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 Antrim by-election in the new seat of Mid Antrim where he beat Sinclair's by-election helper Thomas Dickson. Sinclair did however return to the House of Commons at the 1886 general election as Liberal Unionist Party member for Falkirk Burghs in the central Scottish Lowlands. 1885 Antrim by-election The Antrim by-election, 1885 was a by-election held on Thursday 21 May 1885 for the British House of Commons constituency of Antrim in present-day Northern Ireland. The by-election was caused by the death, at the age of only 43, of the sitting Conservativel MP James Chaine on 4 May 1885. Chaine had been one of