EARLY LIFE AND CRIMEAN WAR

Charles George Gordon was born on January 28, 1833, at Woolwich, so
that he began his life among soldiers. He was the fourth son of General
Henry William Gordon, who was in the Royal Artillery. His father came
from a good family, which for centuries had been associated with the
army. The old General appears to have been a good officer and a
kind-hearted man, and doubtless the son inherited not only the
instincts of a soldier, but a certain nobility of character which was
conspicuous in the father. When the father held a high command at
Corfu, he made a point of seeking out and paying attention to the
forlorn and uninteresting, who are usually overlooked by others. Those
who have been richly endowed by Nature have little difficulty in
gaining the smiles of society; but in all classes there are a few
unfortunate ones, who are not specially gifted and attractive, and who
consequently often have the cold shoulder turned towards them. It was
characteristic of Charles Gordon's father, as it was of himself in
later years, that these were the ones he befriended and looked after.

If Charles Gordon inherited from his father the instincts of a soldier,
there can be little doubt that on his mother's side he inherited a
spirit of enterprise. His mother was Elizabeth Enderby, the daughter of
an enterprising merchant, who had ships on every sea. It is men of this
class, quite as much as our soldiers and sailors, who have made England
what she is. Samuel Enderby was one of the best-known among the great
merchant-princes of England, and he it was chiefly who opened to
commerce the previously unknown waters of the South Pacific, after the
exploring expeditions of Captain Cook. It is supposed that the first
batch of convicts sent to Botany Bay were conveyed in one of his ships,
and, but for his whaling fleet, Australia might never have been peopled
by English emigrants. His ships carried on a busy trade with America,
and it was one of his fleet that carried the historic cargo of tea
which was thrown into Boston harbour when the Americans severed their
connection with the mother country. His daughter had a large family,
numbering five sons and six daughters. Three only of the sons survived,
and they all attained the rank of General in the army. One of them
became General Enderby Gordon, C.B., of the Royal Artillery, who
distinguished himself in the Crimean War, and also in the Indian
Mutiny. Another beca