GENERAL GORDON ON THE DEFENCES AND COMMERCE OF MAURITIUS
GORDON (Charles George 1833-1885 General Four Long Manuscript Documents with hand drawn maps. A Long 7 page folio on blind stamped Govt. crested paper Letter Signed "C.E.Gordon" , to the Major General Commanding about 'Subjects connected with the Barrack accommodation of the troops under your command ...', with 2 hand drawn diagrams, 2nd July 1881, [with] An Autograph Manuscript, "Memorandum on the value of Naval and Military of the Island of Mauritius to the Imperial Govt." 10 page folio, signed with initials, on blind stamped Govt. crested paper, including 2 full page hand drawn manuscript maps of Mauritius, 3rd July 1881, [with] Secretarial Manuscript "Memos on the means of protecting British Commerce in Indian Ocean" 10 pages including 2 hand drawn maps of the Indian Ocean and of Port Louis, folio, endorsed as true copy of Gordon's memo, 27th July 1881, [with] Secretarial Manuscript signed by Gordon "Memorandum on Colonial Defence", 7 page folio on blind stamped Govt. crested paper, with 2 hand drawn sketch maps of the World and South East Asia, 31st August 1881, 2nd of July - 31st August 1881,
together 34 pages folio,
After six years Governing the Soudan and with suppressing the Slave Trade, from 1874 to 1880, Gordon arrived in Mauritius as Commanding Officer of the Royal Engineers on June 24 1881. These Documents. starting on July 2nd. 1881 barely a week after his arrival, represent his earliest assessment on the island and show his restless energy and determination to get on with the work as he saw it. In his first letter he condemns the buildings in Port Louis of the Civil Hospital, British Hospital, Prison, Reception for Immigration Coolies and Sugar store are all housed together. "The place swarms with mosquitoes ... the detrimental effects of having the Immigration depot, the sugar store and the mixed heterogeneous patients of the Civil Hospital in such proximity to the Military Hospital can easily be appreciated..." He proposes the sale of buildings and the relocation of site in Curepipe, together with his estimates of costs and revenue. In the second Memorandum he outline, the vulnerability of the island to attack identifying the positions on a map, and also how the Fort at Port Louis should be strengthened. In the final 2 reports he defines the Trade and Commerce of the Indian Ocean and its importance to the Empire and finally outlining the importance of Mauritius in the Global Empire.
£8500.00
Stock ref: 14509
