Page 24 - GAHS Journal Volume 9

THE DEATH OF COLONEL FRED BURNABY

As news of the unfolding situation in Khartoum reached
Britain, Liberal Prime Minister William Gladstone resolved that
there would be no further British intervention in Sudan but public
opinion was outraged by this idea and insisted that General
Gordon must be rescued, a view also expressed by Queen
Victoria. As the result of all this pressure, Gladstone was finally
forced to send an expeditionary force to relieve General Gordon
after Lord Hartington, the Secretary of State for War, threatened
to resign if this was not done.

Britain’s most eminent general,
General Lord Wolseley, was given
command of the Sudan expedition-
ary force and opted to reach
General Gordon by sailing up the
River Nile but this route posed
certain logistical problems for the
British Army as it had no
department that could provide the
transport for such a journey. Boats
had to be built, crews recruited,
and then transported from Canada
and South Africa using steamers
provided by Sir Thomas Cook’s
travel company.

The force allocated to Lord
Wolseley consisted of six battalions of infantry and one regiment
of cavalry, with guns and engineers drawn from British forces
already in Egypt. In preparing his plans for the campaign, Lord
Wolseley realised that he needed a flying column that would
move overland while the bulk of his forces moved up the Nile in
boats from Wadi Halfa to reach Khartoum in time. The force was
divided into two columns: a River Column which would travel by

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