| Above: This is perhaps the definitive portrait of General Charles George "Chinese" Gordon of the Royal Engineers. Wearing the fez and uniform of Governor General of the Sudan, he gained early fame leading the Emperor of China's so-called Ever Victorious Army against rebels in the 1860s. Later as Governor of the Sudan (1877-79) he almost single handedly put an end to slavery in that blighted province of the Ottoman Empire. He returned in 1884 to help lead the evacuation of the Sudanese capitol Khartoum in the face of the Mahdi's rebellion. Ordered by Prime Minister Gladstone to abandon the city to its fate, he refused. Leading the hopeless but gallant defense of the city in the face of overwhelming odds and died when the Khartoum fell on 26 January 1885 - the day before forward elements of a British relief column reached the city. Woodburytype Cabinet Photograph - Trimmed The London Stereoscopic Company - Photographer 110, 108 & 106 Regent Street W., London, England c. 1880 |
| Above: This image is generally thought to be the last photograph taken of Gordon before his final and fatal mission to Khartoum in 1884. Prior to his decision to return to the Sudan, he had accepted a commission from Leopold, King of the Belgians to assume the governorship of the Belgian Congo from the famed Henry Morton Stanley. He ultimately declined the King's offer and agreed to attempt the evacuation of Khartoum in the face of the Madhi's rebellion. This portrait was taken for the Belgian King and bears Gordon's facsimile signature. Cabinet Photograph London Stereoscopic Company - Photographer 110, 108 & 106 Regent Street W., London, England c. 1885 |
