Add MS 52391

GORDON PAPERS (BELL COLLECTION). Vol. VI (ff. 146). Account of the Taiping Rebellion from 1850 to Gordon's appointment as commander of the 'Ever-Victorious Army' in Mar. 1863; aft. 1865 (watermark, f. 86). The account was printed in Events in the Taiping Rebellion, being reprints of mss. copied by General Gordon, C.B., in his own handwriting, with monograph, introduction and notes by A. Egmont Hake, 1891, although the text in this MS. does not appear to be in Gordon's hand. It was also used by Andrew Wilson in The 'Ever-Victorious Army': a history of the Chinese campaign under Lt.-Col.

C. G. Gordon, C.B., R.E., 1868, and may be the source listed on

p. xviii as 'a MS. narrative of Gordon's campaign, compiled under the direction of Major-General Brown, who commanded H.M.'s troops in China in 1863-64, and whose brother, Major Brown, was Gordon's A.D.C.'. On f. 80b there is a note, initialled by Samuel Mossman, relating to his plans to publish the account as part of a history of the rebellion, which he claimed that Gordon had personally requested him to write. Mossman did not publish as intended (for details, see Gordon's campaign in China. By himself, ed. Col. R. H. Vetch, R.E., 1900, pp. 3-6); neither did he include this text in his much amplified edition of General Gordon's private diary of his exploits in China, 1885.

China: Account of the Taiping Rebellion, 1850-1863, copied by (?) Col. C. G. Gordon: aft. 1863: Copy, aft. 1865.