Bulletin No. 62, Legends of the Sands - Gordon of Khartoum and Lawrence of Arabia
Welcome to our first Bulletin of 2024 where we’re homing in on General Gordon and the Sudan Campaigns, and TE Lawrence and his epic tale the First World War, 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom'. Our stand out object this time is a finely cast and patinated bronze reduction of the memorial statue of Gordon mounted on a Sudanese camel that was commissioned in 1890 by Gordon’s former corps, the Royal Engineers from Royal Academician Edward Onslow Ford. Of equal quality and signifigance is a fine bronze reduction of Sir William Hamo Thorneycroft’s statue that stands pensively on Victoria Embankment Gardens, London. The Sudan theme continues with a Dervish dagger from the Omdurman battlefield and broad bladed Fuzzy-Wuzzy spear of the type that one of the principal protagonists depicted in George William Joy’s painting ‘The death of General Gordon’ aims portentiously at the military matyr on the steps of his palace. The first news of Gordon’s death was a scoop for the veteran war reporter Bennett Burleigh whose use of underhand tactics to beat his rivals was legendary. His aggressive reporting won the desperate gratitude of the Daily Telegraph editor who duly rewarded him with the fine presentation sword also offered here.
Shifting sands to the Hejaz and the other military mystic, Lawrence of Arabia, we are also delving into his adventures of 1917 through the works of Eric Kennington RA. To that end we are pleased to offer two of the artist’s unique anotated chromo-lithograph portraits prepared for the extremely rare subscriber’s edition of 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom'. In addition we are also pleased to present a fine example of Kennington’s famous ‘Ghost Portrait’ of Lawrence. Like Gordon of Khartoum, Lawrence had a genius for guerrilla warfare and for leading destitute, ill-trained forces, the results of which are given tangible form in our offering of two railway fragments from the 1917 raids. Other well provenanced items include the spectacular silver figure presented by the 7th Hussars to Douglas Haig on his marriage in 1905; a curiously large silver mounted hoof from the charger belonging to recklessly brave 15th Marquess of Winchester who fell at Magersfontein in 1899; and plenty more newly uploaded on the website.
All the best,
James, George & Toby