John Donald Hamill Stewart

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Colonel John Donald Hamill Stewart (1845-1884) was a British soldier. He accompanied General Gordon to Khartoum in 1884 as his assistant. He died in September 1884 attempting to run the blockade from the besieged city at the hands of the Manasir tribesmen and followers of Muhammad Ahmad Al-Mahdi.

[edit] Biographical detail

Stewart was appointed a cornet in the British 11th Hussars in 1865. In 1882 Lieutenant Colonel Stewart was instructed to prepare a report on the Sudan where Muhammad Ahmad Al-Mahdi was defying the Egyptian Government with success. After a journey to Khartoum and return to Egypt the "Report on the Soudan" (1883) was finished.

He returned with Gordon to Khartoum in February 1884 and was wounded during the siege. Stewart led an attempt to break the blockade aboard the Steamer Abbas in September 1884, along with the British consul F Powers of The Times and other residents of Khartoum. The attempt failed when the Abbas run aground somewhere between Abu Hamad and Meroë. All passengers and crew were killed.

[edit] References

Richard Hill, 'A Biographical Dictionary of the Sudan' 1967 Frank Cass & Co London