Timeline January 1885

Events in January 1885 2

• 1833 – 1885 Charles George Gordon (1833-1885) Died 26 January 1885, aged 51 British army officer known as "Gordon of Khartoum," he had earlier commanded the "Ever Victorious Army" in China and served as governor-general of the Sudan. He was killed when Mahdist forces captured Khartoum after a prolonged siege, becoming a martyr figure in Victorian Britain despite controversy over the government's delayed relief effort.
• 1885 Fall of Khartoum Mahdist forces storm the besieged Sudanese capital After a ten-month siege, Mahdist forces under Muhammad Ahmad broke through the defenses of Khartoum on 26 January 1885. The British-appointed governor, Major-General Charles Gordon, was killed, and the relief expedition sent to save him arrived two days too late. The fall shocked Victorian Britain and became one of the defining imperial controversies of the era.