General gordon khartoum biography

Gordon was born in Woolwich in 1833, the son of a Royal Artillery officer — one of 11 children, 5 girls and 6 boys in a closely-knit and very happy family.

General gordon khartoum biography

Gordon, who derived great comfort from his family over the years, was especially fond of his sister Emily, and her death, at 16 when Gordon was 10, was a great blow to him. Later, Gordon's eldest sister, Augusta, became his closest confidant.

She was the first to point in the direction of saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and it was to her that he wrote about his new-found faith and zeal for the Lord.

Although in 1848, when Gordon entered the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich as a Gentleman Cadet, he intended to follow his father into the Royal Artillery, a lack of discipline prevented this, and he graduated in 1852 as a second lieutenant in the Corps of Royal Engineers.

This corps who considered themselves the professional elite of the British army, were posted all over the world to build bridges, railways, quays for