The Mysterious Captain Brocklehurst: General Gordon's Unknown Aide

This work talks about the life of Major-General John Fielden Brocklehurst Lord Ranksborough 1852-1921. More than 120 years after the fall of Khartoum and the death of General Gordon, the private papers of John Brocklehurst, published here for the first time, reveal new facts and a fresh look at the familiar story. The young cavalry officer played a pivotal part in the last eight years of Gordon's life and served in the Gordon Relief Expedition. Later, he commanded the cavalry in the siege of Ladysmith during the Boer War and as Equerry to Queen Victoria and Queen Alexandra and Lord-in-Waiting to George V he was a close friend and confidant of the British Royal Family. Diplomatic ventures with the pioneering journalist WT Stead involved him in trying to end the Boer War and save Russia from revolution. Who was the young cavalry officer who became General Gordon's companion and was responsible for persuading Gordon to undertake his final mission to Khartoum? His towering height was not matched by ambition but he rose to command a crack cavalry regiment and, without the advantages of birth or wealth became the trusted friend and confidant of two Queens of England. How did he manage so successfully to combine a position in the Royal household and work with the radical crusading journalist WT Stead on diplomatic missions to resolve the Boer War and attempt to introduce democracy to Russia before the revolution? Yet his name and adventures remain unrecorded in any of the history books of his era. For the first time we have been able to access his private papers and those of his family to reveal the hitherto unknown cavalryman who was to play such an important role behind the scenes in many of the major events of his lifetime.