Statue

(lost) General Gordon on a camel

Erection date: 18/7/1902

To commemorate Gordon, the Corps of Royal Engineers, Gordon's own Corps, commissioned a statue from Edward Onslow Ford. The original specification was for a statue of General Gordon on foot in the uniform of an Egyptian General, but the sculptor considered it more appropriate for him to be mounted on a camel. To this end Ford made studies at London Zoo, including casts from a dead camel, and the sculptor's camel design prevailed.

The first casting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1890 and was then erected in Brompton Barracks near Chatham, Kent, where it remains.

The second casting was originally unveiled in 1902 in St. Martin's Place {where the Cavell statue now is}, but was shipped to Sudan in October of that year and erected in Gordon Avenue, Khartoum. Here it remained until 1958, when, rejected by the Sudanese Government after independence, it was presented by the British government to Gordon's School where, since 1959, it has been situated at the edge of the playing fields. Making the camel better travelled than many of flesh and blood.

Source: Historic England.

For another London camel statue see Imperial Camel Corps.

Site: General Gordon on a camel (1 memorial)

WC2, St Martin's Place

With lost memorials we usually have to rely on other websites for photographs. The image showing the entrance to the National Portrait Gallery is from Alamy. The image showing St Martins-in-the-Fields is from A London Inheritance, a whole post about the buildings on the site immediately to the north of the statue.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
General Gordon on a camel

Subjects commemorated i

Major General Charles George Gordon

Army officer. Made his military reputation in China. Achieved lasting fame th...

Read More

This section lists the subjects who helped to create/erect the memorial on this page:
General Gordon on a camel

Created by i

E. Onslow Ford

Born Islington as Edward Onslow Ford, but he dropped the Edward. Studied Antw...

Read More

Nearby Memorials

Frieze of Parnassus - Rembrandt

Frieze of Parnassus - Rembrandt

SW7, Kensington Road

The monument, officially titled the Prince Consort National Memorial, celebrates Victorian achievement and Prince Albert's passions and i...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Captain Scott statue

Captain Scott statue

SW1, Waterloo Place

Sculpted by Kathleen Scott, his widow. There is a replica, in Christchurch, New Zealand, carved in marble, white as the Antarctic.

5 subjects commemorated, 2 creators
Westminster Abbey G - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Westminster Abbey G - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

SW1, Broad Sanctuary, Westminster Abbey - west porch

Fourteen niches on the West Front remained empty since the Abbey was built until 1998 when they were filled. The lower four are filled wi...

1 subject commemorated, 4 creators
Public Record Office - Victoria

Public Record Office - Victoria

WC2, Chancery Lane, Maughan Library of King's College, ex-PRO

The first buildings to occupy this site were built in 1232 by Henry III.  The building was known as the Domus Conversorum (the House of C...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Temple Bar memorial - Victoria

Temple Bar memorial - Victoria

EC4, Fleet Street

The south side is the most weathered and sullied by traffic fumes which explains the poor condition of the marble statue of Queen Victori...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator