Siege of Khartoum 200 British soldiers to strengthen the defenses of Khartoum. All these proposals were rejected by the Gladstone cabinet, since Britain was still intent on evacuation and refused absolutely to be pressured into military intervention in Sudan. Gordon began to resent the government's policy, and his telegrams to Cairo became more acrimonious. On 8 April he wrote: "I leave you with the indelible disgrace of abandoning the garrisons" and added that such a course would be "the climax of meanness". Knowing that the Mahdists were closing in, Gordon finally ordered the strengthening of the fortifications around Khartoum. The city was protected
1885 Aylesbury by-election Rothschilds’ defection to the cause of Liberal Unionism. Ferdy Rothschild held his seat as a Liberal at the 1885 general election and retained it as a Liberal Unionist thereafter at every election until dying in office in December 1898. 1885 Aylesbury by-election The Aylesbury by-election, 1885 was a by-election held on Thursday 16 July 1885 for the British House of Commons constituency of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire. The by-election was caused by the elevation to the peerage of the sitting Liberal MP Sir Nathaniel Rothschild (usually known as ‘Natty’) of the famous Rothschild merchant banking family. Rothschild had been one of