabeth by a charter of 1574, which was confirmed in 1604, 1605, 1609 (when the manor and borough were sold to the corporation) and 1685, while the town was governed under the charter granted by William III. in 1698 until the corporation was remodelled in 1835, the modern government consisting of a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. Tewkesbury returned two members from 1609 to 1867, when it lost one member, and in 1885 the representation was merged in that of the county. A fair on July 20 was granted in 1323, and fairs on September 21 and August 24 in 1440, and on April 25 in 1574. For the last May 3 was substituted in 1605, and two more fairs on June 11 and September 29 were granted in 1609. All these grants were confirmed by the charter of 1685. One fair only is now held, on October 10. It is a pleasure fair and a fair for hiring servants, and has lost the commercial importance of the early wool fairs. The long-existing provision trade along the four rivers declined through railway competition. Cloth-making lasted from the 11th century until the beginning of the 18th; gloving in the 17th century was followed by worsted-combing in the 18th. Cotton-thread lace-making, introduced in 1825, collapsed about 1862. Tewkesbury was once celebrated for the manufacture of mustard, which ceased to be important at the end of the 18th century. Stocking-frame knitting was the chief trade in 1830, but has been replaced by the boot and shoe trade. Tewkesbury was strategically important in the Wars of the Roses, and was the site of a battle in 1471, and in the Civil War was four times besieged.

See Victoria County History, Gloucestershire; ]arnes Bennet, History of Tewkesbury (1850); William Wyde, History of Tewkesbury (1798).


TEXARKANA, two adjoining cities forming one community, situated on either side of the boundary line between Arkansas and Texas, U.S.A., about 165 m. E. by N. of Dallas, Texas; Texarkana, county-seat of Miller county, Arkansas. pop. (1900) 4914, of whom 120 were foreign-born and 2078 were negroes; (1910) 5655; Texarkana, Bowie county, Texas, pop. (1900) 5256, of whom 192 were foreign-born and 1964 were negroes; (1910) 9790. Texarkana is served by the Kansas City Southern (Port Arthur Route), the Texas & Pacific (of which it is the eastern terminus), the St Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern (Iron Mountain Route, the southern terminus), and the St Louis South-Western (Cotton Belt Route) railways. The public buildings are two city halls, a well-designed Post Office, which stands on the