Khartoum 1885: The Passion of General Gordon

General Gordon’s death in Khartoum in January 1885 aroused in Britain a profound sense of loss and mourning. Celebrated by many as a heroic Christian soldier, martyr and saint, his memory rapidly gave rise to a nationwide cult. This article re-examines the last year in the life and immediate legacy of a man described as ‘the nearest approach to that one man, Christ Jesus, of any man that ever lived’. It argues that Gordon’s death, portrayed through the imagery of the Passion of Christ, was imbued by many commentators in the churches and the army with a messianic significance. Gordon, in this portrayal, was not simply a heroic exemplar, but an atonement for the sins of his country and a catalyst for Britain’s spiritual re-awakening. As one religious journal put it: ‘Gordon, so powerless to work out his will in life, had conquered in death’.