Years of service 1865 – 1884 Name John Hamill | Rank Colonel | |
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Allegiance United Kingdom
Khedivate of Egypt Battles/wars Mahdist War
Siege of Khartoum Died September 1884, Al-Ubayyid, Sudan Battles and wars Mahdist War, Siege of Khartoum Service/branch British Army, Egyptian Army Similar People Charles George Gordon, Charles Pomeroy Stone, Hatem Saber, Reginald Wingate, William W Loring | ||
John Donald Hamill Stewart, CMG (15 October 1845 – September 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.
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Military career
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 as second-in-command on his journey to Khartoum commencing with departure from Victoria station in February 1884. A 1,000 soldiers under one of Stewart's command took part in the Battle of Abu Klea. Although the British won the battle, officers of Gordon's command were killed, seriously weakening its operational capacity.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 (who was also the correspondent from The Times), the French consul François 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.
Legacy
Richard Johnson portrayed Stewart in the film Khartoum.