Gordon of Khartoum

General Gordon was born in London. He served in the Crimea in 1855 but made his name in China with a British expeditionary force that fought its way to Peking.

He was Governor of the Sudan from 1873 to 1880 and went back in 1884 to put down a revolt led by the Mahdi, a religious leader. He became trapped in Khartoum and a relief force arrived two days after his death. Victorian Britain saw ‘Chinese Gordon’ as a popular hero and his loss was deeply felt.

When in Britain he stayed in Southampton with his sister at 5, Rockstone Place. A monument in Queens Park commemorates him. Interestingly, it does not have a statue of him on it as he disapproved of such displays of vanity.