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Auction: 18038 - Autographs, Historical Documents, Ephemera and Postal History
Lot: 3075

Autographs
General Gordon (1833-85), Governor General of Sudan
1878-79 a group of eleven A.L.S. to J.H. Gooding in Wadi Halfa, who was employed on the construction of the railway. The letters show with great clarity the problems of building the railway.

The first letter, dated 1 February, informs the recipient that his position was, reluctantly, going to become redundant due to lack of funds and large budget deficit.

The third letter dated 23 March begins, "The works on the Sudan Railway must come to a close." and goes on to detail the reduction of staff and all other matters of saving costs.

The fourth letter includes, "... sell everything you do not want ..." but with a postscript, "Wait till we are rid of Appleby's contract and then we will see to carrying on the line of Rail".

The fifth letter, dated 18 September, concludes, "The slave trade is giving me a lot of trouble".

The sixth letter, dated 15th October, he is seeking to have the river mapped for a possible steamer service (being much cheaper than the railway). The postscript reads, "Directly I have money, I will see to your pay".

The seventh letter, dated 15th November is very long, with a plan map of the river, he is seeking the possibility of passing some of the rapids and more questions with regard to the state of the railway.

The other letter, dated 16 November concerns developing the project to run steamers along the stretch of river between Khartoum and Amara.

The tenth letter concludes defeat of the railway project which was to be replaced by Haddens railway from Wadi Halfa to Amara and then use steamers on to Khartoum.

The final letter includes the comment, "We are now dealing the death blow to the slave trade..."

Most letters were sent from Khartoum and there are three envelopes (2 stampless and one with stamp removed). A fascinating insight into this ill fated project due to lack of financial support from both Sudan and Egypt. Photo


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Sold for
£3,800