Siege of Khartoum population of Khartoum was about 34,000. Gordon's plight excited great concern in the British press, and even Queen Victoria intervened on his behalf. The government ordered him to return, but Gordon refused, saying he was honour-bound to defend the city. By July 1884, Gladstone reluctantly agreed to send an expedition to Khartoum. The expedition, led by Sir Garnet Wolseley, took several months to organise and only entered Sudan in January 1885, but by then the situation of the Egyptian garrison and civilians had become desperate, with food supplies running low, many inhabitants dying of hunger and the defenders' morale at
HMS Archer (1885) party to protect the British Consul-General after a confrontation between him and Japanese troops. She served on the Australia Station from 7 September 1900 until 5 December 1903. She was decommissioned in 1905 and sold in April 1905 for £4,800 to Forrester, Swansea for scrap. HMS Archer (1885) HMS "Archer" was an torpedo cruiser of the British Royal Navy which built by the Glasgow shipbuilder J & G Thomson between 1885 and 1888. She served on overseas stations, including operations off Africa, China and Australia. She was sold for scrap in 1905. "Archer" was laid down at J & G