Deepest condolences for George's loss and my heartfelt sympathy to family and friends at this sad time. [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. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Still Hopes Retirement Community, located at 1 Still Hopes Drive, West Columbia, SC 29169 and First Baptist Church, located at 1306 Hampton Street, Columbia, SC 29201. He was kind and caring person and we are blessed to have known him. 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. [248], Long after his death, and despite the popularity of Strachey's essay in Eminent Victorians, the appeal of the Gordon legend lived on. [41], In March 1863, Gordon took command of the force at Songjiang, which had received the name of "Ever Victorious Army". [96] The peoples of Equatoria had traditionally worshipped spirits present in nature, but were steadily being converted to Christianity by missionaries from Europe and the United States, which further encouraged Gordon in his efforts as governor of Equatoria, who notwithstanding his position working for the Egyptian government, saw himself as doing God's work in Equatoria. View obituary. Peace be upon him. SAT & SUN He was deeply loved by all who knew him and he will be dearly missed every day, with joyful anticipation of an eventual heavenly reunion. The wave of mourning was not just confined to Britain. [164] Urban wrote: "With this leader, William Stead's real motive in going to Southampton revealed itself at last. 23/01/2023. An interment will take place in Raymond at the Temple Hill Cemetery following the service. Burial will follow in the Evergreen Lawn Cemetery at George, IA. 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. He was a committed and valued friend and colleague for over thirty years at Sterling Marking Products. [52] At Kitang, Gordon was wounded for the second time on 21 March 1864, when a Taiping soldier shot him in the thigh. A memorial service, conducted by the Bishop of Newcastle, was held at St. Paul's Cathedral on 14 March. [138], Gordon informed the Foreign Office that he was willing to renounce his British citizenship and take Chinese citizenship as he would not abandon Li and his other Chinese friends should a Sino-Russian war begin. I wish his family peace and beautiful memories. [43] Gordon disembarked the 4th Regiment with orders to take Quinsan while he sailed up and down the main canal in the Hyson, using the 32-pounder gun to blast apart the Taiping positions on the canal. I shared a busride home with him a long time ago and we had the most pleasant conversation. Authorize the publication of the original written obituary with the accompanying photo. [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". For information and online condolences, please visit:www.northviewfuneralchapel.com. May you know God's Strength ,Peace and Comfort as you face the days ahead. My condolences to all of George's family, and may they be comforted that George is in heaven with Jesus, looking after us all. 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. Send Flowers. The soldiers of the Egyptian Army were falln (peasant) conscripts who were both ill-paid and ill-trained. [187][197] Gordon received a letter from the Mahdi taunting him over the murders of his friends Powers and Stewart, warning that he would be next if he did not surrender. [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. [218] In a sermon, the Bishop of Chichester stated: "Nations who envied our greatness rejoiced now at our weakness and our inability to protect our trusted servant. [146] Besides championing land reform in Ireland, Gordon spent the winter of 188081 in London socialising with his family and his few friends, such as Florence Nightingale and Alfred Tennyson. George was a wise, strong, hardworking, and unfailingly kind man. 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. [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. [59], On 2 March 1880, on his way from London to Switzerland, Gordon had visited King Leopold II of Belgium in Brussels and was invited to take charge of the Congo Free State. [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. [253], Strachey, a member of the Bloomsbury Group of intellectuals, depicted Gordon as a ludicrous figure, a bad-tempered, deranged egomaniac with a nasty habit of knocking out Arabs whenever he was unhappy, and who led himself into disaster. He has written a 526-page flora of County Durham, plus a handbook on wild roses - a. I am grieved, with hope, by the sudden passing of George. You can then forward the email to the family or print it and give it to them personally. The Mahdi is a messianic figure in Islam which tradition holds will appear at the dawn of every new (Islamic) century to strike down the enemies of Islam. The system remained the same creaking slow, utterly corrupt, and oppressive apparatus trampling down ordinary people that it had always been. A. 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 then returned to Khartoum, and went again into Darfur to suppress the slave traders. The pedestal bears the arms of the Gordon clan and of the borough of Southampton, and also Gordon's name in Chinese. Messages run for up to one year and you Can hold out for years. May your faith guide you through this difficult time. [24] Gordon did not speak Romanian, but his fluency in French allowed him to socialise with the Francophile Romanian elite, who were all fluent in French. [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. Yet, for those who have experienced the death of a family member or friend, an obituary means so much more. [38] Li Hongzhang, the governor of the Jiangsu province, requested Staveley to appoint a British officer to command the contingent. [17], On 18 June 1855, the besieging British and French armies began what was intended to be the final assault that would take Sevastopol, which began with a huge bombardment. George will be deeply missed by everyone, especially his grandchildren. [67], His favourite books were The Imitation of Christ by Thomas Kempis, Christ Mystical by Joseph Hall, and the poem The Dream of Gerontius by John Henry Newman. [61] Many of the "scuttlers," as Gordon fondly called the homeless boys, were lodged at his own home, the Fort House. The troops reached Korti towards the end of December, the small "Desert Column" reaching Metemma on 20 January 1885, fighting the Battle of Abu Klea[198] on 18 January and Abu Kru (or Gubat) en route. An Egyptian expedition was completely defeated near Gundet. It was thus their rivalry with the French, not a desire to "avenge Gordon", that led the British government to annex the Mahdiyah state in 1898. Jamie graduated from Baker High School in 1985, where he was a talented and . file size: 2 MB. Under the Chinese system of familial responsibility, all family members of a rebel were equally guilty even if they had nothing to do with the rebellious individual's acts. 95 THE REV. [213], A merchant, Bordeini Bey, glimpsed Gordon standing on the palace steps in a white uniform looking into the darkness. Khartoum. [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. His beloved wife passed in June of 2019. On 5 August 1884, the House of Commons voted to send the relief force with a budget of 300,000. All the Europeans, with some rare exceptions, whom he has honoured with his confidence have cheated him. In 1885, at a meeting in London, 3,000 were allocated to a Gordon Memorial Mission in Sudan. [100] Gordon soon learned that his superior, the Governor-General of the Sudan, Ismail Aiyub Pasha, was deeply involved in the slave trade and was doing everything within his power to sabotage Gordon's anti-slavery work by denying him supplies and leaking information to the slavers. May God be your strength and comfort. This is the figure which, since April 1959, stands at the Gordon's School in Woking. E-mail: GeorgeGordonsSchoolofcommonlaw@usa.net Gordon visited the Seychelles in the summer of 1881 and decided the islands were the location of the Garden of Eden. His legacy in China has been influenced by subsequent political developments, as the Qing dynasty was overthrown in the Xinhai Revolution and replaced by a republic. The wound was only slight and Gordon was soon back in action, fighting his last battle at Chang-chou in May 1864. George Gordons School of Law Exhausted, he resigned and returned to Europe in 1880. [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. [160] While staying with his sister in Southampton, Gordon received an unexpected visitor, namely William Thomas Stead, the editor of The Pall Mall Gazette, to whom Gordon reluctantly agreed to give an interview. [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. Gordon, seeing that the Abyssinian difficulty could wait, proceeded to Khartoum. [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. Under heavy fire from Ansar warriors on the bank, the two steamers turned back downriver. [164], Stead published his interview on 9 January 1884, on the front page of the Pall Mall Gazette alongside an editorial of his titled, "Chinese Gordon for the Sudan". Right up to 1914, Egypt was officially a vilayet (province) of the Ottoman Empire, but after Mohammed Ali become the vali (governor) of Egypt in 1805, Egypt was a de facto independent state where the authority of the Ottoman Sultan was more nominal than real. In 1877, he wrote in a letter: "This life is only one of a series of lives which our incarnated part has lived. 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. If I cannot, I shall retire to the Equator and leave you with the indelible disgrace of abandoning the garrisons". [44] Aboard the Hyson were 350 men from the elite 4th Regiment of the Ever Victorious Army. Very sorry for your family loss. Christopher Paul Senior. He was warm, steadfast, and peaceable. [95] The younger Russell was described by his own father as an alcoholic and spendthrift who "was beyond help" as it was always the "same story-idleness, self-indulgence, gambling, and constant promises" broken time after time, leading his father to get him a job in the Sudan, where his laziness infuriated Gordon to no end. [140] At one point during a meeting with the Council of Ministers, an enraged Gordon picked up a Chinese-English dictionary, looked up the word idiocy, and then pointed at the equivalent Chinese word with one hand while pointing at the ministers with the other. [28] Gordon returned to Britain in late 1858, and was appointed as an instructor at Chatham. George Gordon GORDON, George - 1919-2007, peacefully at the Apotex Jewish Home for the Aged on Monday, May 7th. Note: These are general guidelines; some florists may not be able to operate within these timelines. So, therefore, I believe in our active employment in a future life, and I like the thought. He saw action in the Crimean War as an officer in the British Army. [39] Unlike Ward and Burgevine, Gordon realised that the network of canals and rivers that divided the Chinese countryside were not obstacles blocking an advance, but were rather "arteries" for allowing an advance as Gordon decided to move his men and supplies via the waterways. He claimed that his army service and frequent travels to dangerous places made it impossible for him to marry. I'm sharing in your sadness as we remember our beloved George. He will be lovingly remembered by Sybil, his wife of the past 32 years; his . [93], During the 1870s, European initiatives against the Arab slave trade caused an economic crisis in northern Sudan, precipitating increasing unrest. George Gordon - Wynyard, Saskatchewan , Conley Funeral Home - Memories wall BROUGHT TO YOU BY Conley Funeral Home George Melvin Gordon Wynyard, Saskatchewan November 9, 1968 - May 13, 2020 Share Obituary: Tribute Wall Obituary & Events Share a memory Send Flowers Share a memory of George Melvin Gordon. Second only to his faith, was the great joy George found in his family. Words cannot express how shocked and saddened I am to hear about [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. The best supporter & best trusted in a crisis. Gordon is survived by his three children Scott, Dana and Whitney, His sister Dee and three step sons Bob, Kirk and Jeff, and "eight of the best grandkids . [89] As the attempts of his grandfatherMuhammad Ali the Greatto depose the ruling Ottoman family in favour of his own family had failed due to the opposition of Russia and Britain, the imperialistic Ismai'il had turned his attention southwards and was determined to build an Egyptian empire in Africa, planning on subjugating the Great Lakes region and the Horn of Africa. When I was 17 I started working, with George as my manager. Beloved husband of the late Sylvia, father of Stan (Rena Singer), adored brother of the late Hilda, Ruth, Lily, Bertha and Celia. [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. On 2 September 1877, Gordon clad in the full gold-braided ceremonial blue uniform of the Governor-General of the Sudan and wearing the tarboush (the type of fez reserved for a pasha), accompanied by an interpreter and a few bashi-bazouks, rode unannounced into the enemy camp to discuss the situation. [122] On 15 July 1879, Gessi finally captured Zobeir together with 250 of his men. [191] Khartoum was surrounded by the Ansar in March 1884, but was not cut off from the outside world for a considerable time afterward. [147] Gordon saw his work in building forts to protect Mauritius from a possible Russian naval attack as pointless, and his main achievement during his time there was to advise the Crown to turn the Seychelles islands, whose beauty had greatly moved Gordon, into a new crown colony as Gordon argued it was impossible to govern the Seychelles from Port Louis. [165], Stead's interview caused a media sensation and led to a popular clamour for Gordon to be sent to the Sudan. "[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". Married to the sweetheart of this world - Nancy - a perfect partner. 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. 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. [12], Reference is made to an 1889 account of the General surrendering his sword to a senior Mahdist officer, then being struck and subsequently speared in the side as he rolled down the staircase. If we can not answer leave a message and we will get back to you as He is fondly remembered for his flair for fun and excitement, witty sarcasm, and incredible passion for his work. He was warm, steadfast, and peaceable. To slow down the Ansar assaults, Gordon built primitive landmines out of water cans stuffed with dynamite and to confuse the enemy about his numbers, he put up wooden dummies in uniform along the walls of Khartoum facing the Blue Nile. View obituary. [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. Login or Sign-up to show all important data, death records and obituaries absolutely for free! The insurgents were numerous, and he saw that diplomacy had a better chance of success. [261], Equatoria: Building Egypt's empire in the Great Lakes region, Nicoll, Fergus and Nusairi, Osman (last updated 2020), Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, "General Charles Gordon and the Mahdi Faith Under Fire in the Sudan", "Charles George Gordon (18331885): A Brief Biography", "Charles Gordon's Charitable Works: An Appreciation", "Last Stands, Custer, General Gordon, and Being a Christian Warrior", "Did General Charles Gordon Have Aspergers Syndrome? In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Raymond Stampede and Exhibition or to the Canadian Cancer Society. [199] "The reading public wanted heroes, it wanted to read about one lone Englishmen sacrificing himself for glory, honour, God, and the Empire. [238], The Corps of Royal Engineers, Gordon's own Corps, commissioned a statue of Gordon on a camel. Many Taipings were willing to surrender only if the Imperial government would spare the lives of themselves and their families. To send flowers [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. Southampton, where Gordon had stayed with his sister, Augusta, in Rockstone Place before his departure to the Sudan, erected a memorial in Porter's Mead, now Queen's Park, near the town's docks. [222], Egypt had been in the French sphere of influence until 1882 when the British had established control over Egypt. 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. [12] This account was very popular with the British press as it contained much Christian imagery with Gordon as a Christlike figure dying passively for the sins of all humanity. Of Marton, formerly of Auckland. [202], The note read "Khartoum all right. The American historian John Semple Galbraith described Gordon as suffering from "utter boredom" during his time in Mauritius. As to who tipped him off that the general would be staying here for just a couple of nights, we can only speculate". [254] Even more devastatingly, Strachey depicted Gordon as a monumental hypocrite, noting the contrast between Gordon's lofty Christian ideas of love, compassion, charity, grace, and hope vs. a career full of hate, war, carnage, death, and destruction.