Beschreibung:

KITCHENER, OF KHARTOUM, Earl , 1850-1916] Manuscript Army Book containing telegraphic communications between officials, officers in the army of occupation in Egypt and the frontier field force in the period before the battle of Omdurman, various places (Halfa, Cairo Suakin etc.), 17 October 1887 - 21 October 1889 (a few entries dated 1890-1893), manuscript in several hands, approximately 85 pages, folio, in an Army Book inscribed on upper cover 'Telegrams: Private' . The telegrams, including some from General Kitchener (as Governor General of the Eastern Sudan Headquarters) and Sir Evelyn Baring (later Lord Cromer), refer to the Egyptian administration, the deployment of troops, the movements of the Khalifa and rebels, '800 Dervishes advanced yesterday to Halfa village...our loss two men & four camels killed, one man wounded', and report tersely the tensions in the frontier districts ('upwards of four thousand enemy in [Halfa] neighbourhood...attitude aggressive') including skirmishes, the capture of camels, sheep and cattle, the occupation of desert wells, and the failings of troops. An interesting and sometimes acrimonious series of exchanges refers to the Sirdar, General Grenfell's successful defence of Suakin against the rebel Osman Digna and defeat of the Emir of Kordufan at Toski in August 1889, an engagement in which Kitchener was in charge of the cavalry. Kitchener was himself appointed Sirdar in Grenfell's place in 1892.