The Allan and Janet Woodliffe Collection of Medals Relating to the Reconquest and Pacification of the Sudan

The Sudan O.B.E. group of ten awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel Frank Burges, Gloucestershire Regiment, the man who captured the famous Emir Osman Digna and who later became the Police Magistrate at Khartoum, being one of the first members of the Sudan Political Service

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. (Civil) Officer’s 1st type breast badge, top reverse arm inscribed ‘Captain F. Burges’; Queen’s Sudan 1896-98 (Lt. F. Burges, E.A.); 1914-15 Star (Capt. F. Burges, Glouc. R.); British War and Victory Medals (Capt. F. Burges); Order of Osmanieh, 4th Class breast badge, silver-gilt and enamels; Order of the Medjidie, 5th Class breast badge, silver, gold and enamel; Khedive’s Sudan 1896-1908, 2 clasps, Khartoum, Sudan 1899, unnamed; Order of the Nile, 2nd Class set of insignia, comprising neck badge and breast star, silver, silver-gilt and enamels, the first eight mounted as worn, nearly extremely fine (10) £2000-2500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Allan and Janet Woodliffe Collection of Medals relating to the Reconquest and Pacification of The Sudan 1896-1956.

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O.B.E. London Gazette 5 December 1919.

M.I.D. London Gazette 4 November 1898 (Omdurman - names omitted from Sirdar’s Omdurman Despatch of 30 September 1898); 9 December 1898 (recent operations in the Soudan).

Order of the Nile, 2nd Class London Gazette 28 March 1919.

Order of Osmanieh, 4th Class London Gazette 22 March 1912.

Order of the Medjidie, 4th Class London Gazette 5 April 1901.

Frank Burges was born at Broadway, Gloucestershire, on 29 November 1867, the son of Rev. Frank Burges, of Winterbourne Rectory. He was educated at Winchester, Magdalen College, Oxford, and R.M.C. Sandhurst. He was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the Gloucestershire Regiment on 21 September 1889, becoming Lieutenant on 1 July 1891. He was stationed in Nasirabad, India, with his regiment from 1892 until seconded to the Egyptian Army as a Bimbashi (Major) on 21 January 1898. He commanded the 18th Battalion, Egyptian Army, at the battle of Omdurman.

In his book Karari (a Sudanese account of the battle of Omdurman) Ismat Hasan Zulfo notes Burges counting skulls on the Omdurman battlefield [February 1899] and burying Dervish remains. He himself recounts counting about 7000 skulls.

He commanded a party of friendly arabs in the Kordofan Field Force in 1899, accompanying Colonel Kitchener (brother of Lord Kitchener) in pursuit of the Khalifa, in charge of intelligence. He was seconded from the Egyptian Army to the Sudan Political Service in March 1899, and was at Suakin 1899-1901 as Deputy Governor of the Red Sea Province.

Burges was responsible for the capture of the famous Hadendowa Mahdist leader Osman Digna and is mentioned several times in Osman Digna by H. C. Jackson (copy sold with Lot). He was awarded the order of the Medjidieh on 5 April 1901 for ‘valuable services to the Khedive of Egypt’, most probably for capturing Osman Digna. Engaged on anti-slavery patrols and based in Khartoum in 1901, he was promoted Kaimakam in 1903, and was based at Berber 1902-08.

He became a permanent member of the Sudan Political Service in January 1908, upon retiring from the army with the rank of substantive Captain. He joined the Legal Department in 1909 and was Police Magistrate in Khartoum 1908-19, in charge of the Khartoum criminal courts.

In July 1915, he was sent to Egypt as Assistant Provost Marshal, Canal Defences, was promoted to the rank of El Lewa (Major-General) in the Egyptian Army in 1916, and made Pasha in 1917. Returning back to Khartoum at the end of the War, he received the Order of the Nile for ‘Services to the Sultan of Egypt’ and the O.B.E. in 1919 for services in the Sudan. He finally retired with the rank of Hon. Lieutenant-Colonel in September 1919, to Broadway, Gloucestershire, where he became a local J.P. Lieutenant-Colonel Burges died on 12 April 1943. With a folder containing copied research.

The Capture of Osman Digna by Major-General Frank Burges Pasha, O.B.E.

In writing a description of the capture of Osman Digna, thirty-five years almost have passed away, and fifty years since he was at the zenith of his power; so that it was thought necessary to write a little of his times and surroundings. He was chief of the Dervish Emirs, and was in command of the country East of the Nile, from Wadi Haifa on the Nile and Cape Elba on the Red Sea, to the mouth of the Atbara on the Nile and to Aqiq on the Red Sea: a country about the size of France, all this was held by him, except Suakin, which he never took. For 15 years he defied some of the finest troops from Great Britain, India and Australia, assisted by the Royal Navy, at one time 12 men of war have been in Suakin harbour.

In January 1900 I had the good fortune to capture him, when he was awaiting a dhow to take him across to Arabia, as his Arabs refused to take the field again. He was descended from a Kurdish soldier from Asia Minor (Turk), who settled at Suakin in the time of Selim The Conqueror, Sultan of Turkey 1512-1530. This ancestor married a Hadendoueh woman, the Arab tribe living in the hills round Suakin. Osman Digna was a merchant in Suakin, and like most of them was engaged in the slave trade. The slaves were brought from the negroid country 300 miles south of Khartoum to 1,000 miles south, and on reaching the Red Sea coast they were surreptitiously shipped across to Arabia. When I was at Suakin 1899 to 1901 we managed to catch some 7 or 8 kidnappers and traders, including Sheikh Marshud of the Rishaida tribe, which tribe had within 100 years come over from Arabia and settled on the West side. This Sheikh was the head of the slave traders and occasionally had a slave market. They had dhows and carried on smuggling and trade between the two coasts. If a Rishaida slave escaped and was caught, they collected all their slaves, made them sit in a row, and the master of the runaway slave went up to his slave who had run away and blew his brains out, saying "Thus shall all runaway slaves perish."

A Government dhow whilst I was in the Red Sea was sailing along, and saw another dhow in front of it, which changed its direction when the Government dhow gained on it, this aroused suspicion, and the Government dhow chased this dhow until it was captured, nothing was found, but the crew were imprisoned on suspicion, and after a month a small negro boy confessed that when the Arabs saw they would be caught, they took the 15 slaves they had on board, and dropped them overboard with a stone on their feet and a gag in their months, on the further side of the sail, where it was most blown out. A slave ran away from a Rishaida and came into Aqiq, our most southern harbour, three days afterwards in broad daylight, this slave was cut down with a sword by a man with a cloth over his face, at a well 1 mile outside Aqiq, it was obviously his master. We traced this man into Erythrea, and wrote to the Governor, who agreed to extradite him, he was caught, but when a few miles from the Sudan frontier escaped from the Italians and was seen no more. A slave brought down to the coast on the Sudan side would fetch £5; when sold in Arabia he would fetch £25; small boys between 10 and 12 years were most prized, they were made eunuchs and drafted into the harems of the wealthy Turks in Constantinople and elsewhere. After small boys, girls between 10 and 14 were the most valuable as they were more easily trained at that age, and if comely, were prized as concubines. I tried some half-dozen cases, and my sentences seemed to have a deterring effect, as for two years after I left the province, no case of slave trading was detected.

Osman Digna was born at Suakin about 1840, and by 1877 had become affluent, owing to his profits in the slave trade, he had a house at Suakin and another at Jeddah, on the Arabian coast opposite Suakin; whilst taking 96 slaves across the Red Sea in his dhow, he was captured by H.M.S. Wild Swan, not far from Port Sudan. The slaves were released, the dhow confiscated and its merchandise, and his house and its contents sold, this meant a loss of over £1,000 to Osman Digna, and, from wealth he was reduced to penury. This incident was the cause of Osman Digna's bitter hatred of the British, time after time after crushing defeats, the tribesmen would have come in and made their peace with the Government, but for Osman Digna's personality, who urged them to continue the revolt and keep on fighting the British. In 1882 Mohamed Ahmed, commonly known as the Mahdi started a Jihad or holy war, against the Government at Abba Island on the White Nile, 200 miles from Khartoum, his followers small successes at the beginning raised the whole of Kordofan on the West Bank. El Obeid, the Capital, fell in January 1883, and Hicks Pasha's force of 10,000 men was annihilated in Kordofan on November 5th, 1883, at Sherkeila. The religious frenzy of the Dervishes was unbounded, after the capture of an important place like El Obeid or Khartoum, all the followers were collected and the Mahdi would give them an address, then a salvo of 100 guns was fired, they fought for who could cling to the gun's mouth and be blown to pieces and thus be sent to Paradise. Osman Digna raised the revolt in the Eastern Sudan, and in August that year, he tried to take Sinkat by assault, he led the attack, but was cut down with a sword cut on the head, and another on his wrist, and as his followers tried to drag him away by his legs face downwards, he got a bayonet thrust through his back, he would have been killed had not two or three men all tried to thrust at him at once which turned the bayonet off its mark.

It took him some time to get over his wounds and after this, he no longer led the attack, but conducted operations from a more advantageous place with a good line of retreat. Tokar and Sinkat were besieged. Sinkat fell February 4th, 1884. Valentine Baker Pasha was sent with an Egyptian Force to Trinkitat, a Red Sea port about 7 miles from Tokar to relieve it, with 3,700 men and 6 guns, he was defeated at El Teb by Osman Digna, losing 96 officers, 2,000 men killed, 4 Krupp guns, 3,000 rifles and half-million cartridges. Tokar fell on February 20th. Four thousand Dervishes then advanced on Suakin. On February 16th, British Troops under General Graham left Egypt for Suakin, and as there was some doubt if Tokar had fallen, he sailed for Trinkitat, with 2,250 British Infantry, 750 mounted troops, 150 naval brigade, 80 Royal Engineers and 100 Royal Artillery with 6 machine guns and 8 seven-pounders; on reaching Trinkitat it was found that Tokar had fallen, but General Graham thought it salutary to give the Dervishes a lesson, he advanced on Tokar and fought the second battle of El Teb on February 29th, against 6,000 Dervishes under Osman Digna. He utterly defeated the Dervishes, who had about 3,000 killed, 2000 were left dead on the battlefield, and he recaptured 4 Krupp guns and 2 brass howitzers. The British lost 8 officers killed and 16 wounded, 26 men killed and 139 wounded. The Dervishes fought with the utmost bravery and even when wounded and helpless, scorned to live, and tried to kill those who came to help them. Tokar was recaptured.



Osman Digna marched on to Suakin, when the troops left Trinkitat and concentrated at Tamaii about 20 miles from Suakin, General Graham was despatched against this force with 700 mounted troops, 3,000 infantry, including a Naval Brigade, and 200 artillery with 12 guns. Another bloody battle was fought at Tamaii on March 13th, the Dervishes broke the square of the 2nd Brigade and for a time captured the naval machine guns; the square was reformed and the Dervishes driven out and killed, they lost 2,000 killed, whilst the British losses were 109 killed and 16 wounded. Most of the losses occurred when the square was broken. Buller's square was marching in echelon to Davis' square. When the latter charged thereby causing its rear face to lose its formation and masking the fire of Buller's square. After these two battles a British force could have marched 250 miles to Berber on the Nile in order to relieve Khartoum where Gordon was besieged, but Gladstone's Cabinet refused to sanction it. Berber fell on May 26th; as nothing was done Osman Digna rallied his Arabs and harried Suakin and its neighbourhood for another ten years. On January 26th, 1885, Khartoum fell and Gordon was killed. Another British force was sent to Suakin in order to crush Osman Digna, and to act as a counterpoise for the death of Gordon by making a railway from Suakin to Berber; four battalions of infantry, 3 squadrons of cavalry, 1 battery Royal Horse Artillery were sent to Suakin from Cairo, the Suakin garrison consisted of 2,600 troops, and a brigade of 3,000 men were sent from India. Making a force of 12,500 men with 7,000 camels. Osman Digna had a force of 10,000 men, he had 1,000 at Hashin 7 miles north of Suakin, 2,000 at Tokar, and 7,000 at Tamaii.

The troops at Suakin came under heavy fire all night, and frequent casualties occurred. Sentries were stalked nightly and stabbed to death, and several attacks were made at night. Suakin was now in a state of siege, there was little peace of night, by day the weather was sultry and enervating, flies swarmed everywhere, and the stench of dead camels appalling, there was much sickness, day by day trenches were dug, only to be filled in at night by the Dervishes. It was decided to occupy Hashin, which was carried out with a force of 7,000 men and 10 guns against a hostile force of 3,000 men. Sniping then ceased, and an advance against the main force of Osman Digna at Tamai was arranged. Sir John McNeil was despatched, and advanced 7 miles to Tofrek, where he halted. The Dervishes attacked, a short and desperate fight ensued, the Dervishes drove 700 camels, which were unloaded and grazing, belonging to our force, these had to be shot down to get at the Dervishes, who broke our line, they lost 1,500 killed out of 5,000, we lost 160 men killed and 200 camp followers, mostly camel men, and 170 wounded. This battle caused the Dervishes to fall back, and Tamai was occupied after some fighting, and the Dervishes retired to the hills, only sniping at night ; the laying of the Suakin Berber Railway was started, 181 miles, cost £850,000, it was then decided to give up the Suakin campaign, the expenditure of this campaign had cost 31 millions. One battalion of the Shropshire Regiment, 2,400 Indians and 2,500 Egyptians were left as garrison.

On September 23rd Osman Digna was defeated at Kufeit by the Abyssinians. Under Osman Digna attacks were begun again on Suakin, but were repulsed. Colonel Kitchener was appointed Governor of Suakin in August 1886. Continuous small fights took place. The garrison at Suakin had been reduced, the British and Indian troops were removed, and the garrison was reduced to 2,500 Egyptians. In January 1888 Colonel Kitchener heard that Osman Digna was at Handub with a small force. Kitchener obtained leave to attack him, but only with friendly Arabs; on January 16th Kitchener left Suakin and arrived at dawn with 450 men at Handub, the attack was successful, and the Dervishes surprised. Osman Digna's horse was captured, before he had time to mount, but he jumped on to a camel and made good his escape. The friendlies started looting and as light became better, the Dervishes seeing it was a small force, rallied and attacked. Kitchener collected his troops and beat them off, but was hit in the jaw by a bullet, the force retired, he managed to fight his way back to Suakin, fortunately some negro soldiers of the 10th Sudanese had dressed up as Arabs, and volunteered and joined in the force. Colonel Hickman coming out with his battalion from Suakin saved the situation.

Kitchener had to go to Cairo where he narrowly escaped death. Suakin was again attacked by the Dervishes, but Colonel Kitchener, on his return, built a strong stone wall with forts at intervals, but Osman Digna again besieged Suakin, and it was decided to drive him off. On November 2nd two British battalions, 2,000 Egyptians and 2,000 black troops were concentrated at Suakin from Cairo. The Dervishes were attacked, they lost 300 killed out of 1,500 in this battle, known as Gemeiza; in October Osman Digna left for Omdurman, he had become the Emir of Emirs when Wad El Nejumi was killed at the Battle of Toski, August 3rd, 1889. There was not much fighting until January 1891, when it was decided to take Tokar. The importance of Tokar, was that it was on the Delta of the river Baraka, where the finest grain in the Sudan was grown, after the flood had subsided. Dura or millet was the chief crop, and where, as elsewhere, it grew from 4 to 5 feet high, on this fertile land it grew to 12 feet high, and a man on a camel could not see over it. The Eastern Sudan Arabs grew their crops on this land, and depended on it for their grain. Handub was first occupied, and then Tamai; on February 8th, Colonel Holled Smith left Suakin by steamer, and three days later occupied Trinkitat. Osman Digna, who was preparing to recapture Handub, heard of this advance, and went by forced marches to save Tokar, 70 miles away, and the 500 Dervishes holding it. Major Wingate sent out a small reconnaissance party, who captured a Dervish, who after 4 hours examination admitted that Osman Digna had arrived with 7,000 men, which was confirmed by a reconnaissance of half a squadron of cavalry and friendly arabs, who also reported the advance of the enemy less than a mile away. The troops were hastily formed up into square, the Dervishes attacked, but were repulsed with the loss of 700 men, including 17 chieftains. This victory was very gratifying, as it was an Anglo-Egyptian force; they lost 1 British officer and 9 men killed, and 48 wounded. Tokar was entered by the victorious force. The Dervishes dispersed.

Osman Digna retired to Adarama, and Tokar was thereafter held and the Berber-Suakin road opened for trade. There was not much fighting after this, as the Arabs were afraid to lose their corn growing land. The Dongola expedition started in March 1896. The Battle of Firket on June 7th, and the action of Hafir in September, cleared Dongola of the Dervishes; in August 1897, the battle of Abu Hamed drove the Dervishes still further south, and Berber surrendered in September. The Railway from Wadi Haifa reached Abu Hamed in October 1897, and gun boats reconnoitred as far as Shendi in March 1898. In April 1896 when the Dongola expedition was started, it was considered advisable to force an engagement on the disaffected Arabs on the Suakin side, and some Egyptian Army troops were sent out. The 10th Sudanese and a battery from Tokar were sent to meet the Egyptian troops from Suakin at Khor-Wintri, the Egyptian cavalry returned too fast to Suakin, but the 10th Sudanese fought with the Dervishes, who lost 100 men. This was the last fight on the Red Sea side. It was considered necessary to garrison Suakin during the Nile campaign, and during 1896 they garrisoned Suakin with an Indian Brigade, their losses from sickness were great, and they returned to India after a year with no fighting to their record. The Khalifa decided to send a force, under Mahmud his nephew, who marched north with 12,000 men, and was joined by Osman Digna, they left the Nile as they did not like the fire from the gun boats, and entrenched themselves at Nekheila, 18 miles up the Atbara. General Kitchener attacked the Dervish Zereeba at dawn on April 8th, 1898, after a night march with two Sudanese or negro brigades and one British brigade, with an Egyptian Brigade in reserve and the Egyptian Cavalry; the Zereeba was taken with a loss of 500 killed and wounded, the Dervishes lost 3,000 killed, and 2,000 taken prisoners, including Mahmud; Osman Digna escaped, he rallied 1,000 men of Mahmud's force, and retired to Omdurman. His own Eastern Arabs retreating eastwards to their own hills. About 3,000 reached Gedarif where they joined the force of Ahmed Fedil.

On September 1st General Kitchener reached the Karerri hills 5 miles north of Omdurman. At dawn on September 2nd, the Dervishes, with 50,000 men attacked 18,000 British and Egyptians, the Dervishes lost about 10,000 killed. I was detailed six months afterwards to bury the dead, I had 400 Dervish prisoners and an escort of 100 Egyptians from my battalion, and buried 6,996 Dervishes in six days, over a front of 5 miles, the ground was rocky, which made grave digging difficult.


The Khalifa fled to Kordofan, and was joined there by Osman Digna. At the battle of Omdurman, Osman Digna was posted on the river side on the Dervish right flank, he concealed his men in the dry river bed of Khor Shambat; the 21st Lancers charged this force, and lost 60 killed and wounded and 100 horses, which put them out of action as divisional cavalry to carry out the pursuit of the retreating Dervishes. About 5,000 Dervishes got back to the Khalifa and for a year he was left alone, but getting short of food, he came down to the Nile and was defeated at the Battle of Gedid by General Wingate, he and all his emirs died on the field of battle, except Yunis Wad Dekein and the Khalifa's son, Sheikh Eddin, who was wounded and died as he refused to have his wound dressed. Osman Digna escaped, crossed the White Nile near Abba Island, then went across the Jezira, and made his way to Adarama on the Atbara, and thence to the Red Sea Province, to the Warriba Mountains, where the Gemilab tribe lived. (I had been sent to Suakin in April 1899 as Deputy Governor, Major Godden was then Governor of the Red Sea Province). The Gemilab tribe had been Osman Digna's staunchest supporters, they had never paid tribute to the Egyptian Government, and after the battle of Omdurman had not come in and acknowledged the Anglo-Egyptian Government. Colonel Collinson, Governor of Kassala Province sent a telegram to Major Godden informing him that Osman Digna had crossed the Atbara 7 days before and had gone to Warriba. Major Smith was sent with 100 men from Kassala to find him. We had no troops in the Province, only 100 Arab police, of whom 20 were mounted on camels. There were 100 camel corps belonging to the repression of slavery department and Major Godden sent them out under Mr. Cope. Both parties returned empty handed.

The Governor asked me if I would try and find him with a few camel police, I agreed, and left with six men. We looked out Warriba on the map, it had been fixed by triangulation, and appeared to be 90 miles away. I estimated it would take me 3 days to get there, and allowing a week to search for him I took food for a fortnight. The Sheikh of the tribe was Mohd. Ali Or, and I took a letter with me offering £100 reward to any one who gave information leading to his capture, and threats of the extreme penalty to anyone who harboured him or helped him to escape. I went south-west by Khor Langeb, got over the Meiz Pass and on the third day reached the Gemilab country. Directly I got into this country the people disappeared, I surprised an Arab, and told him to lead me to the Sheikh's abode, that night he escaped, but next day I caught a boy of 14 looking after goats, and after fearful threats, he led me to the Sheikh's tent, made of camel mats on poles carefully hidden in a hollow, his wives and children were there, but they told me the Sheikh had gone away, they did not know where he was, nor when he would return, they denied all knowledge of Osman Digna. I gave them the letter and stayed there that night, hoping the Sheikh would return. The next day I left, instead of an isolated hill, I found that Warriba was a range of mountains 70 miles long and 30 miles broad. No white man had ever been there. I could get no information. I wandered about the hills for a fortnight, fortunately I shot 13 gazelle during this time, which helped out our dwindling food, I felt it was a hopeless business, and that I must go back. At sunset on that evening, I saw a dozen men coming down towards me on camels and I found that Major Godden had sent out 10 Arab police on camels, with their commander Mohamed Bey Ahmed to try and catch Osman Digna, and join up with me. Sheikh Mohamed Ali Or had got my letter, he decided it was best for him to go in with the Government, and sent his nephew in to Major Godden, telling him he would show him where Osman Digna was.

I interviewed the nephew, he told me Osman Digna was in the hills 50 miles away. I had some food, and saddled my camels, and with my new force, we rode all night and arrived next morning at 8 a.m., to a place a mile away from the hill in which Osman Digna was hiding. I sent for Sheikh Mohamed Ali Or, who appeared shortly, he pointed out a precipitous hill a mile away, about 1,000 feet high, composed of enormous rocks, the size of railway carriages, piled one on top of the other and forming innumerable caves ; at the top of the hill Osman Digna was hiding in a cave, no one could have got up this hill under 4 or 5 hours. I told the Sheikh that if he could not get Osman Digna down to the bottom of the hill, I should have to take him into Suakin as a prisoner, where death would be his penalty for harbouring Osman Digna. I told him I considered he was amusing himself at my expense, he said he would try and get him down. I had my camels led away, they had been halted out of sight of the hill. I told my men to remove their uniform and boots, and put on their Arab tobes, a piece of linen the size of a large sheet worn by Arabs, in two hours the Sheikh returned and informed me that Osman Digna had come down, he had told Osman Digna the Government troops had gone away, and that he must make a feast for him, to celebrate the occasion. Osman Digna wanted the feast on the top of the hill, but he was told a sheep had been killed, and that it would be impossible to get it up, so he came down and had a good meal. I spread my men out at 20 paces interval, and told them to creep quietly along, hiding behind any bushes they could find. The Sheikh refused to come and guide me, so I had to take my chance of hitting off the exact point a mile away.

We advanced slowly at first, but the men in their excitement gradually went faster and faster, eventually I had to run as hard as I could, the last 300 yards to keep in front. I arrived at the bottom of the hill and found a cave with a fire still burning, and a skin half full of water, but no signs of Osman Digna, in despair I looked up the hill, and thought Osman Digna had again managed to escape; as I looked up I saw 50 feet above me a man in a Gibbah pass like a flash between two rocks about a yard apart, I shouted to my men in Arabic that I had seen him, and to surround that spot. I climbed up with one Arab policeman to the spot where I had seen him, whilst my men were encircling it. I had to climb on my hands and knees, and on getting there, found a man in a Gibbah in a cave; I drew my sword, and said Taala Hinna Osman, which means, “Come here Osman”, he came forward and I seized him by one arm and the Arab policeman by the other. I called out “I have him "; the other Arab police joined me, and we took him down to level ground, and there I found Mohamed Bey Ahmed, who on account of his age and figure had been unable to keep up. I said to him "Is he Osman Digna?” he found the sword cuts on his head and wrist, and the wound in his back, and said "It is he indeed." We took him to the camels, where we put some chains on his legs and neck, and I had my camels rounded up and saddled. I was able some distance away, to see the Sheikh who told me Osman Digna had arrived about one month ago, and that he proposed that they should attack Suakin, as there were no troops there. The Sheikh said there was nothing doing in that line, he then asked if he could stay and end his days there, the Sheikh suggested it might be awkward for himself and the tribe if the Government got to hear of it, and that it would be better if he moved on, so it was arranged that a dhow should be got to take him from some small harbour across the Red Sea to Jeddah, so that he could go to Mecca, 50 miles away and end his days there, and this was agreed to by both. I told the Sheikh that £100 was waiting for him at Government House, but that we should like to see him personally, and that it would be nice for him to make the acquaintance of the Government. I promised his nephew £50. He told me that only four men in the tribe knew that Osman Digna was in hiding at the top of the hill, his nephew and himself and two men who took up food and water daily. January 13th, 1900 was the day on which he was captured, and it was then 2 p.m. I decided that, owing to the hostility of the tribe, it was better to get away as far as I could that day. Osman Digna rode a camel in front of me, with the camel's halter tied to the saddle of a policeman in front of him, and the other men rode in a ring surrounding him. I decided it was safer to return to Suakin by another route and took a line to the north. I wrote a letter to Major Godden informing him of the capture, and said I expected to be in Suakin in 4 days. I sent this by the man who had seized Osman Digna with me in the cave, and told him to ride fast to Suakin, he did the 96 miles in 24 hours without halting. The route I took was 120 miles; above the Red Sea littoral, a plateau rises 2,000 feet, in many places straight up, and it is only possible to descend into the plain at certain places. We rode 20 miles that afternoon, I had Osman Digna's chain fastened to my tent pole, and as my men had ridden 70 miles that day, I changed the sentries every half-hour. I got to Suakin on the afternoon of the 4th day, and as I rode through the town, I only got scowls from the Arabs in the streets, and the only cheers were from the negresses.





The Governor-General was so anxious about a rescue in Suakin, that he wired that the Behera, a transport of 2,000 tons belonging to the Province, should leave with Osman Digna at 6 a.m. the following morning for Suez. He was taken to Rosetta, a fortress on the Mediterranean, where he stayed two years, and was then transferred to the Sudan to Wadi Haifa in 1908 after spending 6 years, 1902 to 1908 at Damietta Fort. The Government granted my men a month's pay for their hard work. I gave Osman Digna a tobe, when I captured him, and told him to remove his Gibbah, as they were no longer worn, this is one of my most valued possessions. As I was coming back, and had halted for breakfast, about 30 miles from Suakin, and 10 miles west of Tamai, the local Sheikh, a Hadendowah, who had been one of Osman Digna's most devoted followers, came forward to greet me, and after the usual salutations I said to him "Do you know the whereabouts of Osman Digna, I hear that he is not far away," he said, that he had had no news of him for some years, and that he was confident that he could not be in his country. I kept edging towards Osman Digna, who was sitting on the ground with his back towards us, and with a sack across his shoulders, which I had given him, to keep the cold wind off him, when within a yard of him, I said "Who is that man?" I saw him give a jump. I said "He is the last of the Dervishes” to which he replied "He also was the First." I said "Now the Government has him, there will be peace and security in this country for the first time for 15 years."

Osman Digna was a cruel and relentless emir, he ruled by fear, not by affection, he passed as a very holy man, he not only prayed five times a day in the Mosque himself, but expected his followers to do so; on Fridays he would preach in the Mosque for two hours with impassioned oratory. His rosary contained 1,000 beads instead of 99. He had a quick wit. When upbraided by the women for the loss of their husbands in battle he replied “I have only helped them on their way to Paradise." Before the battle of Tofrek (McNeil's Zereeba), the British used a captive balloon; the mystified Dervishes asked the meaning of this dread portent in the skies, Osman Digna replied, that it was the Coffin of the Prophet Mohamed suspended between earth and heaven, and foretold a glorious victory. The penalty of death was frequently inflicted, as many as 25 would be executed together, some would be hanged, the rest had their heads cut off. For theft the punishment was, first offence, right hand severed at the wrist, for the second, left foot cut off at the ankle, the stumps were thrust into boiling fat. For making or drinking native beer 27 lashes was the punishment, as it was for abuse or being absent from midday prayers. He surrounded himself with a bodyguard who were well fed and cared for. He exacted one-tenth of all crops, there was no appeal against the calculation of his assessors, one-tenth on all cattle and animals and all caravans. In his speeches Osman Digna was wild and eloquent, his voice was deep and carried far. He had many narrow escapes of capture. First at Sinkat, as described before; after Tamai, our cavalry passed within a few feet of him hiding in the rocks, he was nearly caught by Colonel Kitchener's men at Handub as described, and at Kassala in 1885, after he was defeated by Ras Alula at Kufit in a battle near Kassala against the Abyssinians, they twice missed him by a few yards, when he was hiding in the bush. I believe if I had not happened to catch sight of him for a fraction of a second, he would have escaped me in the network of caves at Warriba. He could walk great distances, and rarely rode a camel or horse. When meat was available he was a glutton and would eat a sheep at a sitting. When prepared they did not weigh above 25lbs., this partiality for mutton, with which I was acquainted, assisted in his capture, the amusing point was, that it was the month of Ramadan, when no true believer of the Prophet eats between sunrise and sunset, or drinks. Seldom has a commander been better served by his troops, no finer men ever took the field, they were expert swordsmen of fine physique, they welcomed death, if they could kill an enemy first, as it opened to them the gates of Paradise.

For 2 years after I went to Suakin, I was continually among these people, they were keen sportsmen, and admired a good shot and fine horseman, they were difficult people to handle, unwilling to work, but ready to walk or ride long distances, always ready for a fight; the women declined to marry a man who had not killed his adversary in a fight, later when this became difficult, a man to show his indifference to pain, would allow his back to be slashed half a dozen times with a knife, and smile whilst it was done before his lady love. I was 7 years with the Bishareen, a Fuzzy Wuzzy tribe to the north of the Hadendowah, it was decided that the tribes should pay tribute, and one Tita Gabriel, whose tribe the Shinterab had been assessed at £100, not only did not pay, but jeered at those who did. I wrote in, that unless he was brought in, I could not carry on, so received permission to try and catch him. As usual with men of this sort, he lived in a most inaccessible country. I took 13 negro soldiers and 5 Arabs, all mounted on camels and went 300 miles by rail to No. 6 station in the desert, half way between Wadi Haifa and Abu Hamed, from there on the map it looked about 250 miles, we took food for one month. More men could not be taken as the wells would not water more than 30 camels, it took us 26 days to get on the ground, frequently in order to march 5 miles we had to go 25 miles, to get round a mountain to a well. When we got to the tribe I said, I wished to see the Sheikh; but he was said to be away from home, the last expedition to this tribe had been carried out by a party of 20 Dervish, they all perished from thirst, as their guide to save his tribe, lost them and himself in the desert. We seized at once 20 camels and 20 sheep and goats and made a zareeba. I told them I had no wish to harm them, but unfortunately they had a bad Sheikh, who ran about the hills like an Ibex and said there was no Government, and also forgot to pay his tribute, like the other tribes; I said, I should be compelled to stay with them and kill a sheep of theirs a day, until their Sheikh came in, and that we enjoyed being in their country very much, it was cool, plenty of milk, and mutton, good grazing, and a nice change; I said, I had only a few men with me; it was possible they might think it worthwhile to attack us. I had shot over 80 gazelle in my life, and my rifle was equally good against the Bisharin, but if my party was wiped out, the Government would send 100, and if they were wiped out, then a 1,000, and if necessary 20,000 men, which they had sent, because the Dervishes had killed one Englishman, Gordon. This was chiefly bluff, but it paid, and after 10 days, Tita Gabriel came in. I said. I was glad to see him, but that a change of air to Berber would benefit his health, and improve his views with regard to the existence of the Government, and that he would have to be my guest (prisoner) until he paid £200 arrears of tribute. He came with me, the money came in and I took him to Khartoum, where he saw 5,000 troops on parade, the palace, Government Buildings, Railway, etc., he was, after this, always the first to pay his tribute, but we had to march 700 miles to effect my object, and were away 2 months.

When Osman Digna was first imprisoned in the Fort at Rosetta on the western mouth of the Nile and afterwards at Fort Damitta on the eastern mouth of the Nile, his fanaticism made him almost a maniac, brooding over the past and his religion, but as years went by, he became more subdued, and when sent to Haifa said that all he wanted was "Aish wa Allah," food and prayer. He lived the life of a religious recluse, he owned some land at Berber, and when asked what he wanted done with it, said he took no further interest in his property, and it is administered for the benefit of his heirs; his son Ali was allowed to come and see him, he paid no attention to him on his arrival, and refused to have anything to do with him.

In 1924 he was allowed to do the pilgrimage to Mecca, which was his heart's desire, he got through the hardships of this ordeal, and returned safely to Wadi Haifa to his house outside the town where he was well cared for. He died at Wadi Haifa on December 8th, 1926, aged about 90. He has been accused of want of bravery, but his gallantry at the attack on Sinkat belies this accusation; after that, when he became the spiritual, administrative and military leader of the tribes east of Berber, it was not reasonable to put himself in the forefront of the battle; of his courage there is no doubt, for time after time after desperate battles and crushing defeats, he raised the Arabs and again launched further attacks, even when he came to the Gemilab country in 1900, he wanted to attack Suakin as there were no soldiers there. Undoubtedly, he was both clever and lucky, in his numerous escapes and very nearly escaped the last time, as I was the only one that caught sight of him for a brief moment, as he passed between the narrow opening of two rocks.