GRAVESEND: Town benefactor General Gordon was a pioneer in education

EDUCATION, education, education.

Not the words of Tony Blair but General Charles Gordon back in 1865.

Gordon travelled the world, fighting battles in China and Africa, but it was in Gravesend where he pioneered education as a route out of poverty.

He lived in Gravesend longer than he did anywhere else, residing at Fort House in Milton Place until 1871.

The largest ever memorial to Gordon lies on the promenade in the town centre, with a service to be held on Tuesday (Jan 26) to mark the 125th anniversary of his death.

The Gravesend Heritage Association owns what it claims is one of the finest, and certainly largest, collection of Gordon artefacts, from biscuit tins, portraits and medals to stamps, postcards and busts.

Secretary Tony Larkin said: “You name it, we collect it.

“It’s quite frightening really.”

Mr Larkin has been a relentless follower of Gordon ever since he was given a book called Gordon in Gravesend by his parents when he was a child.

He said: “Gordon should not be forgotten in Gravesend. Gravesend owes a lot to him. Gravesend is a small town and we have an international figure, well-known all over the world.

“We remember him in Gravesend because of his work for the poor which lasted well up to and after his death.

“That’s why we remember him, not because of his military feats, great as they were, but for the six years he was in Gravesend caring for the poor and needy, old and young.

“He knew the only way out of poverty was education.

“He was everywhere, if there was poverty you would find him, helping in churches and schools. Gordon was a pioneer of education for children.”

Gordon began to help the poor and needy by turning two rooms at Fort House into classrooms with the second doubling as an almshouse.

He also rented a cottage in East Terrace for older children to gain a chance of higher education.

Gordon got a greater insight into the town’s social problems at the Gravesend Ragged School in Church Street, where he experienced the soup kitchens so desperately relied on by the poor particularly during winter.

As well as teaching at the St Andrew’s mission on the waterfront, he would also visit the sick and lonely in hospital and their homes.

Gordon was also a proud churchman, who overcame the rivalry of church groups with different denominations to get everybody to work together for the poor and needy.

Along with Rabbi Henry Berkowitz who ran Tivoli House Academy and Synagogue in Windmill Street, Gordon founded the Mendicity Society and helped 6,000 cases of need, although the group collapsed due to lack of public support.

Even after his death, money was still being sent to families in and around the borough up until the start of the 20th century.

Mr Larkin added: “If it weren’t for his death we would have no promenade, no fort gardens, because it was his death that got the biggest memorial to his memory here in Gravesend.”

WHO WAS GENERAL GORDON?

The son of a senior army officer, General Gordon was born in Woolwich in 1833.

He became known as Chinese Gordon for his exploits in China during the 1860s, where he commanded an army of 3,500 peasants and quelled an uprising by Taiping rebels in Shanghai.

After his spell in Gravesend, Gordon was stationed in Africa as governor of the province of Equatoria in the Sudan.

While in Africa he established a line of stations along the River Nile as far south as modern day Uganda.

After returning home due to ill-health in 1880, he set off once again this time visiting India and South Africa.

In 1884 he returned to the Sudan to evacuate Egyptian forces from Khartoum.

The city came under siege from Sudanese rebels led by Muhammad Ahmad al-Mahdi.

They broke into the city and killed Gordon against al-Mahdi’s instructions.

The British relief force arrived two days later much to the disgust of the British public, who blamed Prime Minister William Gladstone and his government for not relieving the siege earlier.