Sign the Guest Book. [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. [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. "[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. [65] Another "scuttler" later recalled: "He made me feel, first of all, the meaning of the phrase, the Goodness of God. Gordon was a valued member of the West Michigan community and made a tremendous impact on Grand Valley. The clash led to Gordon informing the Khedive that he did not wish to return to the Sudan, and he left for London. [208], The manner of Gordon's death is uncertain, but it was romanticised in a popular painting by George William Joy General Gordon's Last Stand (1893, currently in the Leeds City Art Gallery), and again in the film Khartoum (1966) with Charlton Heston as Gordon. There is no photo or video of George Gordon Ross.Be the first to share a memory to pay tribute. [21], Following the peace, he was attached to an international commission to mark the new border between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire in Bessarabia. [44] Aboard the Hyson were 350 men from the elite 4th Regiment of the Ever Victorious Army. [158], The Egyptian forces in the Sudan were insufficient to cope with the rebels, and the northern government was occupied with the suppression of the Urabi Revolt. After meeting Gordon in 1874, the Khedive Isma'il had said: "What an extraordinary Englishman! Besides working to end slavery, Gordon carried out a series of reforms such as abolishing torture and public floggings where those opposed to the Egyptian state were flogged with a whip known as the kourbash made of buffalo hide. The Lord Mayor of London opened a public subscription to raise funds for a permanent memorial to Gordon; this eventually materialised as the Gordon Boys Home, now Gordon's School, in West End, Woking. The Europeans whom the Egyptians had hired to work as civil servants in the Sudan were no better and proved to be just as corrupt as the Egyptians. [42], Gordon's task was made easier by innovative military ideas Ward had implemented in the Ever Victorious Army. [193] Gordon wrote in his diary that Mohammed Aly had captured "a lad of 12 or 14 years of age, and the little chap spoke out boldly, and said he believed Mohamed Ahmed was the Mahdi and that we were dogs. George was a wise, strong, hardworking, and unfailingly kind man. George Brooke Ltd obituaries - view your loved ones obituary and share messages with family and friends. Second only to his faith, was the great joy George found in his family. Add a Memory. Order by noon, TUES-SAT After he arrived in Britain, Gordon announced to the press that he "did not want to board the tram of the world" and asked to be left alone. [43], On the morning of 30 May 1863, the Taiping forces guarding the town of Quinsan were astonished to see an armoured paddle streamer, the Hyson, armed with a 32-pounder cannon on the bow, sailing up a canal, at whose prow stood Gordon. I wish there was anything I could do to help take away some of your pain. [65] Gordon often spoke nostalgically of his service in China, and wished he could return to that country.[70]. [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. [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. [84], Gordon was promoted to colonel on 16 February 1872. [122] On 15 July 1879, Gessi finally captured Zobeir together with 250 of his men. Funeral services will be 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, January 4, 2022 at the Jurrens Funeral Home in George, IA with Pastor Jeremy Winter, officiating. [139], Gordon went to Beijing and used all his influence to ensure peace. In early 1884, Gordon was sent to Khartoum with instructions to secure the evacuation of loyal soldiers and civilians and to depart with them. 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. [64] Persuaded by his friends in 1867, he became a trustee for the local Ragged school committee. My heart goes out to the entire family and friends for the loss of dear 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. George Gordon of Isabella, Mo died in his wife's arms at his farm August 30 and was buried that same day in the family cemetery on the farm. Funeral services 8:30 a.m. Friday, June 28 from the Dain-Cullinan Funeral Home and at 9 a.m. in St. Paul's Churc "[187], At another point, a death-obsessed Gordon wrote in his diary: "Better a bullet to the brain than to flicker out unheeded". Lorraine was born June 16, 1928 in Rochester the daughter of John and Edna (Brugger) Angie. Gordon visited the Seychelles in the summer of 1881 and decided the islands were the location of the Garden of Eden. Telephone: 417-273-4967 [127], The intensely religious Gordon had been born into the Church of England, but he never quite trusted the Anglican Church, instead preferring his own personal brand of Protestantism. "[216] His body was desecrated and thrown down a well. Funeral: 21 Mar 2023, Dewsbury. [84] Gordon and Gessi threatened to go to the British and Italian press if she was not released at once, a threat that proved sufficient to win the girl her freedom. [39] These requirements led Staveley to choose Gordon. Sep 1938 - Feb 2023. May God wrap His mighty arms around each of you at this time! [178], Gordon commenced the task of sending the women, the children, the sick, and the wounded to Egypt. SAT & SUN [257] Behrman wrote that the first part of Nutting's thesis, that Gordon had a death wish, is generally accepted by historians, but the second part, that Gordon was homosexual, is still the subject of much debate. He was a treasured and beloved uncle to many, and his favourite place was anywhere his family was, with a cup of good black coffee in his hand. file size: 2 MB. Prepare a personalized obituary for someone you loved.. December 10, 1933 - Dearly. [47], The Ever Victorious Army was entirely a mercenary force whose only loyalty was to money and whose men were interested in fighting only in order to gain the chance to plunder. Nancy, Gordon was nostalgic for China, and knowing of the Sino-Russian crisis, he saw a chance to do something significant. George was predeceased by his father, and is survived by his mother. He also rented a small house in East Terrace for working boys to be taught for free. In defiance of those instructions, after evacuating about 2,500 civilians he retained a smaller group of soldiers and non-military men. [148] Gordon was promoted to major-general on 23 March 1882. 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. [131] These religious beliefs mirrored differing aspects of Gordon's personality as he believed that he could choose his own fate through the force of his personality and a fatalistic streak often ending his letters with D.V (Deo volente Latin for "God willing", i.e. American historian James Perry wrote: "But instead of following instructions, he stayed put, longing for martyrdom. Amanda. I have a splendid camel-none like it; it flies along and quite astonishes the Arabs". Critics inverted his acronym, "G.O.M." Gordon". [4], In 1843, Gordon was devastated when his favourite sibling, his sister Emily, died of tuberculosis, writing years later, "humanly speaking it changed my life, it was never the same since". I want no further satisfaction than this". Ye are men, not women. His Irish-Italian family raised him. Initially, the siege of Khartoum was more in nature a blockade rather than a true siege as the Mahdi's forces lacked the strength to wage a proper siege, for example, only cutting the telegraphy lines in April 1884. Copyright 2023 Echovita Inc. All rights reserved. Among his best-known works are the lengthy narratives Don Juan and Childe Harold's Pilgrimage; many of his shorter lyrics in . [27] Gordon continued surveying, marking off the boundary into Asia Minor. [79] The frequent references in Gordon's letters about his need to resist "temptation" and "subdue the flesh", Faught argued, related to women rather than men who were "tempting" him. He is survived by George and Jacqueline Gordon; four nieces he helped raise and home school; Kohl Gordon Conner and her girls Ruth and Faith; his brother Thor Eric Downing. [174] Travelling through Korosko and Berber, he arrived at Khartoum on 18 February, where he offered his earlier foe, the slaver-king Rahama Zobeir, release from prison in exchange for leading troops against Ahmed. Before I heard of our defeat I heard of this, and I thought, 'THAT will not pass unavenged'. [190], Gladstone was opposed to hanging onto the Sudan, saying in a speech in the House of Commons that sending a relief force to Khartoum would be "a war of conquest against a people struggling to be free. She grew up in Rochester and also resided in Caledonia and for the majority of her life in Wayland. Goodness become to me, through Gordon, the most desirable of ideasWe were under the spell of Gordon's personality. His moods were capricious and uncertain, his passions violent, his impulses sudden and inconsistent. In March 1896, a French force under the command of Jean-Baptiste Marchand left Dakar with the intention of marching across the Sahara with the aim of destroying the Mahdiyah state. Exhausted, he resigned and returned to Europe in 1880. There was many an early Sunday morning where I would have to phone him at home with some technical issue. 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. Send Flowers. Gladstone told the Cabinet that the public cared much about Gordon and nothing about the Sudan, so he ordered Wolseley home after learning of Gordon's death. OBITUARY George Forbes Gordon March 28, 1938 - May 15, 2022 It is with heavy hearts we bid a final farewell to Mr. George Forbes Gordon, 84, of Fountain Valley, California, who departed our world on May 15, 2022. He was warm, steadfast, and peaceable. [90] During the American Civil War, when the Union blockade had cut off the American South from the world economy, the price of Egyptian cotton, known as "white gold" had skyrocketed as British textile mills turned to Egypt as an alternative source of cotton, causing an economic blossoming of Egypt that ended abruptly in 1865. In a House of Commons speech on 5 May 1948, then opposition leader Winston Churchill spoke out in favour of the statue's return to its original location: "Is the right honorable Gentleman [the Minister of Works] aware that General Gordon was not only a military commander, who gave his life for his country, but, in addition, was considered very widely throughout this country as a model of a Christian hero, and that very many cherished ideals are associated with his name? He was kind and caring person and we are blessed to have known him. [58], The traders of Shanghai offered Gordon huge sums of money to thank him for his work commanding the Ever Victorious Army. The dead lie where they fall, and are, in some cases, trodden quite flat by passers by". During the Crimean war, Gordon picked up an addiction to Turkish cigarettes which was to last for his rest of his life, and many commented that smoking was Gordon's most conspicuous vice as he always seemed to have a cigarette at his lips. [189] The black Sudanese troops, many from what is now South Sudan, proved to be Gordon's best troops at Khartoum and numbered about twenty-three hundred. He ran Gordon's Flea Market for over 50 years and was the owner of Gordon's Construction Company. Gord was a fun-loving Uncle to five nephews and one . Share. Funeral: 15 Mar 2023, Dewsbury. He was promoted to captain on 1 April 1859. [37], Gordon then made a rapprochement with Li and visited him in order to arrange for further operations. [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. They celebrated H.E's [His Excellency] arrival with an indescribable uproar". I'm sharing in your sadness as we remember our beloved George. your email below for our complimentary daily grief messages. In 1902, it was placed at the junction of St Martin's Lane and Charing Cross Road in London. Obituaries act as quiet reminders of the finite nature of our lives. . His beloved wife passed in June of 2019. 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. [66] The council subsequently acquired the gardens of his official residence, Fort House (now a museum), for the town. About 2,500 people had been removed before the Mahdi's forces closed in on Khartoum. Aug 1931 - Feb 2023. Staveley selected Gordon, who had been made a brevet major in December 1862 and the nomination was approved by the British government. Gordon was summoned to Cairo, and arrived in March to be appointed president of a commission. I had the pleasure of working with George for many years at Sterling Marking Products.
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