John Donald Hamill Stewart

John Donald Hamill Stewart

Colonel Stewart
Born 15 October 1845
Died September 1884 (aged 39)
El Obeid, Khedivate of Egypt
Allegiance United Kingdom
Khedivate of Egypt
Service/branch British Army
Egyptian Army
Years of service 1865 – 1884
Rank Colonel
Battles/wars

Mahdist War

John Donald Hamill Stewart (15 October 1845 – September 1884)[1] 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.

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 Frank Power (also the correspondent from The Times), the French consul Herbin, and other residents of Khartoum. The attempt failed when the Abbas ran aground somewhere between Abu Hamad and Meroë. All passengers and crew were killed in an ambush.[2][3]

References

  1. ↑ "The Late Colonel Stewart". The Aberdeen Journal (Aberdeen, Scotland). 11 October 1884. p. 6. Retrieved 2014-08-12 – via The British Newspaper Archive. (subscription required (help)). John Donald H. Stewart was born 15 October 1845. He received his first appointment as ensign in the 11th Hussars on 13 January 1869, and was made lieutenant-colonel 1 July 1881. On 27 April 1879, he was appointed Vice-Consul in Asia Minor...
  2. ↑ Churchill, Winston S. (1952), The river war – an account of the Reconquest of the Sudan, Eyre and Spottiswoode, London. Online(1902 Edition) at Project Gutenberg
  3. ↑ Bermann, Richard A. ((1932) 2010). The Mahdi of Allah: A Drama of the Sudan. New York, NY: Cosimo Classics. p. 236. Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links