Captain William John Gill, RE (1843-1882)
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Captain William John Gill, RE (1843-1882)
August 2, 1983
Captain William John Gill, RE is commemorated by a stained glass window and a memorial in the South Quire Transept.
The window dedicated to Captain W.J.Gill represents Joshua and the Angel before Jericho.Joshua V. 13, 15.
A memorial plaque records:
The upper central window has been inserted By the Officers of the Corps of Royal Engineers, In memory of their Brother Officer Captain John William Gill Who, when proceeding on Public Service into the Desert of Sinai, was treacherously slain by Bedouins, August 11th., 1882. Aged 39 He was a Good Son, a Good Friend, a Good Soldier, And a Most Acoomplished and Undaunted Traveller.
William Gill was born in 1843 at Bangalore. He became a gentleman cadet on the 4th. February 1862 and was commissioned into the Royal Engineers on the 11th. November 1864. He became a captain on the 21st December 1877.
He was left a large fortune which enabled him to indulge in his ambition to travel, and he made his first journey in 1873 to Persia, accompanying the famous Valentine Baker*, an explorer and traveller of no mean repute. He tried to enter Parliament but failed to get elected and he decided to continue his profession of soldier.
After his death in the Sinai Desert (vide.previous page) a memorial was placed in the chapel of Brighton College and dedicated on Thursday November 15th 1883.
Gill received the Egyptian Medal and the Khedive Star (posthumous awards). He had previously been awarded the Gold Medals of the Royal Geographical Society and the French Geographical Society. His works include a book, The River of Golden Sand.
The Gill memorial consists of a white marble tablet of a warm veining, surmounted by the heraldic emblems of the deceased officer, emblazoned in colours. The inner tablet is of black marble, upon which is the following inscription in gilt letters in double column.
This is erected to honour the memory of Captain William John Gill, Royal Engineers, a pupil here from 1856 to 1861. He entered the Royal Engineers in 1864. An adventurous journey in Northern Persia, 1873, developed his capacity for exploration. Some years later he undertook an expedition to China with the view of penetrating its western frontier by routes not before traversed. He succeeded in making his way through Eastern Thibet to Talifu, and thence in the footsteps of his schoolfellow, August Raymond Margary to Bhamo on the Irawadi river. Being attached to the Intelligence Department of the War Office he made several hazardous journeys to collect valuable information for the public service. In 1882 during the British intervention in Egypt he was despatched by the Government on special duty**to the Suez Canal, and having proceeded into the desert of Sinai in company with Professor Palmer and Lieut. H. Charrington R.N., the three were captured by an overpowering force of Bedouins, and murdered in the Wadi Sudr, August 11th. 1882. His remains with those of his companions were interred in the Crypt of St.Paul's Cathedral, April 6th.1883, where a memorial tablet has been placed by their country in commemoration of their service.
He was a good son, a good friend, a good soldier and a most enterprising and accomplished traveller.
Underneath are the Latin words Fiat Voluntas Tua and on the scrollwork in gilt letters, Born 1843, Died 1882.
*Colonel Valentine Baker was dismissed the army for allegedly trying to rape a young woman in a railway carriage. With no future in Britain he went off to Turkey and fought with considerable skill against the Russians, earning the rank of Major-General. In 1882 he was offered the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian army but the offer was withdrawn before he could take 1t up. Supposedly Queen Victoria herself had intervened. Instead he was put in charge of the 'gendarmerie', a police force organized as a military unit.
**In 1882 Arabi Pasha had revolted against the Khedive of Egypt and 1t was to assist the Khedive that Britain intervened. Arabi was able to receive information about Britain's troop movements via the telegraph which ran from Constantinople to Cairo. Captain Gill was sent into Sinai with orders to cut this telegraph cable.
In 1882 an expedition under Sir Garnet Wolseley was sent to Egypt to restore the authority of the Khedive against whom Arabi Pashi had led a rebellion.
Lieutenant Harold Charrington R.N. was sent into the interior of Sinai, disguised as an Arab to purchase camels for the transport service. With him went Professor Edmund Palmer, a noted orientalist, to act as interpreter, and Capt. William Gill R.E.
Gill was commissioned into the Royal Engineers on 11th. November 1864. In 1873 he had made an adventurous journey into Northern Persia. Some years later he undertook an expedition to China, and made his way through Eastern Tibet. He became a captain on 21st December 1877 and served in Afghanistan 1879 - 80.
The mission into Sinai was probably betrayed by some sheikhs whom Palmer trusted, and they were doubtless murdered for the money which they carried for the purchase of camels.
There being some doubt as to the fate of the three men, Colonel Warren was sent with a party of cavalry in search of them. At Wadi Sudr the looted baggage of the men was found, and later three Bedouin were captured, one of whom had Charrington's tobacco pouch. After considerable inquiry Col.Warren proved that the three men had been shot and their bodies flung over a precipice.
The remains of the three were eventually brought to England and buried in the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral. A memorial tablet to their memory was erected at the scene of the murder in Wadi Sudr and memorials to Capt. Gill were placed in the chapel of Brighton College, where he had been educated, and in Rochester Cathedral.
From the notebooks ‘The Naval and Military Memorials of Rochester Cathedral’ (1979)
by Roy Trett, OBE, TD,
Rochester Cathedral Chapter Library
Seventy-two brilliant stained glass windows were installed by prominent glaziers Clayton & Bell during the 1870s and 1880s.
Rochester Cathedral features an exceptionally large collection of Colonial-era military memorials and artefacts. This series has begun to highlight the stories behind these collections and their place in our global heritage.
