Figure 1.--Queen Victoria helped found the Gordon School in honor of Gen. Charles Gordon who was killed in the Sudan. The present monarch continues to be a patron. Here the Duke of York (Future King George VI) inspects boys of the Gordon School in 1932. Yhe caption read, "Duke of York visits boys' home: Photograph of the Duke of York (in front) as he made his annual visit to the Gordon Boys' Home at Wokinhg, England, June 10. He is shown as he inspected the guard of honor. Notice the Glengary caps ad tartan trousers. The Duke at this time had no idea that he would be king, although his brother had begun seeing Mrs. Simpson.

A major event in British imperial history was the death of General Charles George Gordon when Kartoum in the Sudan fell to the Mahdi who led an Islamist revolt against the Egytians and British (1885). One of the principal reasons for the Islamic rebellion was British efforts to end the African slave trade resisted by fundamentalist Arabs. Arab coastal shiekdoms found it duficult to resist British Royal Navy efforts to end the slave trade. Deep in the Sudan was a differentbmatter. Gordon was a popular figure in Britain. He had also fought in China and was known as Chinese Gordon. The British public were horrified at his death and it just increased his heroic image. Fighting an Arab army with an army was one thing, fighting without an arny was quite another. Queen Victoria hrself took took the lead in creating a fitting National Memorial for the fallen hero. The Gordon Boy' School ws founded by public subscription for poor boys (1886). The school was initially for undrprivlidged boys who were a special concern of Gordon. The Queen became a patron of the new school which in addition to Gordon may explain the uniform. The school was run like a military school. The early full dress were tartan trousers, a dark blue jersey with G.B.H. embroidered on it and a Glengarry cap with plaid band and Gordon badge. The ordinary every day uniform was green corduroy clothing with brass buttons. Gordon's School is today a coeductional voluntary-aided comprehensive secondary school. It is located in Woking, Surrey. The students are now mostly day pupils, but about one-third of the children board. Many of the students are the children of military families.

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Created: 7:33 AM 8/12/2012
Last updated: 7:33 AM 8/12/2012