author

Sophia Lane Poole

1804–1891

Best known for The Englishwoman in Egypt, this 19th-century travel writer opened a rare window onto women’s lives in Cairo. Her letters combine curiosity, close observation, and a strong sense of place.

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The Englishwoman in Egypt

The Englishwoman in Egypt

by Sophia Lane Poole

About the author

Born in Hereford on January 16, 1804, Sophia Lane Poole was an English travel writer and orientalist, and the sister of the noted Arabist Edward William Lane. She married Edward Richard Poole in 1829, and later traveled to Egypt with two of her sons.

Her best-known book, The Englishwoman in Egypt, grew out of her years in Cairo in the 1840s. Because she was able to move in women’s spaces that were closed to most European male writers, her account offered English readers an unusual view of everyday life, customs, and domestic society in Egypt.

Poole’s writing has lasted because it is both personal and observant. She died in 1891, and her work remains a valuable record of travel, cross-cultural encounter, and 19th-century Egypt.