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Gordon was born in Woolwich, the fourth son of General H. W. Gordon of the Royal Artillery. He was educated at Taunton School and then at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich starting in 1848. He was commissioned in 1852 as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers, completing his training at the Royal Engineers' school at Chatham, and promoted to full Lieutenant in 1854.
At first he was assigned to the construction of fortifications in defence of Milford Haven. But the Crimean War broke out and Gordon was ordered on active service, arriving at Balaklava in January 1855. He was put to work in the siege of Sevastopol and took part in the assault of Redan from June 18 to September 8. He took part in the expedition to Kinburn, and returned to Sevastopol at the end of the conflict. With the peace Gordon was attached to an international commission delimiting the new boundary between Russia and Turkey in Bessarabia. He continued with the surveying work, extending the marking of the boundary into Asia Minor. He returned to England towards the end of 1858, and was appointed as an instructor at Chatham and was promoted captain in April 1859.
His stay in England was brief, in 1860 war was declared against China (the Second Opium War), and Gordon was ordered there, arriving at Tientsin in September. He missed the attack on the Taku forts, but was present at the occupation of Beijing and destruction of the Summer Palace. He remained with the British forces occupying northern China until April 1862, when the troops, under General William Staveley, withdrew to Shanghai to protect the European settlement from the Taiping rebels which were threatening the city.
Following the Taiping successes in the 1850s in the provinces of Kwangsi, Hunan and Hupeh, and the capture of Nanjing in 1853 the rebel advance had slowed. For some years the Taipings only gradually advanced eastwards, but eventually they came close enough to Shanghai to alarm the European inhabitants. The city raised a militia of Europeans and Asians for the defence of the town. This force was placed under the command of an American, Frederick Townsend Ward, and occupied the country to the west of Shanghai. Fighting continued round Shanghai for about two years, with Ward's force slowly forced back.
The British arrived at a crucial time, Staveley decided to clear the rebels from within 30 miles from Shanghai in cooperation with Ward and a small French force. Gordon was attached to his staff as engineer officer. Kahding, Singpo and other towns were occupied, and the area was fairly cleared of rebels by the end of 1862.
Ward was killed in the assault of Tseki and his successor was disliked by the Imperial Chinese authorities. Li Hung-chang, the governor of the Kiang-su province, requested Staveley to appoint a British officer to command the contingent. Staveley selected Gordon, who had been made a brevet-Major in December 1862 and the nomination was approved by the British government. In March 1863 Gordon took command of the force at Sungkiang, which had received the name of "The Ever-Victorious Army", an encouraging though somewhat exaggerated title. Without waiting to reorganize his troops Gordon led them at once to the relief of Chansu, a town 40 miles north-west of Shanghai. The relief was successfully accomplished and Gordon had quickly won respect from his troops.
He then reorganized his force and advanced against Quinsan, which was captured at considerable loss. Gordon then took his force through the country, seizing towns until, with the aid of Imperial troops, the city of Suchow was invested in November. Following a dispute with Li Hung-chang over the execution of rebel leaders, Gordon withdrew his force from Suchow and remained inactive at Quinsan until February 1864. Gordon then made a rapproachment with Li and visited him in order to arrange for further operations. The "Ever-Victorious Army" resumed its high tempo advance, culminating in the capture of Chanchufu in May, the principal military base of the Taipings in the region. Gordon then returned to Quinsan and disbanded his force.
The emperor promoted Gordon to the rank of titu, the highest grade in the Chinese army, and decorated him with the Yellow Jacket. The British promoted Gordon to lieutenant-colonel and made a Companion of the Bath. He also gained the popular nickname 'Chinese' Gordon.
Gordon returned to England and commanded the Royal Engineer efforts around Gravesend, the erection of forts for the defence of the Thames. In October 1871 he was appointed British representative on the international commission to maintain the navigation of the mouth of the River Danube, with headquarters at Galatz. In 1872 Gordon was sent to inspect the British military cemeteries in the Crimea, and when passing through Constantinople he made the acquaintance of the prime minister of Egypt, who opened negotiations for Gordon to serve under the khedive. In 1873 Gordon received a definite offer from the khedive, which he accepted with the consent of the British government, and proceeded to Egypt early in 1874. Gordon was made a colonel in the Egyptian army.
The Egyptian authorities has been extending their control southwards since the 1820s. An expedition was sent up the White Nile, under Sir Samuel Baker, which reached Khartoum in February 1870 and Gondokoro in June 1871. Baker met with great difficulties and managed little beyond establishing a few posts along the Nile. It was to succeed Baker as governor of the region that the khedive asked for Gordon. After a short stay in Cairo, Gordon proceeded to Khartoum via Suakin and Berber. From Khartoum he proceeded up the White Nile to Gondokoro.
Gordon remained in the Gondokoro provinces until October 1876. He had succeeded in establishing a line of way-stations from the Sobat confluence on the White Nile to the frontier of Uganda, where he proposed to open a route from Mombasa. Considerable progress was made in the suppression of the slave trade. However Gordon had come into conflict with the Egyptian governor of Khartoum and Sudan. The clash led to Gordon informing the khedive that he did not wish to return to the Sudan and he left for London. Ismail Pasha wrote to him saying that he had promised to return, and that he expected him to keep his word. Gordon agreed to return to Cairo, but insisted that he was appointed governor-general of the entire Sudan. After some discussion the khedive agreed, and made him governor-general of the entire Sudan.
As governor, Gordon took on a number of wider issues. One was the relations between Egypt and Abyssinia, which had slumped in a dispute over the district of Bogos. War broke out in 1875, and an Egyptian expedition was completely defeated near Gundet. A second and larger expedition, under Prince Hassan, was sent the following year and was routed at Gura. Matters then remained quiet until March 1877, when Gordon proceeded to Massawa hoping to make peace with the Abyssinians. He went up to Bogos and wrote to the king proposing terms. But he received no reply as the king had gone southwards to fight with the Shoa. Gordon, seeing that the Abyssinian difficulty could wait, proceeded to Khartoum.
An insurrection had broken out in Darfur and Gordon went there. The insurgents were very numerous and he saw that diplomacy had a better chance of success. Gordon, accompanied only by an interpreter, rode into the enemy's camp to discuss the situation. This bold move proved successful, as part of the insurgents joined him, and the remainder retreated to the south. Gordon then visited the provinces of Berber and Dongola, and then returned to the Abyssinian frontier before ending up back in Khartoum in January 1878. Gordon was summoned to Cairo, arriving in March he was appointed president of a commission. The khedive was was deposed in 1879 in favour of his son.
Gordon returned south. He proceeded to Harrar, south of Abyssinia, and, finding the administration in a bad condition, dismissed the governor. He then returned to Khartoum, and went again into Darfur to suppress the slave traders. His subordinate, Gessi Pasha, fought with great success in the Bahr-el-Ghazal district and put an end to the revolt there. Gordon then tried another peace mission to Abyssinia. The matter ended with Gordon being made a prisoner and sent back to Massawa. Thence he returned to Cairo and resigned his Sudan appointment. He was exhausted by the years of incessant work.
In March 1880 Gordon visited King Leopold in Brussels and was invited to take charge of the Congo Free State. In April the government of the Cape Colony offered him the position of commandant of the Cape local forces. In May the marquess of Ripon, who had been given the post of governor-general of India, asked Gordon to go with him as private secretary. Gordon accepted this last offer but shortly after arriving in India he resigned. Hardly had he resigned when he was invited by Sir Robert Hart, inspector-general of customs in China, to Beijing. He arrived in China in July and met Li Hung-chang, and learnt that there was risk of war with Russia. Gordon proceeded to Beijing and used all his influence to ensure peace. Gordon returned to England, but in April 1881 left for Mauritius as Commanding Royal Engineer. He remained in Mauritius until March 1882, when he was promoted to major-general. He was sent to the Cape to aid in settling affairs in Basutoland. He returned to England after only a few months. Being unemployed Gordon decided to go to Palestine, a country he had long desired to visit, and remained for a year. The king of the Belgians then asked him again to take charge of the Congo Free State, he accepted and returned to London to make preparations. But a few days after his arrival he was requested by the British government to proceed immediately to the Sudan, where the situation had declined badly after his departure -- another evolt had arisen, led by the self-proclaimed mahdi, Mahommed Ahmed.
The Egyptian forces in the Sudan were insufficient to cope with the rebels and the northern government was engaged in suppressing the Arabi revolt. By September 1882 the position in the Sudan was very perilous. In December 1883, the British government ordered Egypt to abandon the Sudan, but abandonment was difficult to carry out as it involved the withdrawal of thousands of Egyptian soldiers, civilian employés and their families. The British government asked Gordon to proceed to Khartoum to report on the best method of carrying out the evacuation.
Gordon started for Cairo in January 1884, accompanied by J. D. H. Stewart. At Cairo he received further instructions from Sir Evelyn Baring, and was appointed governor-general with executive powers. Travelling through Korosko and Berber, he arrived at Khartoum on February 18. Gordon at once commenced the task of sending the women and children and the sick and wounded to Egypt, and about 2,500 had been removed before the mahdi's forces closed in. Gordon hoped to have the influential local leader Zobeir appointed to take control of Sudan, but the British government refused to support a former slaver.
The advance of the rebels against Khartoum was combined with a revolt in the eastern Sudan, the Egyptian troops at Suakin were repeatedly defeated. A British force was sent to Suakin under General Sir Gerald Graham, and forced the rebels away in several hard-fought actions. Gordon urged that the road from Suakin to Berber should be opened, but this request was refused by the government in London, and in April Graham and his forces were withdrawn and Gordon and the Sudan were abandoned. The garrison at Berber surrendered in May and Khartoum was completely isolated.
Gordon organized the defence of Khartoum, with a siege starting on March 18, 1884. The British had decided to abandon the Sudan, but it was clear that Gordon had other plans, and the public started to increasingly call for his relief. It was not until August that the government decided to take steps to relieve Gordon but it was not until the beginning of November that the British relief force was ready to start.
The force conisisted of two groups, a "flying column" of camel-born troops from Wadi Halfa. The troops reached Korti towards the end of December, and arrived at Metemma on January 20. There they found four gunboats which had been sent south by Gordon four months earlier, and prepared them for the trip back up the Nile. On the 24th two of the steamers started for Khartoum, but on arriving there on the 28th they found that the city had been captured and Gordon killed two days before.Early career
China
Africa