Anglo-Egyptian Resettlement Board: Files

HO 240

1956-1962

The Anglo-Egyptian Resettlement Board was established by the Home Secretary in 1957 to assist British refugees expelled from Egypt. It was wound up in 1960, by which time almost all the refugees had been resettled. The Board's files are chiefly concerned with making grants and loans and the management of hostels.

Public Record(s)

English

115 file(s)

Subject to 30 year closure unless otherwise stated

Topics

Refugees

Middle East

The Anglo-Egyptian Resettlement Board was appointed on 5 February 1957 by the Home Secretary under the Chairmanship of the Rt Hon Lord Colyton CMG to co-ordinate the work being done to assist British subjects expelled from Egypt at the time of the Suez crisis. A Trust deed dated 29 July 1957 gave the board a corporate status as trustee of a charitable trust. The deed was signed by the Members of the Board and the Home Secretary.

Refugees with nowhere else to go had been put in Government hostels, some of which were run by the National Assistance Board while others were managed by the British Red Cross Society and St John Ambulance Brigade on behalf of the Government. The Anglo-Egyptian Aid Society had been paying allowances to refugees who were not hostel residents, and helping others to resettle in Britain or to emigrate. On 25 February 1957 the Resettlement Board took over that work of the Anglo-Egyptian Aid Society, and on 1 April assumed full responsibility for all hostels, when the National Assistance Board handed over the five hostels formerly in its own charge.

The Resettlement Board's initial task was to deal with the immediate needs of the refugees by providing hostel accommodation or paying maintenance allowances to those who were in other accommodation and in need of financial help. The board was given a wide measure of discretion in paying maintenance allowances. Staff were lent to the board from Government Departments, and were recruited from the Anglo-Egyptian Aid Society and from refugees themselves. Staff managing the hostels were also lent to the board.

The board's second, and in the long term more important, task was resettlement. The board encouraged people to leave hostels for private accommodation and to achieve resettlement as soon as possible. In March 1957 the Government authorised the board to pay resettlement grants related to specific purposes. Resettlement grants were made in respect of clothing and personal needs, deposits on houses, purchases of furniture and tools, and loans to establish businesses. The Government also authorised the payment of ex-gratia loans against personal assets sequestrated by the Egyptian Government. The board co-operated with the Ministry of Labour and National Service to find jobs for refugees, and also paid the cost of passages for emigrants.

In May 1958 the board reported that the total number of refugees was about 7,750, of whom 6,000 had been in the board's care to a greater or lesser degree. About 3,500 were helped to resettle in Britain and about 1,400 were assisted to emigrate. About 700 persons were still in hostels and about 400 outside hostels and receiving allowances. There was a residual problem of about 250 elderly, sick or mentally deficient persons. By the end of 1959 the board's tasks were substantially complete, and the Home Secretary wound up the board in March 1960. The Foreign Office took over from the board the administration of ex-gratia loans, and residual cases of hardship were taken over by the Anglo-Egyptian Aid Society and the Jewish Refugee Committee.

Three Progress Reports were submitted to the Home Secretary (they are included in pieces 4 and 5). The first, in July 1957, dealt with the terms under which the board was established, and the means by which the immediate needs of the refugees were being met; the second, in May 1958, highlighted remaining problems; and the third, in March 1960, recorded subsequent developments in the resettlement programme, and dealt with the termination of the function of the board, and residual problems.