Admiral Beauchamp Seymour was in command of a fleet of fifteen Royal Navy ironclad ships which had previously sailed to the harbor of Alexandria to support the khedive Tewfik Pasha amid Ahmed 'Urabi's nationalist uprising against his administration and its close ties to British and French financiers.

The move provided some security to the khedive, who withdrew his court to the now-protected port, but strengthened 'Urabi's nationalists within the army and throughout the remainder of Egypt.

Historians argue about whether Admiral Seymour exaggerated the threat from the Egyptian batteries at Alexandria in order to force the hand of a reluctant Gladstone administration.

The Egyptians began reinforcing and upgrading their fortifications and the British House of Commons ordered ships to be temporarily dispatched from the Channel Fleet to Malta under Admiral Seymour's command.

[3][page needed][dubious – discuss] On 20 May 1882, the combined Anglo-French fleet, consisting of the British battleship HMS Invincible, the French ironclad La Galissonnière and four gunboats arrived in Alexandria.

On 11 and 12 June ferocious riots erupted, possibly started by 'Urabi's supporters but also blamed upon the Khedive himself as a false flag operation.

[6] Over 50 Europeans and 125 Egyptians were killed in the fracas that began near Place Mehmet Ali with British Admiral Seymour, who was ashore at the time, narrowly escaping the mob.

At daybreak the gun-ship Helicon was dispatched into the harbour flying flags saying she was carrying a message from the Egyptian government to the city defenders.

According to Royle, "[a] steady cannonade was maintained by the attacking and defending forces, and for the next few hours the roar of the guns and the shrieks of passing shot and shell were alone audible.

[3][page needed] The Cairo newspaper El Taif erroneously reported that the Egyptian forts had sunk three ships.

[9] This damage was exacerbated by panic, looting and arson, while many buildings rendered unsafe by the bombardment were subsequently demolished by the British during their occupation.

[9] British sailors and marines landed and attempted to take control of the blackened ruins of the city and prevent the looting, while propping up the Khedive's shaky government.

Eventually order was restored, and a month later General Garnet Wolseley landed a large force of British troops in Alexandria as a staging location for attacking 'Urabi near the Suez Canal at the Battle of Tell El Kebir.

[10][11][12] The bombardment was described in disparaging terms by British MP Henry Richard: I find a man prowling about my house with obviously felonious purposes.