“Chinese Gordon” and the Royal Engineers Museum

Much of the exhibition space within the Victorian section of the Royal Engineers Museum in Gillingham, Kent, U.K. is devoted to a particular celebrity of that era, Major General Charles Gordon (1833–1885). Among his many nicknames is “Chinese Gordon,” named so for his exploits in China, both while serving in the British Army during the Second Opium War (1856–1860) but also for his subsequent achievements in defeating the Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864) while leading the “Ever Victorious Army.” ¹ The focus of this chapter is his involvement in the sacking of the Summer Palace in Beijing and the material culture that the Royal Engineers Museum holds as a result of this event.