[16], In the 19th century, Russia was Britain's archenemy, with many people in both nations seeing an ideological conflict between Russian autocracy and British democracy, and Gordon was anxious to fight in the Crimea. [179], Gordon made all of his personal dispatches to London public (there was no Official Secrets Act at the time) in attempts to win public opinion over to his policy, writing on one dispatch: "Not secret as far as I am concerned". 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. It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of Gordon Richard George, loving husband, father, grandfather, and great grandfather. [51], On 1 January 1864, Gordon was informed that a messenger from the Tongzhi Emperor was coming to see him and that he should put on his finest uniform. [87] After Gordon resigned, Muhammad Rauf Pasha succeeded him as governor general of Sudan. [37], Gordon then made a rapprochement with Li and visited him in order to arrange for further operations. George was such a great guy. [89], At the beginning of his reign in 1863, Egypt's debt had been 3 million Egyptian pounds. [18] The casualties on the Allied side were quite high that day. 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.. [14], When the Crimean War began, Gordon was assigned to his boyhood home of Corfu, but after several letters to the War Office, he was sent to the Crimea instead. [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. [37] Burgevine was an unsavory character known for his greed and alcoholism. [22] As he travelled to Bessarabia, he commented in his letters home about the richness and fertility of the Romanian countryside, which produced delicious fruits and vegetables in great abundance, and the poverty of the Romanian peasants. I've worked with George the past five years and have a great deal of respect for him. [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. I got to know George thru his sons, Greg and Tom, long before I actually met him. Following the Hyson was a fleet of 80 junks converted to gunboats. [142] After meeting with him there, Hart described Gordon as "very eccentric" and "spending hours in prayer", writing that: "As much I like and respect him, I must say he is 'not all there'. [218], Baringwho deeply disliked Gordonwrote that because of the "national hysteria" caused by Gordon's death, saying anything critical about him at present would be equal to questioning Christianity. Dirk died in his sleep of natural causes on March 6, 2014. He devoted himself fully to being a wonderful father to his three sons, Thomas, Greg, and Curtis, raising them up to be men of strong faith and good character. This man's activity with the scientific knowledge which he possesses is doubtless able to achieve much, but unfortunately, no one backs him up and his orders are badly carried out or altered in such a way as to render them without effect. [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. Gordon William Hatley 06-Dec-1960 - 23-Feb-2023 Overview Overview . [120], Gordon returned south and proceeded to Harrar, south of Abyssinia, and, finding the administration in poor standing, dismissed the governor. A unique and lasting tribute for a loved one. [27] Gordon continued surveying, marking off the boundary into Asia Minor. Deepest condolences for George's loss and my heartfelt sympathy to family and friends at this sad time. [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". In both cases, naval power was the key factor, as gunboats in the Red Sea and on the Nile provided a degree of firepower with which the Ansar could not cope. [87], Instead, the Ottoman-Egyptian system had defeated him with almost all of Gordon's reforms having failed owing to the venality of the bureaucracy who shared absolutely none of Gordon's moral outrage at slavery and injustice, and Gordon's dreams of making things better for the ordinary people were dissolved in the face of greed and the self-interest of others. Following the destruction of Hicks's army, the Liberal Prime Minister, William Ewart Gladstone, decided that the Sudan was not worth the trouble it would take to keep, and that the region should be abandoned to the Mahdi. Words cannot express how shocked and saddened I am to hear about However, he made his military reputation in China, where he was placed in command of the "Ever Victorious Army", a force of Chinese soldiers led by European officers which was instrumental in putting down the Taiping Rebellion, regularly defeating much larger forces. 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. [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. 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. Always joyful He won legal cases in the Federal District 9th Circuit Court and the Supreme Court all based on religious free exercise. His beloved wife passed in June of 2019. [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. During his "career break" in the Holy Land, the very religious Gordon sought to explore his faith and biblical sites. There they found four gunboats which had been sent north by Gordon four months earlier, and prepared them for the trip back up the Nile. Gordon hoped to have the influential local leader, Sebehr Rahma, appointed to take control of Sudan, but the British government refused to support a former slaver. Laurence Olivier played Muhammad Ahmad. I have little doubt of our having pre-existed; and that also in the time of our pre-existence we were actively employed. We lived in the magic of his mystery-enchanted". Major-General Charles George Gordon CB (28 January 1833 26 January 1885), also known as Chinese Gordon, Gordon Pasha, and Gordon of Khartoum, was a British Army officer and administrator. Amanda. Exhausted, he resigned and returned to Europe in 1880. Obituary. . Queen Victoria sent him a telegram of rebuke which found its way into the press. As to who tipped him off that the general would be staying here for just a couple of nights, we can only speculate". [51], A furious Gordon wrote that executing POWs was "stupid", writing, "if faith had been kept, there would have been no more fighting as every town would have given in". It underwent a series of name changes until 1941 when it moved to its current location in Bloomburg Street, Westminster, as the Gordon Hospital. Login or Sign-up to show all important data, death records and obituaries absolutely for free! [113], As governor, Gordon faced a variety of challenges. [168] Gordon and Wolseley were good friends (Wolseley being one of the people Gordon prayed for every night), and after a meeting with Wolseley at the War Office to discuss the crisis in the Sudan, Gordon left convinced that he had to go to the Sudan to "carry out the work of God". In September 1883, an Egyptian Army force under Colonel William Hicks set out to destroy the Mahdi. [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. A. I repeat to you the words of Allah, Do not destroy yourself. Gordon Newsam. 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. To follow George's story, enter your email. As a toddler he moved to Basking Ridge, NJ. [178] Additionally, Gordon had guns and armoured plating attached to the paddle wheel streamers stationed at Khartoum to create his own private riverine navy that served as an effective force against the Ansar. [94] Because the Egyptian troops at Suakin were repeatedly defeated, a British force was sent to Suakin under General Sir Gerald Graham, which drove the rebels away in several hard-fought actions. My heart goes out to the entire family and friends for the loss of dear George. [163] Gordon offered up a 19th-century anticipation of the domino theory, claiming: The danger arises from the influence which the spectacle of a conquering Mahometan Power established close to your frontiers will exercise upon the population which you govern. Planting will take place in Spring or Summer of the same year. [115], In 1876, Egypt went bankrupt. [119] Gordon was met by Suleiman Zobeir, the son of Rahama Zobeir, and demanded in the name of the Khedive of Egypt that the rebels end their rebellion and accept the authority of their lord and master, telling Zobeir that he would "disarm and break them" if the rebellion did not end at once. He was born January 1, 1942 in Indianapolis to the late Lester Gordon and Helen Waldron Gordon. What this almost certainly meant was that Gordon had unresolved homosexual inclinations which, like Kitchener, but unlike Rhodes, he kept savagely repressed. [48] After Gordon had surrounded Burgevine's force outside of Suzhou, the latter had abandoned his own men and attempted to rejoin the Imperial side, leading Gordon to arrest him and send him to the American consul in Shanghai together with a letter asking that Burgevine be expelled from China. and, like Lawrence, I have tried to do my duty. [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. Many Taipings were willing to surrender only if the Imperial government would spare the lives of themselves and their families. He claimed that his army service and frequent travels to dangerous places made it impossible for him to marry. [180] Gordon urged that the road from Suakin to Berber be opened, but his request was refused by the government in London, and in April Graham and his forces were withdrawn and Gordon and the Sudan were abandoned. [10] The sappers were an elite corps who performed reconnaissance work, led storming parties, demolished obstacles in assaults, and undertook rear-guard actions in retreats and other hazardous tasks. It wasn't exactly fair to the Egyptian garrisons he had been sent to evacuate; they had no death wish". When the news of the defeats reached Ansar besieging Khartoum, terrible cries of lamentation rose from the besieging force, which led Gordon to guess that the Ansar had been defeated in battle and that Wolseley must be close. He was warm, steadfast, and peaceable. So shocked and saddened to hear of George's passing. (for "Murderer of Gordon"). "[216] His body was desecrated and thrown down a well. 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.". [4] For the same services, he was appointed a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour by the Government of France on 16 July 1856. [236], In 1888, a statue of General Gordon by Hamo Thornycroft was erected in Trafalgar Square, London, exactly halfway between the two fountains. To plant a tree in memory of George GORDON, please visit. [33] The Anglo-French force remained in northern China until April 1862, then, under General Charles William Dunbar Staveley, withdrew to Shanghai to protect the European settlement from the rebel Taiping army. [172] Gordon was well-received by a crowd of about 9,000 during his return to Khartoum where the crowd continually chanted, "Father!" [49], As Gordon travelled up and down the Yangtze River valley, he was appalled by the scenes of poverty and suffering he saw, writing in a letter to his sister: "The horrible furtive looks of the wretched inhabitants hovering around one's boats haunts me, and the knowledge of their want of nourishment would sicken anyone; they are like wolves. It is often suggested that that campaign by William Randolph Hearst's paper that led to the US invasion of Cuba in 1898 was the world's first episode of this kind, but the British press deserves these dubious laurels for its actions a full fourteen years earlier". [25] As the maps that delineated the Russian-Ottoman frontier were all old and inaccurate, Gordon spent much time clashing with his Russian counterparts about where precisely the frontier was and soon discovered that the Russians were very keen to have the frontier on the Danube, which Gordon had orders from London to prevent. George was many things, most of which I did not know, but he was above all a good and honest man. During his time in Milford Haven, Gordon was befriended by a young couple, Francis and Anne Drew, who introduced him to evangelical Protestantism. George Gordons School of Law [206], A particular aspect of Gordon's personality that stood out was his death wish, as everyone who knew him was convinced that he wanted to die. 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. If I cannot, I shall retire to the Equator and leave you with the indelible disgrace of abandoning the garrisons". He is survived by his wife and business partner of 30 years Jackie, whom he loved dearly; by his 5 children; granddaughters Jillianne of Garden City, MO, and Kohl and great granddaughters Ruth and Faith of Cheney, WA. Send Flowers. [12] Gordon disobeyed orders and left on the first ship to China, an action that very much angered the Army's commander, the Duke of Cambridge. Of Marton, formerly of Auckland. The Aylmer Flickering Flames Hockey Club wish the entire Gordon Family our deepest sympathies during this sad time. [61] Many of the "scuttlers," as Gordon fondly called the homeless boys, were lodged at his own home, the Fort House. [96] Gordon was not impressed with the forces of the Egyptian state. OBITUARY George M. Gordon June 19, . George G. Gordon 80, of Indianapolis, passed away December 18, 2022. I know how much he meant to you and us here at Sterling. [172], Owing to the fact that his Turkish and Egyptian (and many Sudanese) troops were Muslim, Gordon refrained in public from describing his battle with the Mahdi as a religious war, but Gordon's diary showed he viewed himself as a Christian champion fighting against the Mahdi just as much for God as for his nation. [93] The bribes that the slave traders offered for bureaucrats to turn a blind eye to the slave trade had far more effect on the bureaucrats than did any of Gordon's orders to suppress the slave trade, which were simply ignored. Sep 1938 - Feb 2023. May the happy memories give George's family peace and comfort during this challenging time. In his 62nd year, George Gordon passed unexpectedly into the presence of his Lord and Saviour. Taught by his father to love the sea and all things nautical, George was a boater through and through. [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. Would you like to offer George Gordon Rosss loved ones a condolence message? The Reverend Reginald Barnes, who knew him well, describes him as "of the middle height, very strongly built". "[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". He loved their wives, Chelsea, Janine, and Samantha as if they were his own, a trait learned from the great and limitless love he received from his parents-in-law, Tom and Edna Lewis. [199] The Pall Mall Gazette, in a front page leader, wrote that Gordon stood "out in clear relief against the Eastern sky. The importance of saying "I love you" during COVID-19, Effective ways of dealing with the grieving process, Solutions to show your sympathy safely during the Covid-19 pandemic. [218] Stones were thrown at the windows at 10 Downing Street as Gladstone was denounced as the "Murderer of Gordon", the Judas figure who betrayed the Christ-like figure of Gordon. Orphali was knocked unconscious and did not see Gordon die. Around the base is an inscription referring to Gordon as a soldier, philanthropist, and administrator and mentions those parts of the world in which he served, closing with a quotation from his last letter to his sisters: "I am quite happy, thank God! It was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1890 and then erected in Brompton Barracks, Chatham, the home of the Royal School of Military Engineering, where it still stands. Accepted file types: jpg, png, gif, Max. [178], Gordon commenced the task of sending the women, the children, the sick, and the wounded to Egypt. I fear I have not even tried to play battledore and shuttlecock with them. Other lives: Art lover who helped create a radio station, bank, orchestra and arboretum in his passion for making positive social change 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. [96] The other force for law and order were the much-feared bashi-bazouks, irregulars who were not paid a salary, but were expected to support themselves by looting. He attended schools in Ferndale and Eureka, CA. Gordon C. Shaffer age 98 of George, IA died Friday, December 31, 2021, at the Good Samaritan Society in George, IA. [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. Share. (Right beside the Raymond Hospital) Friends can meet the family prior to the service between 10:00 AM and 10:45 AM. [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". [195] Wolseley was a bureaucratic general whose talents lay in administrative work, and as a field commander, Wolseley was slow, methodical, and cautious, making him, in the opinion of Urban, supremely unqualified to lead the relief expedition as he found one excuse after another to proceed up the Nile at a sluggish pace. [175] Gordon had a garrison of about 8,000 soldiers armed with Remington rifles, together with a colossal ammunition dump containing millions of rounds. The true joy of George's life were his five beloved and oftentimes spoiled grandchildren: Maeve, Emmett, Isla, Felicity, and Nixon. [93], Reflecting these realities, Gordon had to undertake much of the administrative work himself, travelling ceaselessly and constantly all over the Sudan via camel in attempts to make the bureaucracy actually obey his orders, something that occurred when he was present, but stopped as soon as he left. Always happy [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. A visitation will be held on Wednesday, September 7, 2022 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Northview Funeral Chapel and Cremation Centre, 1490 Highbury Avenue North, London, where Georges Life will be celebrated on Thursday, September 8 at 11:00 a.m. Interment of cremated remains at Pond Mills Cemetery. George married Lola Shafer and they divorced. [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. [257] In his Mission to Khartum The Apotheosis of General Gordon (1969), John Marlowe portrays Gordon as "a colourful eccentrica soldier of fortune, a skilled guerrilla leader, a religious crank, a minor philanthropist, a gadfly buzzing about on the outskirts of public life", who would have been no more than a footnote in today's history books, had it not been for "his mission to Khartoum and the manner of his death", which were elevated by the media "into a kind of contemporary Passion Play".

Is Jeff Gellman Married To Joelle, Washington State High School Football Player Rankings, Anzac Bridge Construction, Articles G