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Field Marshal Earl Kitchener of Khartoum

Field Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener
Ballylongford, Co. Kerry, 1850 - West of Orkney Islands 1916
British Army officer and colonial administrator
(Wikipedia) 		Sydney March
1912/1920

Chatham / Field Marshal Earl Kitchener of Khartoum   Chatham / Field Marshal Earl Kitchener of Khartoum

Description

Bronze equestrian statue of Lord Kitchener on his favourite charger Democrat.

In 1912 Sydney March made an equestrian statue of Kitchener for Calcutta. Kitchener was so pleased with it that he suggested to have made a second cast of the statue to be erected in Khartoum. The statue arrived in Port Sudan in November 1920, years after Kitchener's death. Heathorn suggests that the Khartoum statue is not a second cast, but the original made for Calcutta. He writes:

In the 1950s this view that the Khartoum Kitchener was merely a replica of the Sydney March statue in Calcutta was also held by British officials in London. However, recently doubts to the veracity of this story have been raised by researchers working on the fate of British monuments in India, and most particularly, what happened to the original Kitchener that graced the Maidan in Calcutta. That statue was moved from its original location sometime after 1918, and according to Richard Barnes and Mary Ann Steggles it was this original statue of Kitchener that ended up in Khartoum in 1920. From some Indian sources about the known lack of popularity of Kitchener in Calcutta, they suggest the statue was donated to Khartoum in lieu of making a replica.

In 1958 the statue was removed from Khartoum and two years later was relocated in Chatham.

Inscription(s)

KITCHENER
1850-1916

Signature

sydney march sc. | 1912

Information Sign

field marshal earl kitchener of khartoum,
kg, kp, gcb, om, gcsi, gcmg, gcie, pc,
colonel commandant, royal engineers.
this statue at one time stood in khartoum and was unveiled
on this site by the rt hon christopher soames, cbe, mp,
secretary of state for war, on 25 april 1960.
horatio herbert kitchener was commissioned into the
royal engineers in 1871, much of his early service was in
cyprus and palestine, and in 1892 he was appointed sirdar
of the egyptian army, defeating in 1896 a dervish force
at dongola. in 1898, in command of all british and egyptian
forces, he avenged the murder of gordon when he
overthrew finally the dervishes at atbara and omdurman.
in 1900 he was appointed commander-in-chief south african
forces and brought the war there to a successful end in
may 1902. later he was made commander-in-chief in india and
in 1911 he became consul-general in egypt.
on 6 august 1914 he was appointed secretary of state for
war and will always be remembered for the part he
played in raising the new volunteers armies.
he was drowned in hms hampshire when she sank off the
orkneys on 5 june 1916 bound for russia.

Chatham - Field Marshal Earl Kitchener of Khartoum

Sculptor

Sources & Information

Tags

Locatie (N 51°23'15" - E 0°31'30") (Satellite view: Google Maps)

Item Code: gbse116; Photograph: 15 August 2015
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