[59] Gordon disapproved of the forts he was building at the mouth of Thames to guard against a possible French invasion, regarding them as expensive and useless. [213], A merchant, Bordeini Bey, glimpsed Gordon standing on the palace steps in a white uniform looking into the darkness. Gordon William Hatley 06-Dec-1960 - 23-Feb-2023 Overview Overview . I know if I was chief I would never employ myself for I am incorrigible". Dearly. [203], In 1982, a documentary on Gordon's life was written and presented by the actor and historian Robert Hardy, entitled "Gordon of Khartoum". 2023 Christensen Salmon Generations Funeral Home. quickly as possible. This memorial website was created in memory of George Gordon, 31, born on December 25, 1955 and passed away on March 0, 1987. The matter ended with Gordon's imprisonment and transfer to Massawa. [156], Additionally, Baring's policy of raising taxes to pay off the debts Isma'il had run up sparked much resentment in both Egypt and the Sudan. [243], In the Presidential Palace in Khartoum (built in 1899), in the west wing on the ground floor, there was, at least until 1936, a stone slab against the wall on the left side of the main corridor when coming from the main entrance with the text: "Charles George Gordon died26 Jan 1885", on the spot where Gordon was killed, at the foot of the stairs in the old Governor-General's Palace (built around 1850). To plant a tree in memory of George GORDON, please visit. George was predeceased by his father, and is survived by his mother. [145] Gordon wrote: "The peasantry of the Northwest and Southwest of Ireland are much worse off than any of the inhabitants of Bulgaria, Asia Minor, China, India, or the Sudan". [194], It was not until August 1884 that the government decided to take steps to relieve Gordon, with the British relief force, called the Nile Expedition, or, more popularly, the Khartoum Relief Expedition or Gordon Relief Expedition (a title that Gordon strongly deprecated). Funeral: 21 Mar 2023, Dewsbury. 95 THE REV. [32] Gordon had heard of the Taiping Rebellion long before he had set sail for China, and he was at first sympathetic towards the Taipings, led by the charismatic madman Hong Xiuquan, who proclaimed himself to be the younger brother of Jesus Christ, viewing them as somewhat eccentric Christians. [101] Gordon also clashed with Chaill-Long, whom he accused of working as an informant for Aiyub Pasha and called him to his face a "regular failure". An official certificate recognizing your purchase will be included with your email receipt. He will be forever cherished by his wife Gail Bowen (nee Reid). Wade echoed Hart, writing that Gordon had changed since his last time in China, and was now "unbalanced", being utterly convinced that all of his ideas came from God, making him dangerously unreasonable since Gordon now believed that everything he did was the will of God. Dearest Dad and Grandpa, [39] Li was impressed with Gordon, writing: It is a direct blessing from Heaven, the coming of this British Gordon. [133] A deeply depressed Gordon wrote in his letter declining the offer that he knew, for reasons that he refused to explain, that he had only ten years left to live, and he wanted to do something great and grand in his last ten years. Wolseley had earlier served in Canada where he had commanded the Red River expedition of 1870, during which time he gained considerable respect for the skills of French-Canadian voyageurs, and now insisted he could not travel up the Nile without the voyageurs to assist his men as river pilots and boatmen. [143] Although the Qing court rejected Gordon's advice to seek a compromise with Russia in the summer of 1880, Gordon's assessment of China's military backwardness and his stark warnings that the Russians would win if a war did break out played an important role in ultimately strengthening the peace party at the court and preventing war. [56] The British journalist Mark Urban, wrote: "People saw a brave man who acted with humanity in an otherwise ghastly conflict, standing out from the other mercenaries, adventurers, and cut-throats in wanting almost nothing for himself". George G. Gordon 80, of Indianapolis, passed away December 18, 2022. Ismai'il's Chief of General Staff was the American general Charles Pomeroy Stone, and a number of other veterans of the American Civil War were commanding Egyptian troops. He thereafter received the honorific rank and title of pasha in the Ottoman aristocracy. He was a committed and valued friend and colleague for over thirty years at Sterling Marking Products. [56] Gordon also gained the popular nickname, "Chinese" Gordon. Thomas Reinke, 77, died Feb. 19, 2022. [155] He accepted and returned to London to make preparations, but soon after his arrival, the British requested that he proceed immediately to the Sudan, where the situation had deteriorated badly after his departure another revolt had arisen, led by the self-proclaimed Mahdi, Mohammed Ahmed. [214] Rudolf Slatin, the Austrian governor of Darfur who had been taken prisoner by the Ansar, wrote that three soldiers showed him Gordon's head at his tent before delivering it to the Mahdi. [135] The British diplomat Thomas Francis Wade reported, "The Chinese government still holds Gordon Pasha in high regard", and were anxious to have him back to fight against Russia if war should break out. Goodness become to me, through Gordon, the most desirable of ideasWe were under the spell of Gordon's personality. [87], At the end of his Governor-Generalship of the Sudan, Gordon had to admit that he had been a failure, an experience of defeat that so shattered him that he had a nervous breakdown. Allah Himself is merciful to you". [12], The American historian Byron Farwell strongly implied in his 1985 book Eminent Victorian Soldiers that Gordon was a homosexual, for instance writing of Gordon's "unwholesome" interest in the boys he took in to live with him at the Fort House, and his fondness for the company of "handsome" young men. "[187], At another point, a death-obsessed Gordon wrote in his diary: "Better a bullet to the brain than to flicker out unheeded". [87] Before Gordon boarded the ship at Alexandria that was to take him home, he sent off a series of long telegrams to various ministers in London full of Biblical verse and quotations that he claimed offered the solution to all of the problems of modern life. [251] By contrast, Gordon is one of the four subjects discussed critically in Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey, one of the first texts about Gordon that portrays some of his characteristics which Strachey regards as weaknesses. George Gordon 1925 - 2021 BORN 1925 DIED 2021 ABOUT Cornell University FUNERAL HOME Metcalf & Jonkhoff Funeral Service 4291 Cascade Road SE Grand Rapids, MI GEORGE GORDON OBITUARY George H.. Write your message of sympathy today. Family and friends are welcome to leave their condolences on this memorial page and share them with the family. Matters then remained quiet until March 1877, when Gordon proceeded to Massawa, hoping to make peace with the Abyssinians. The long exploitation of the Sudan by Egypt led many Sudanese to rally to the Mahdi's black banner as he promised to expel the Egyptians, whom Ahmed denounced as apostates, and he announced he would establish an Islamic fundamentalist state marking a return to the "pure Islam" said to have been practised in the days of the Prophet Mohamed in Arabia. [96] Isma'il Pasha told Gordon that he wished to expand Equatoria into the rest of Uganda, with the ultimate aim of absorbing the entire Great Lakes region of East Africa into the empire that Isma'il wanted to build in Africa. He was born April 5, 1967, and resided in Baker, LA, until moving to Baton Rouge after marriage in 1988. Acton, NH George E. Gordon, 69 of Acton, Massachusetts, passed away peacefully on Sunday, June 26, 2022, after a long period of declining health at Lahey Clinic Medical Center in Burlington,. [46] One British officer serving with the Ever Victorious Army described Gordon at this time as: "a light-built, wiry, middle-sized man, of about thirty two years of age, in the undress uniform of the Royal Engineers. [152] The Spaffords had lost their home and much of their fortune in the Great Chicago Fire and then had seen one of their sons die of scarlet fever, four of their daughters drowned in a shipwreck, followed by the death of another son from scarlet fever, causing them to turn to religion as consolation for unbearable tragedy, making them very congenial company for Gordon during his stay in Jerusalem. [187] In his final months, Gordon oscillated between a longing for martyrdom and death versus an intense horror at the prospect of his own demise as the hour of his destruction rapidly approached. [199] The Pall Mall Gazette, in a front page leader, wrote that Gordon stood "out in clear relief against the Eastern sky. [40] In Sudan, Sudanese historians have traditionally focused on the Mahdi and his rebellion, with Gordon only being relevant as the enemy general during the Siege of Khartoum, and his abolitionist work largely ignored. Husband of Daphne, much loved father and father-in-law of Bruce and Marsha, Don and . Powers was delighted that the charismatic Gordon had no anti-Catholic prejudices and treated him as an equal. [52], Instead, the Ever Victorious Army was given the task of taking the secondary cities of Yesing, Liyang, and Kitang. I shared a busride home with him a long time ago and we had the most pleasant conversation. 2023 from 11:00 a.m. until Funeral Service at 1:00 p.m. Interment will follow at St. George Cemetery, 7808 St. George Way off Siegen Lane. George Gordon, 75, of Wesley Chapel, Florida, passed away September 11, 2022 from complications related to Multiple System Atrophy and Parkinson's Disease. [162] Gordon wanted to talk about the Congo, but Stead kept on pressing him to talk about the Sudan. He entered the service of the Khedive of Egypt in 1873 (with British government approval) and later became the Governor-General of the Sudan, where he did much to suppress revolts and the local slave trade. [88] Isma'il was a Muslim who loved Italian wine and French champagne, and many of his more conservative subjects in Egypt and the Sudan felt alienated by a regime that was determined to Westernise the country with little regard for tradition. After meeting his old friend, Gordon assured Li that if Russia should attack he would resign his commission in the British Army to take up a commission in the Chinese Army, an action that if taken, risked prosecution under the Foreign Enlistments Act. Aug 1931 - Feb 2023. After an order is placed, our forestry partners will plant the tree in the area of greatest need (nearest the funeral home), according to the planting schedule for the year. [140], Gordon further advised the Qing court that it was unwise for the Manchu elite to live apart from and treat the Han Chinese majority as something less than human, warning that this not only weakened China in the present, but would cause a revolution in the future. The Sudan was judged to be not worth the huge financial costs it would have taken to conquer it, the same conclusion that the Liberals had reached. [47] The suffering of the Chinese people strengthened Gordon's faith, as he argued that there had to be a just, loving God who would one day redeem humanity from all this wretchedness and misery. [211] The orders were not obeyed. and "Sultan!" [180] At one point, Gordon suggested in a telegram to Gladstone that the notoriously corrupt Ottoman Sultan Abdul-Hamid II could be bribed into sending 3,000 Ottoman troops for the relief of Khartoum and if the British government was unwilling and/or unable to pay that amount, he was certain that either Pope Leo XIII or a group of American millionaires would be. He also rented a small house in East Terrace for working boys to be taught for free. [12] Even an observer as sympathetic as Winston Churchill wrote about Gordon: "Mercury uncontrolled by the force of gravity was not on several occasions more unstable than Charles Gordon. Second only to his faith, was the great joy George found in his family. [13] He attended diverse congregations, including Roman Catholic, Baptist, Presbyterian, and Methodist. He was first and foremost a passionate follower of Jesus Christ and lived his life in humble but firm faith, pressing on towards the upward call he felt from a young age. [123], Gordon then tried another peace mission to Abyssinia. . Dirk was an avid photographer and winner of awards, and a law school instructor working right up to the time of his death. ", "Ghosts of Empire by Kwasi Kwarteng review", "General Charles "Chinese" Gordon Reveals He is Going to Palestine", "Intended burning of Berber and surrender of Soudan", "Gordon, Charles George (18331885) Major General", "A Self-declared Pasha and African Explorer Is Killed", "Viewing Violence in the British Empire: Images of Atrocity from the Battle of Omdurman, 1898", "21 February 1899: Treatment of the Mahdi's body condemned", "Gordon Hospital: Vincent Ward, Ebury Ward, Gerrard Ward CNWL NHS", "Statue of General Gordon, Victoria Embankment Gardens", "Memorial to General Gordon, Brompton Barracks, Gillingham", "Tomb of General Gordon by Frederick William Pomeroy (18571924)", "Sudan. Nutting's book was noteworthy as the first book to argue that Gordon had a death wish. He claimed that his army service and frequent travels to dangerous places made it impossible for him to marry. in memory of Gordon Richard George, please visit our floral store. [88] The languages of Khedive's court were Turkish and French, not Arabic. [166] Urban wrote: "The Pall Mall Gazette articles, in short, began a new chapter in international relations; powerful men using media manipulation of public opinion to trigger war. [177], The novelist John Buchan wrote that Gordon was so "unlike other men that he readily acquired a spiritual ascendency over all who knew him well and many who did not", but at the same time, Gordon had a "dualism", in that "the impression of single-heartedness was an illusion, for all his life his soul was the stage of conflict". [175] Gordon had a garrison of about 8,000 soldiers armed with Remington rifles, together with a colossal ammunition dump containing millions of rounds. [219], Many biographies have been written of Gordon, most of them highly hagiographic, such as the one by William Butler. He was present during the capture of Peking and at the destruction of the Summer Palace. [199] The American historian Cynthia Behrman wrote that the articles all commented upon "Gordon's religious faith, his skill with native peoples, his fearlessness in the face of danger (a recurrent motif is Gordon's habit of leading his troops into battle armed with no more than a rattan cane), his honor, his resourcefulness, his graciousness to subordinates, his impatience with cant and hypocrisy, his hatred of glory and honors, his dislike of lionization and social rewards, and on and on. George J Gordon III (Trey) of Azle, TX passed away May 1, 2022. Gordon accepted the offer, but shortly after arriving in India, he resigned. [192], During this time, Gordon, when he was not organising the besieged garrison with incredible energy, spent his time writing a somewhat rambling diary containing his reflections on the siege, life, fate, and his own intense, idiosyncratic version of Protestantism. can stop at any time. [61] Many of the "scuttlers," as Gordon fondly called the homeless boys, were lodged at his own home, the Fort House. [220] As late as 1901, on the anniversary of Gordon's death, The Times wrote in a leader (editorial) that Gordon was "that solitary figure holding aloft the flag of England in the face of the dark hordes of Islam". [51] The Emperor was much offended when he received Gordon's message at the Forbidden City, and Gordon's military career in China was effectively over for a time. I've worked with George the past five years and have a great deal of respect for him. Tablet indicates where General Gordon was killed, Jan. 25, 1885", "Khartoum: blackface Olivier scrapes the bottom of some macabre barrels", "The Political Martyr: General Gordon and the Fall of Kartum", The Journals of Major-Gen. C. G. Gordon, C.B., at Kartoum, Newspaper clippings about Charles George Gordon, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charles_George_Gordon&oldid=1142434977, Chinese Gordon, Gordon Pasha, Gordon of Khartoum, This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 10:23. During his time in Milford Haven, Gordon was befriended by a young couple, Francis and Anne Drew, who introduced him to evangelical Protestantism. Gordon was summoned to Cairo, and arrived in March to be appointed president of a commission. [146], In April 1881, Gordon left for Mauritius as Commander, Royal Engineers. [241][242], The Church Missionary Society (CMS) work in Sudan was undertaken under the name of the Gordon Memorial Mission. He was a very kind man and I was sorry to hear of his passing. [238], The Corps of Royal Engineers, Gordon's own Corps, commissioned a statue of Gordon on a camel. You will receive email notifications when changes are made to the online memorial, including when family and friends post to the Guestbook. [218] Critics said Gladstone had neglected military affairs and had not acted promptly enough to save the besieged Gordon. With Egypt bankrupt, the money to carry out the reforms Gordon wanted was not there. This was a very evangelical branch of CMS and was able to start work in Sudan in 1900 as soon as the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium took control after the fall of Khartoum in 1899. [172] Gordon was well-received by a crowd of about 9,000 during his return to Khartoum where the crowd continually chanted, "Father!" We love you, we love you, we love you. [12] The Romanian historian Eric Tappe described Gordon as a man who developed his own "very personal peculiar variety of Protestantism". His students and attendees have included people from Australia, New Zealand, Ukraine, Canada, Ireland and all 50 states all of whom traveled to and stayed in Isabella. The garrison at Berber surrendered in May, and Khartoum was completely isolated. Order by 3:00PMThe day before, SAT & SUN Parcourez la ncrologie de Donald Don Gordon Bowen 2023 rsidant dans la province Ontario pour le dtail des funrailles . Jamie graduated from Baker High School in 1985, where he was a talented and . Relations between Egypt and Abyssinia (later renamed Ethiopia) had become strained due to a dispute over the district of Bogos, and war broke out in 1875. [43] Gordon always preferred to outflank the Taiping lines rather than to take them on frontally, an approach that caused much tension with his counterparts in the Chinese Imperial Army who did not share Gordon's horror at the huge numbers of casualties caused by frontal assaults. May God wrap His mighty arms around each of you at this time! Gordon passed away peacefully Monday, October 31 at theglorious age of 91, at Good Samaritan Prairie Ridge in Raymond. [47] Gordon was thus powerless when the Imperial forces executed all of the Taiping POWs, an act that enraged him. [41], In March 1863, Gordon took command of the force at Songjiang, which had received the name of "Ever Victorious Army". [37] Given Burgevine's alcoholism, open corruption, and tendency to engage in acts of mindless violence when drunk, the Chinese wanted "a man of good temper, of clean hands, and a steady economist" as his replacement. His parents were first cousins, thus making Geoffrey a great-grandson of William IV twice over. Gordon then returned to Khartoum, and went again into Darfur to suppress the slave traders. Authorize the publication of the original written obituary with the accompanying photo. He loved family gatherings, playing games and eating home-cooked meals, and he was never too full to enjoy a bowl of ice cream, his favourite treat. He was warm, steadfast, and peaceable. Rick and Karen Stainthorpe. Gordon had gone to the Sudan with high hopes that via his iron will and Christian faith he would defeat the Ottoman-Egyptian system of rule, that he would act as a reformer who would change the system from within to make what was unjust, just, and that he would make things better for the ordinary people of the Sudan. [172] Powers, who acted as Gordon's unofficial press attach, wrote in The Times: "We are daily expecting British troops. The best evidence suggests that Gordon went out to confront the enemy, gunned down several of the Ansar with his revolver and, after running out of bullets, drew his sword only to be shot down. It was a highly dangerous job that frequently put him under enemy fire, and led to him being wounded for the first time when a Russian sniper put a bullet into him. [201] A note written by Gordon and dated 14 December was sent out by a messenger from Khartoum, who reached Wolseley's army on 30 December 1884. [184] The Cabinet itself was divided and confused about just what to do about the Sudan crisis, leading to a highly dysfunctional style of decision-making. By September 1882, the Egyptian position in the Sudan had grown perilous. As Gordon travelled via Egypt to take the streamer back to Britain, a man who met him in Cairo described Gordon as a broken man who was "rather off his head". [187] Among the dead were Gordon's unofficial spokesman, the passionate wordsmith and Times journalist Frank Powers, Gordon's Chief of Staff, Colonel Stewart, and the French consul in Khartoum, Lon Herbin[fr], all of whom Gordon was sending to Cairo to plead for relief. Notably, Strachey emphasises the claims of Charles Chaill-Long that Gordon was an alcoholic, an accusation dismissed by later writers like Alan Moorehead[252] and Charles Chenevix Trench. [12], The British government asked Gordon to go to Khartoum to report on the best method of carrying out the evacuation. [48] Gordon also had the pleasure of defeating Burgevine (whom Gordon detested), who had raised a mercenary force and joined the Taipings. Beloved husband of the late Sylvia, father of Stan (Rena Singer), adored brother of the late Hilda, Ruth, Lily, Bertha and Celia. He is greatly missed by all who were touched by his intellectual kindness. "[207], The relief force under General Wolseley, which set out from Wadi Halfa, was divided into two columns at Kortia 1,200-strong "flying column" or "desert column" of camel-borne troops which would cross the Bayuda desert to reach Metmemma on the Nile and meet Gordon's gunboats there, and the main column which would continue to advance along the Nile heading for Berber. Finally, after much prompting on Stead's part, Gordon opened up and attacked Gladstone's Sudan policy, coming out for an intervention to defeat the Mahdi. Karen and I were shocked and saddened to hear of Georges passing. OBITUARY George M. Gordon June 19, 1947 - September 11, 2022 - September 11, 2022 I want no further satisfaction than this". [184] The British government had decided to abandon the Sudan, but it was clear that Gordon had other plans, and the public increasingly called for a relief expedition. The Funeral Service will be held at 11:00 AM, on Saturday, November 5, 2022 in THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS- KNIGHT STREET CHAPEL, 206E 200N. "[175] Even Wolseley had cause to regret sending Gordon, as the general revealed himself to be a loose cannon whose press statements attacking the Liberal government were "obstructing rather than furthering his plans to take over the Sudan". [193] Gordon waged a very vigorous defence, sending out his armoured steamers to engage the Ansar camps along the Blue Nile while he regularly made raids on the besiegers that often gave the Madhi's forces a "bloody nose". His beloved wife passed in June of 2019. [159], On 35 November 1883, the Ansar (whom the British called "Dervishes"), as the Mahdi's followers were known, destroyed the Egyptian army of 8,000 under Colonel Hicks at El Obeid, with only about 250 Egyptians surviving and Hicks being one of the slain. Enter In 1877, he wrote in a letter: "This life is only one of a series of lives which our incarnated part has lived. Only when public pressure to act had become irresistible did the government, with reluctance, send a relief force. [177] Gordon's attempt to have his former archenemy Zobeirthe "King of the Slavers" whom he had hunted for years and whose son he had executedinstalled as the new Sultan of the Sudan appalled Gladstone and offended his former admirers in the Anti-Slavery Society. Such a kind and calm person. Gladstone himself took Gordon's attacks on his Sudan policy very personally. As a toddler he moved to Basking Ridge, NJ. Send Flowers: When Is the Ordering Deadline? [229] On 16 October 1885, the structure was unveiled; it comprises a stone base on which there are four polished red Aberdeen granite columns, about twenty feet high. [166] The man behind the campaign was the Adjutant General, Sir Garnet Wolseleya skilled media manipulator who often leaked information to the press to effect changes in policyand who was strongly opposed to Gladstone's policy of pulling out of the Sudan. [124], In March 1880, Gordon recovered for a couple of weeks in the Hotel du Faucon in Lausanne, 3 Rue St Pierre, famous for its views on Lake Geneva and because several celebrities had stayed there, such as Giuseppe Garibaldi, one of Gordon's heroes,[125] and possibly one of the reasons Gordon had chosen this hotel. [196] For example, Wolseley could have hired Egyptian boatmen who knew the Nile to serve as river pilots instead of bringing over voyageurs from Canada, who knew nothing of the Nile, and moreover, Wolseley only called for the voyageurs after his arrival in Egypt. George will be deeply missed by everyone, especially his grandchildren. [96], The Khedive asked for Gordon to succeed Baker as the governor of Equatoria province that comprised much of what is today South Sudan and northern Uganda. Gordon was bored with the work of the Danube commission, and spent as much time as possible exploring the Romanian countryside, whose beauty enchanted Gordon when he was not making visits to Bucharest to meet up with his old friend Romolo Gessi, who was living there at the time.