Member of an important Cairo family of merchants and community leaders, he studied engineering in Paris and on returning to Cairo in 1882 he became an official in the ministry of public works. After studying sugar manufacture in Moravia, in the Czech lands, he directed a sugar plant in Egypt and established other industrial plants. Cattaui entered politics in 1915 and was a member of the Egyptian delegation to London which established Egyptian independence. In 1922 he was on the committee which drafted the Egyptian constitution. From 1924 he was minister of finance, then in 1925 minister of communications and served as a senator from 1927 to 1936.

Bibliography:

CATTAUI, Joseph. Le khedive Isma'il et la dette de l' Egypte. Pp. vi, 209. Le Caire: Impr. Misr, 1935.

CATTAUI, Joseph. Coup d'oeil sur la chronologie de la Nation egyptienne. Pp. xiv, 447. Paris: Plon, 1931.
 

Links:

Dynasty: The House Of Yacoub Cattaui

Family Tree of the Cattaui Family

The Jewish Community of Egypt