Imperial vanities: The adventures of the Baker brothers and Gordon of Khartoum

by Brian Thompson

This is the entwined story of three Victorians. Two of these men were brothers - Sir Samuel Baker, the irrepressible explorer; and Valentine Baker, reckoned to be the leading cavalry officer of the British Army before disgrace overwhelmed him. The third is the troubled Charles "Chinese" Gordon, murdered by the Mahdi's forces in Khartoum. "Imperial Vanities" is an adventure story in the high tradition, ranging from the Upper Nile, to Ceylon, Egypt and the slave markets of the Balkans. In his second book on Victorian life, Brian Thompson recounts the beginnings of the end of British Empire through the story of three men - the explorer Samuel Baker, whose second wife was a slave; his brother Valentine, who indecently assaulted a girl on a train and their friend Gordon of Khartoum, who preferred the company of men and the Bible.

Genres: History, Military Fiction, Africa, 19th Century, Nonfiction

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

He read English at Cambridge. Since 1973 he has written for a living as a radio and television playwright and a documentary film maker. He is also the author of several acclaimed biographies: A Monkey Amongst Crocodiles, Imperial Vanities and The Nightmare of a Victorian Bestseller.

Reviews

[Palmyrah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book, and the reasons why I did are really the only things I can say in its favour: it deals with people and places known to me or that I am interested in, it is full of interesting details, and it is written in lively, elegant prose, the kind you can read aloud without tripping over sonic infelicities.

But what are the imperial vanities of the title? The retold exploits of Charles George Gordon and Samuel Baker and the rise and catastrophic fall of Samuel’s brother Valentine? All these are highly specific to the gentlemen in question, and sprang from personal rather than imperial vanity. Or does the title refer to the vanity of attempting to colonize and Britannicize such unfriendly and unpromising parts of the world as Sudan and Ceylon? The Gordon debacle did not prevent the United Kingdom from taking and ruling Sudan in the end, and as for Ceylon, it was already firmly in British hands by the time Baker commenced his experiment at Nuwara Eliya. Balaclava was certainly a vain mismatch of cavalry against artillery, but why is that specifically imperial? True, it was one empire against another. But the Charge of the Light Brigade was what launched Valentine Baker’s career.

Still, it was fun reading about Sam Baker’s intrepid blunderings about the world and his implausible but undeniable successes, especially since, as a Sri Lankan, I know the scene of his early triumphs and disasters, Nuwara Eliya, pretty well. By the way, Brian Thompson consistently misspells the name of this well-known Sri Lankan town and occasionally refers to it familarly as ‘Newara’, which nobody ever does or has done. I must say I was quite disappointed at the number of errors I found in his chapters dealing with Ceylon. Adam’s Peak is not the highest point on the island. That’s the summit of Pidurutalagala – as Thompson actually tells us, quoting Baker himself, only ten pages later. The Matale rebellion only began a ‘tax revolt’ and it wasn’t a case so much of ‘protesters’ ‘executed’ as of rebellious mobs gunned down, though it is true that some of the leaders of the revolt were later hanged. Thompson tells us it all took place in 1849, which is also wrong. He mentions the ‘Bishop of Ceylon’ when he means the Bishop of Colombo. The last is a trivial error, yet, taken together with the rest, it makes me wonder whether the only research on Ceylon Thompson did was in the Bakers’ own books and letters. I also wonder how many mistakes he’s made about people and places with which I am not so familiar.

That description covers most of the other scenes in this globetrotting book – I’ve never been to Africa, the Crimea or Central Europe, to name but a few of the places it visits – so I have reason to worry. And it isn’t as if the events of the narrative don’t occasionally sound far-fetched. Imagine buying your wife at a slave market, as Sam Baker did, or taking her off into darkest Africa to find the source of the Nile, as he also did. The entire life of Valentine Baker, the dashing cavalry officer and erstwhile royal favourite whose story forms the spine of the book, is so cartoonishly heroic it seems almost absurd. But it isn’t the mind-boggling facts that bother me; it’s the mundane fallacies.

Thompson gives most time to and is clearly most interested in ‘Val’, a much more conventional imperial figure than Sir Samuel, who never really comes clear in the book. He works quite hard to make Gordon seem ridiculous, which with the man’s visions and eccentricities and religious mania should not be difficult to do, but somehow the resulting portrait is one of tragic, anachronistic nobility. A purblind, egotistical, thanatophilic nobility, but noble still.

Indeed, the disappointments of this book are almost made up for by one remarkable paragraph. It comes near the end of the book. Gordon, almost in disgrace, is returning to Sudan under the orders of the Imperial government, understanding his mission to be that of evacuating the British presence in the country (such as it is). Nobody, least of all himself, expects him to return.

Death, which Gordon had flirted with all his life, was now about to take a hand... The ministers asked him when he would leave: he said by the evening train. When they turned up at Charing Cross, with the additional presence of the Duke of Cambridge, Gordon was entirely without luggage save for a small satchel. Lord Granville purchased his ticket. At the last moment Gordon’s nephew dashed on to the platform with a tin case containing a dress uniform. The Duke of Cambridge played the part of a footman by opening the carriage door. Only Wolseley had the presence of mind to ask the Saviour of the Sudan if he had any money. He didn’t. Wolseley emptied his pocket book hastily and handed over his gold watch. The guard blew his whistle, the commander-in-chief of the British Army slammed the door and the train steamed out.

Well then. Vanity in the Ecclesiastes sense, perhaps. Enjoy, but, caveat lector.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is only seven years since I read this book but my feelings towards it remain torn. On the one hand it is a cracking good read but a very partial tale and on the other I can't help feeling that way to many of the books original reviewers and readers enjoyed because of its very partiality. This is old fashioned history, it certainly draws on original letters, diaries and accounts but it avoids looking at the history of these 19th century English explorers/eccentrics, never mind General Gordon, through the lens of the more complex, varied and problematic authors of more recent vintage. There clung to this account a curious air of stepping back into the days when 'Men were men' (and women, sheep, boys were frightened - conclude according to taste or memory of schooldays). This is not a book that looks deeply or questions the whole 19th century Victorian exploration of 'the dark continent' - again I don't recall if that expression was used, I doubt it, but it was there unstated.

So it was fun, but I can't help having serious reservations about the book and, although it currently sits on my book shelves I doubt if I will ever get round to reading it again. For now a cautious three stars.

[Dean Paul Baker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointing...
I chanced upon this book via Amazon recommendations. I was struck by the cover as my wife has a coffee table book of Tissot paintings and I recognised the painting of Fred Burnaby. As I also have an interest in history and the Victorian era, I had high hopes for the book, especially as the jacket blurb promised so much.
Unfortunately the book doesn't live up to the hype of the blurb. Its is far from a "wild romp through victorian excess", there was very little description of any "High adventure," and neither was it a "Rattling good yarn," IMO.
What the book delivers, is a quite bare-bones, in passing, sketch of the Baker brothers, a few snippets of Livingstone and a tiny smidge of Gordon. There is no depth or detail to the huge historical scope of these men and I felt I'd have learned more from reading each man's wikipedia page. Where you thought things would build up to a climactic description of Gordon's ultimate doom, the book ends on a damp squib, with barely a mention of the controversial death of Fred Burnaby, a man who could have filled the book alone with his exploits. In all I felt quite let down by the book. It starts slow and you wait in vain for things to improve leading to a rather depressingly bland ending.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

While Thompson clearly has a writer's flair, the story of these three Victorian archetypes rarely achieves the cohesion it could have. Or perhaps it couldn't. Thompson is pulling details from three disparate stories and the result ends up feeling quite disjointed which is a shame. For those interested in the story of "Chinese" Gordon of Khartoum, this one adds very little other than his tenuous connection to Sam and Val Baker. Not bad, but not great.

[Alex Helling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three Victorians, perhaps somewhat exceptional in their exploits but typical in their outlook and manner, are the subject of Brian Thompson’s Imperial Vanities. We follow two brothers; Valentine Baker - a military officer and adventurer, and Samuel Baker - an explorer, and additionally Charles Gordon known as ‘Chinese” Gordon for his part in the suppressing the Taiping rebellion, as their lives interweave, usually at the fringes of empire, through the middle of the 19th Century.

Pros
An interesting look at Victorian heroes and mindset.
Cons
Unclear what the book is aiming to do.
Seems to be all over the place.

As a meander through Victorian lives and ideas of imperialism Imperial Vanities is excellent. It gives a good idea of the divergence between home and the frontier, and how a gentleman is expected to act. It is also well written and engaging. The writing is fast paced and jocular. Indeed perhaps rather too jaunty when describing horrors such as the Crimean war.

The book is quite short, which makes it an easy read (I picked it up to read while on trains) but it does mean that it perhaps does not do justice to its subjects. This is no biography, we just get elements of the three men's lives, without much indication of what has been chosen and why. For example Gordon may be known as ‘Chinese’ Gordon but his time there fighting the Taiping rebellion and taking part in the sack of the summer palace takes all of 8 pages. As a series of snapshots it feels likely chunks - particularly of personal lives, are missed.

Oddly Thompson does not seem to be keen to tell the reader what he is aiming for with the book. I prefer to write a review with some idea of the aim, to be able to give an idea of if that is achieved. Bur here the preface gives very little idea except that it is “to tease out the connections between three men, their lives, and times” whatever that means. And to be honest this is also what my main view on the book is; rather aimless.

The book moves swiftly between locations; the west indies, East Africa, Sri Lanka, Crimea, India, China, of course Britain. Except for Britain we are in none of these locations very long as our three men move around accepting commissions, or going where the wind blows. Perhaps if it has a heart to it then it is the Nile, in particular Sudan. This is probably the biggest connection. All three men are closely connected through their activities there and as a result the best part of the book is to all intents and purposes the narrative to the coming of the British to Sudan. The problem with taking that thread as the main element of the book is that the book ends before Britain makes its big intervention; forced by (spoiler!) the death Gordon.

It is similarly unmoored in its themes; it has an interest in the abolition of slavery, in the military, in imperialism, in the Victorian way of thinking and life, and is perhaps most successful in the way these are bound up in the quest for exploration. Neither of the Bakers or Gordon are as well known as say Stanley and Livingstone (who both come into the book) but all are at one time or other at the edge of the known world exploring or charting the upper reaches of the Nile.

So a good read if you are just looking for something of a slice of (exceptional) victorian imperialist life, less so if you are looking for themes, an in depth consideration, and answers.

[William Kilner · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable read, though there were a lot of names flying back and forth, it was sometimes hard to keep track. Some maps of the places concerned would have been helpful. I was wondering what the 'point' of the book was, but it comes together towards the end.

[Roderigo · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read, but nothing really new. Enjoyed the brief stories of the three men featured, however found the author's reasons to, and way of, connecting them quite loose. Learnt more about the Baker brothers, and the political feeling in the late Victorian era.

[Mark Thuell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great insight and snapshot into the Victorian mindset and the feel of the period.