WILSON (Col. Sir Charles W.).
From Korti to Khartum.
Wilson was “Appointed chief of the Intelligence Department… in Lord Wolseley’s Nile expedition to Khartoum for the rescue of Gordon in September 1884, [he] reached Dongola on 11 Oct. and on 15 Dec. accompanied Lord Wolseley and the rest of the staff to Korti, going on with Sir Herbert Stewart across the desert on 30 Dec. He left Korti the second time on 8 Jan. 1885, and failing to reach Khartoum by steamer in time to save Gordon, he returned to Korti a month later… An attempt was made to saddle Wilson with the responsibility for the failure of the expedition. Charles Williams and other critics urged that he might have been in time to save Gordon, had he not lost three days at Gubat on his way… For his services Wilson was created K.C.B., military division, and when a vote of thanks was passed to the officers and men of the Nile expedition, in the House of Commons on 12 Aug. 1885, Lord Hartington refuted the charge against Wilson of unnecessary delay”. [DNB]
