I'm guessing you're thinking of Egypt of the Pharaohs by Alan Gardiner. Gardiner was a master philologist, and his works are still useful albeit dated. His grandson Martin Bernal is infamous for igniting the "Black Athena" controversy.

When Egypt Ruled the East by George Steindorff and Keith Seele and The Burden of Egypt by John Wilson were published around the same time and are delightful reads, but the authors weren't British.