[121] After several months of chasing Zobeir, Gessi and Gordon met at the village of Shaka in June 1879 when it was agreed that Gessi would continue the hunt while Gordon would return to Khartoum. [59] Gordon seemed pleased by his simple lifestyle, writing in a letter that: "One night, I slept better than I have for a long time, by a fire in a fisherman's hut". [201], Gordon and the Mahdi never met, but the two men, both charismatic and intensely religious soldiers who saw themselves as fighting for God, had developed a grudging mutual respect. [208] On the evening of 24 January 1885, the Mahdi met with his generals, whose leading spokesman was his uncle Muhammad Abd al-Karim, who told him that, with the Nile low and Wolseley close, it was time to either storm Khartoum or retreat. ", "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. The most popular account of Gordon's death was that he put on his ceremonial gold-braided blue uniform of the Governor-General together with the Pasha's red fez and that he went out unarmed, except with his rattan cane, to be cut down by the Ansar. Gordon visited the Seychelles in the summer of 1881 and decided the islands were the location of the Garden of Eden. George worked as a custodial supervisor in the Lincoln County School system. Proceeding him in death was his legal partner and beloved step-son Dirk DeJong and the family's special friend U.S Representive Helen Chenowith. He received no reply as the king had gone southwards to fight with the Shoa. During his time in Sudan, Gordon was much involved in attempting to suppress the slave trade while struggling against a corrupt and inefficient Egyptian bureaucracy that had no interest in suppressing the trade. Whether religion or vanity, or the softening of the brain I don't know, but he seems to be alternatively arrogant and slavish, vain and humble, in his senses and out of them. [56] The British Army promoted Gordon to lieutenant-colonel on 16 February 1864,[57] and he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 9 December 1864. With Egypt under British rule, the British also inherited the problems of Egypt's colony, the Sudan, which the Egyptians were losing control of to the Mahdi. A funeral service will be held on Wednesday, March 8th 2023 at 11:00 AM at the St. Louis Church (13 E St Louis Pl, Batesville, IN 47006 . These aims eluded him.[93][114]. [152] After his visit, Gordon suggested in his book Reflections in Palestine[153] a different location for Golgotha, the site of Christ's crucifixion. Aged 86 years. May the words of Psalm 46 bring a sense of peace and hope to all of his family in this season of loss. [75], Gordon, at the age of 14,[76] said that he wished he had been born a eunuch, which has been taken to suggest that he wanted to annihilate all of his sexual desires and, indeed, his sexuality altogether. Second only to his faith, was the great joy George found in his family. If I cannot, I shall retire to the Equator and leave you with the indelible disgrace of abandoning the garrisons". George, [133], 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. [46] After the battle, Gordon was hailed as a liberator from the Taipings by the ordinary Chinese people. It was removed in 1958, shortly after the Sudan became independent. to the family or plant a tree [114] Gordon was well-known for being utterly obstinate, joking that: "The Gordons and the camels are of the same race. [228], News of Gordon's death caused an outpouring of public grief across Britain. About 2,500 people had been removed before the Mahdi's forces closed in on Khartoum. NEWS has reached us of the death of this veteran geologist, at the advanced age of 92. In New York, Paris, and Berlin, pictures of Gordon appeared in shop windows with black lining as all over the West, the fallen general was seen as a Christ-like man who sacrificed himself resisting the advance of Islam. [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". In 1878, Gordon fired the governor of Equatoria for corruption and replaced him with his former chief medical officer from his time in Equatoria, Dr. Emin Pasha, who had earned Gordon's respect. [3] He was educated at Fullands School in Taunton, Taunton School, and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. I had the pleasure of working with George for many years at Sterling Marking Products. white, francis george willars, dorothy florence. [56] The savage Taiping Rebellionwhich was the bloodiest war of the entire 19th century, taking somewhere between 20 and 30 million livesis largely forgotten in the West today, but at the time, the civil war in China attracted much media attention in the West, and Gordon's command of the Ever Victorious Army received much coverage from British newspapers. [257], Nutting contended that the conflict between Gordon's devoutly-held Christian ideals and his sexuality made Gordon deeply ashamed of himself and he attempted to expiate his wretched, sinful nature by seeking a glorious death in battle. Published on December 13, 2020 Plant a Living Memorial Messages run for up to one year and you [201] About half of the population took up his offer to promptly leave the city. Ever since the realisation of the sacrament, I have been turned upside down". He was 96. How I look forward to their disbandment". [227], After the Battle of Omdurman, Kitchener opened a letter from the Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, and for the first time learned the real purpose of the expedition had been to keep the French out of the Sudan and that "avenging Gordon" was merely a pretext. 2023 Christensen Salmon Generations Funeral Home. Colonel Valentine Baker led an Egyptian force out of Suakin and was badly defeated by 1,000 Haddendowa warriors who declared their loyalty to the Mahdi under Osman Digna at Al-Teb with 2,225 Egyptian soldiers and 96 officers killed. [65] Gordon often spoke nostalgically of his service in China, and wished he could return to that country.[70]. [130] Gordon believed that God's throne from which He governed the universe rested upon the earth, which was further surrounded by the firmament. We always teased each other on and off the ice Im really going to miss you George. [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. [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. [40] Gordon's insistence on paying his men meant that he was always pressing the Imperial government for money, something which often irritated the mandarins who did not understand why Gordon did not just let his men loot and plunder as a compensation for wages. [209], The Ansar began their final attack by storming the city via the gap in the defence caused by the low Nile and after an hour's fighting, the starving defenders had abandoned the fight and the city was theirs. Words cannot express how saddened we are to learn of George's sudden loss. During his time in Anatolia, Gordon embraced the new technology of the camera to take what the Canadian historian C. Brad Faught called a series of "evocative photographs" of the people and landscape of Armenia. Exhausted, he resigned and returned to Europe in 1880. I am grieved, with hope, by the sudden passing of George. [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. An insurrection had broken out in Darfur province led by associates of Zobeir and Gordon went to deal with it. In the article, Stallard pointed to the egalitarianistic attitudes displayed by Gordon towards the Chinese, and argued that if Chinese historians paid closer attention to the activities of Gordon in China, it would improve Anglo-Chinese relations. Laurence Olivier played Muhammad Ahmad. I am nearly dead". Baker met with great difficulties and managed little beyond establishing a few posts along the Nile. [123], Gordon then tried another peace mission to Abyssinia. Dirk died in his sleep of natural causes on March 6, 2014. Very sorry for your family loss. [162] Gordon wanted to talk about the Congo, but Stead kept on pressing him to talk about the Sudan. [64] Persuaded by his friends in 1867, he became a trustee for the local Ragged school committee. [116], Gordon travelled north to Cairo to meet with Baring and suggest the solution that Egypt suspend its interest payments for several years to allow Isma'il to pay the arrears owed to his soldiers and civil servants, arguing that once the Egyptian government was stabilised, then Egypt could start paying its debts without fear of causing a revolution. He first displayed his death wish as he wrote at the time that he had gone "to the Crimea, hoping, without having a hand in it, to be killed". Other lives: Art lover who helped create a radio station, bank, orchestra and arboretum in his passion for making positive social change Share Your Memories and Sympathies and Join the Bereaved! [174] Shortly afterwards, Gordon wrote what Urban called a "bizarre" letter to the Mahdi telling him to accept the authority of the Khedive of Egypt and offered him the chance to work as one of Gordon's provincial governors. The Mahdi and his followers had been fighting a jihad since 1881 and looked forward to taking on the famous General Gordon as a chance to win glory for Allah. [187] In one of the last letters Gordon had smuggled out, he wrote: "I expect Her Majesty's Government are in a precious rage with me for holding out, and so forcing their hands". He managed the grain elevator in Raymond until he retired manyyears ago and has lived in Raymond ever since. He was shot! Alone in [Africa], dauntless and unfaltering, he discharges his great trust, holding the capital of the Sudan against the beleaguering hordes". He will be much missed at work. [169] Gladstone had gone to his estate at Hawarden to recover from illness and thus was not present at the meeting on 18 January where Gordon was given the Sudan command, but he was under the impression that Gordon's mission was advisory, whereas the four ministers present at the meeting had given Gordon the impression that his mission was executive in nature. Obituary George William Gordon II, 73, of Superior, Montana, passed away at his residence on Monday, July 25th, 2022, following a period of declining health. The employees sent by the Moldovan government to take over the ceded territory have been receiving bribes and trafficking in the most disgraceful manner. Always joyful He was born January 1, 1942 in Indianapolis to the late Lester Gordon and Helen Waldron Gordon. [97] Baker's annual salary as governor of Equatoria had been 10,000 (Egyptian pounds, about US$1 million in today's money) and Ismail was astonished when Gordon refused that salary, saying that 2,000 per year was more than enough for him. On 5 August 1884, the House of Commons voted to send the relief force with a budget of 300,000. [187] To counter Gordon's armoured streamers, the Mahdi built a series of forts along the Nile equipped with Krupp guns that over time proceeded to make it almost impossible for Gordon's navy to operate. [46], In its last years, the Taiping movement had oppressed the Chinese peasantry and as the Taipings retreated in the face of fire from the Hyson, Chinese peasants emerged from their homes to cut down and hack to death the fleeing Taipings. Special thanks to the caring staff of Good Samaritan Prairie Ridge and the Raymond Health Centre. He went up to Bogos and wrote to the king proposing terms. The Grand Valley community is mourning the death of George Gordon, who coupled his philanthropic passions for education and art throughout West Michigan. Gordon grew up in Climax, Sask., and worked in the Grain industry all his life, which he loved. 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. [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. [43], Gordon then reorganised his force and advanced against Kunshan, which was captured at considerable loss. In memory: Patrick Joseph Guignard Patrick Joseph Guignard, a longtime Prince George resident and logging company owner, passed away peacefully at home surrounded by his family on March 16 at the. "[260], Gordon also left a legacy in China and Sudan as well, two nations where he spent large parts of his career. My heart goes out to the entire family and friends for the loss of dear George. [104] Gordon chose not to meet Muteesa himself, instead sending his chief medical officer, a German convert to Islam, Dr. Emin Pasha, to negotiate a treaty wherein in exchange for allowing the Egyptians to leave the Buganda, the independence of the kingdom was recognised. He. Finally, the boats sent were not there to relieve Gordon, who was not expected to agree to abandon the city, and the small force and limited supplies on board could have offered scant military support for the besieged in any case. His words started out with "I'm here to serve" and ended with those words, after humbly explaining all the amazing things he did at Sterling. He was born January 1, 1942 in Indianapolis to the late Lester Gordon and Helen Waldron Gordon. [219], Many biographies have been written of Gordon, most of them highly hagiographic, such as the one by William Butler. The system remained the same creaking slow, utterly corrupt, and oppressive apparatus trampling down ordinary people that it had always been. [151], In Jerusalem, Gordon lived with an American lawyer, Horatio Spafford, and his wife, Anna Spafford, who were the leaders of the American Colony in the Holy City. Dearly. Praying for you Nancy and family. Allah Himself is merciful to you". Obituaries & obituary notices in Glasgow. The English uniform produces an immediate sensation". [248], Long after his death, and despite the popularity of Strachey's essay in Eminent Victorians, the appeal of the Gordon legend lived on. [37] Burgevine was an unsavory character known for his greed and alcoholism. Share Obituary. I know if I was chief I would never employ myself for I am incorrigible". He was Ozark County's first National Merit Scholar winner. [146], In a memo to London, Gordon warned against over-reliance on the Suez Canal, where the Russians could easily sink one ship to block the entire canal, thus leading Gordon to advise upon improving the Cape route to India with Britain developing a series of bases in Africa and in the Indian Ocean. He was born in Fortuna, CA 75 years ago to Winton and Evelyn Chase Gordon. Second only to his faith, was the great joy George found in his family. 1Corinthians 15:54 . [146] Having been to all of those places and thus speaking with some authority, Gordon announced the "scandal" of poverty in Ireland could only be ended if the government were to buy the land from the Ascendency families, as the Anglo-Irish elite was known, and give it to their poor Irish tenant farmers. [115], In 1876, Egypt went bankrupt. The bashi-bazouks were extremely susceptible to corruption and were notorious for their brutality, especially to non-Muslims. Cremation has taken place. [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. It was removed in 1943. The Reverend Reginald Barnes, who knew him well, describes him as "of the middle height, very strongly built". One observer noted that whenever he left and entered the Governor's Palace in Khartoum: "Government officials, consular agents, and native people awaited him in large numbers. [146], In April 1881, Gordon left for Mauritius as Commander, Royal Engineers. He loved Nancy, his cherished wife of 39 years, as Christ loved the church. Jamie graduated from Baker High School in 1985, where he was a talented and . [194] Though the telegraph lines to Cairo were cut, Gordon used the remaining telegraph lines to build his own telegraph network within Khartoum linking the men holding the walls of Khartoum to the Governor-General's palace, thus keeping him well-informed of what was happening. [52] At Kitang, Gordon was wounded for the second time on 21 March 1864, when a Taiping soldier shot him in the thigh. He was so erratic, capricious, utterly unreliable, his mood changed so often, his temper was abominable, he was frequently drunk, and yet with all that, he had a tremendous sense of honour and great abilities". Such a kind and calm person. Jamie Wyble passed away peacefully surrounded by his family on February 24, 2023, at the age of 55 after a very brief battle with brain cancer. My heart breaks for George's family because we went through the same not too long ago with my own George.. Goodness become to me, through Gordon, the most desirable of ideasWe were under the spell of Gordon's personality. [31] When Gordon arrived at Hong Kong, he was disappointed to learn he was "just too late for the fighting". [187] In his last weeks, those who knew Gordon described him as a chain-smoking, rage-filled, desperate man wearing a shabby uniform who spent hours talking to a mouse that he shared his office with when he was not attacking his Sudanese servants with his rattan cane during one of his rages. [32], After stopping in Shanghai, Gordon visited the Chinese countryside and was appalled at the atrocities committed by the Taipings against the local peasants, writing to his family he would love to smash this "cruel" army with its "desolating presence" that killed without mercy. [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". Peacefully, in Migdale Hospital, Bonar Bridge, on Saturday, 18th February, 2023, Robert "Bobby" George Bain, The Bungalow, Lower Gledfield Farm, Ardgay. [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". In 1885, at a meeting in London, 3,000 were allocated to a Gordon Memorial Mission in Sudan. know George was a good and faithful servant of the Lord , and our parting will only be for a little while. Orphali was knocked unconscious and did not see Gordon die. During his "career break" in the Holy Land, the very religious Gordon sought to explore his faith and biblical sites. In the words of the American historian Immanuel C. Y. Hsu, Gordon was a "man of action" unsuitable for a bureaucratic job. You are all in my thoughts and prayers. Beloved husband of the late Sylvia, father of Stan (Rena Singer), adored brother of the late Hilda, Ruth, Lily, Bertha and Celia. Gordon despite or rather, because of his war hero status disliked publicity and tried to avoid the press when he was in Britain. Gordon loved his family, and enjoyed spending time with his grandchildren, letting them comb his beautiful white hair and catching them in the "bear trap." George will be missed. Planting will take place in Spring or Summer of the same year. As a toddler he moved to Basking Ridge, NJ. GEORGE GORDON OBITUARY GORDON, George Colburn. [88] The languages of Khedive's court were Turkish and French, not Arabic. Jackie was born April 7, 1944, to Rudy . I will keep him in my thoughts and prayers all the time. Nutting made the controversial claim that the basis of Gordon's death wish was that he was gay, noting that Gordon never married, is not known to have had a relationship with any women, and often wished that he had been born a eunuch, which strongly suggested that Gordon wished to have no sexual desires at all. [239] Much later, a second casting was made. [195], It took considerable time to hire the voyageurs in Canada and bring them to Egypt, which delayed the expedition. Always happy Gordon declined all honours of financial gain, writing: "I know I shall leave China as poor as I entered it, but with the knowledge that, through my weak instrumentality, upwards of eighty to one hundred thousand lives have been spared. [60] Gordon's father was against his son working in Chinese service, an estrangement that had not been settled at the time of his death, and Gordon felt immense guilt that his father had died before they were reconciled. [62] Together with Mrs. Sarah Mackley, his housekeeper, he adapted two rooms at Fort House to serve as classrooms and basic needs resource rooms for boys living on the streets. A militia of Europeans and Asians was raised for the defence of the city and placed under the command of an American, Frederick Townsend Ward, and occupied the country to the west of Shanghai. He was predeceased by : his parents, Charles Ross and Sara Tabener Ross; his siblings, William Ross, Charles Ross and Betsy Ross Meyer; and his siblings-in-law, Delleney Ruff and Melinda Ruff. When he moved to Boise, Idaho, George started a furniture factory and designed and manufactured bedroom furniture which was sold nationwide. "[198], Among the papers captured on the Abbas was the cipher key Gordon used to code his messages in and out of Khartoum, which meant he could no longer read the messages he received, leading him to write in his diary: "I think cipher-messages are in some countries, like this, a mistake". [173] Gordon immediately confirmed Baring's fears as he started to issue press statements attacking the rebels as "a feeble lot of stinking Dervishes" and demanded he be allowed to "smash up the Mahdi". He is also survived by ten grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. I wanted to share a memory from about ten years ago, George did a presentation to some of us and I have never forgotten it. [159], With public opinion demanding that Gordon be sent to the Sudan, on 16 January 1884, the Gladstone government decided to send him there, albeit with the very limited mandate to report on the situation and advise on the best means of carrying out the evacuation. He was a committed and valued friend and colleague for over thirty years at Sterling Marking Products. "[204] On 14 December 1884, Gordon wrote the last entry in his diary, which read: "Now MARK THIS, if the Expeditionary Force and I ask for no more than two hundred men, does not come in ten days, the town may fall; and I have done my best for the honour of our country. Following the Hyson was a fleet of 80 junks converted to gunboats. We played hockey together. More importantly, I saw someone who cared deeply for the people he led, who never failed to make time for them, and practiced a patience and measured calm that I have spent 20 years attempting to replicate. George, an entrepreneur, piloted his own plane at the age of 18 and created a construction company specializing in the restoration of San Francisco's "painted ladies.". Gordon was sickened by the poverty of the Irish farmers, which led him to write a six-page memo to the Prime Minister, William Gladstone, urging land reforms in Ireland. [187] The merchant recalled Gordon's response: "He called up the guard and gave the orders to shoot me if I moved" and ordered all of the lamps in the palace to be lit up as brightly as possible. [83] Popular legend has it that Gordon and Gessi broke into the pasha's palace at night to rescue the girl, but the truth is less dramatic. It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of Gordon Richard George, loving husband, father, grandfather, and great grandfather. williams, clive anthony williams, eileen mabel wilson, radcliffe wood, edwin clifford woodgate, barry reginald james. [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. Login or Sign-up to show all important data, death records and obituaries absolutely for free! [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. I got to know George thru his sons, Greg and Tom, long before I actually met him. [240], Gordon's Tomb (in fact a cenotaph), which was carved by Frederick William Pomeroy, lies in St Paul's Cathedral, London. Send Flowers. He was born in Fortuna, CA 75 years ago to Winton and Evelyn Chase Gordon. George Harold Folk, 84, of Findlay, passed away peacefully Monday, Feb. 27, 2023, at Mennonite Memorial Home, Bluffton. I know George will be missed by and a great loss to the Sterling family. [91] As part of his Westernisation programme, Isma'il often hired Westerners to work in his government both in Egypt and in the Sudan. 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. 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. [201], On 5 January 1885, the Ansar took the fort at Omdurman, which allowed them to use their Krupp artillery to bring down enfilading fire on the defences of Khartoum. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Raymond Stampede and Exhibition or to the Canadian Cancer Society. [79] The South African minister, Dr. Peter Hammond, denied that Gordon was a homosexual, citing the numerous statements made by Gordon condemning homosexuality as an abomination, charging that the claim that Gordon was a homosexual was a theory with no foundation in fact. In his biography of Gordon, Anthony Nutting wrote that Gordon was obsessed with "the ever-present, constantly repeated desire for martyrdom and for that glorious immortality in union with God and away from the wretchedness of life on this earth". [59], During a visit to Bulgaria, Gordon and Gessi become involved in an incident when a Bulgarian couple told them that their 17-year-old daughter had been abducted into the harem of an Ottoman pasha, and asked them to free their daughter.