One day in 1996, Jennifer Anderson’s mother Edna produced a Khedive’s Sudan Medal from her handbag. It had been awarded to Jennifer’s grandfather.
“Seeing the medal for the first time sparked my interest in family history,” Jennifer explains. “It marked Arthur George Randle’s service in one of Britain’s most famous campaigns.”
On 2 September 1898, the Battle of Omdurman was raging near Khartoum in Sudan. British and Egyptian forces were attempting to regain control from the Mahdist Islamic State. They were outnumbered two to one by 50,000 Ansar warriors, known to the British as ‘Dervishes’.
Towards the end of the battle, Major-General Herbert Kitchener ordered the 21st Lancers, a British light cavalry regiment, to ride around the battlefield and prevent the Ansar from fleeing into Omdurman. The 447-strong regiment came under fire from what seemed to be 250 assailants.
As they galloped through clouds of dust, the Lancers realised far too late that they were heading straight into a deep khor – a dried-up riverbed – that was filled with thousands of enemy soldiers.
Leaping into the abyss was a 23-year-old lieutenant named Winston Churchill, who wrote vivid dispatches about the ensuing carnage. Among those riding alongside him was Arthur Randle, who managed to breach the khor unscathed to join comrades on the other side opening fire.
During the battle, an estimated 10,000 Ansar warriors were killed while the Anglo-Egyptian army suffered approximately 50 casualties. The Mahdist State was vanquished, and Britain and Egypt re-established their rule over Sudan.
Queen Victoria awarded the regiment the title ‘21st (Empress of India’s) Lancers’, and all who fought received the Khedive’s Sudan Medal with the Khartoum clasp. The Lancers’ bravery became fêted, and was depicted in Richard Attenborough’s film Young Winston (1972). “Arthur never spoke of the horrors of war, but he told his children that he charged at Omdurman.
“I never met my grandfather, but I’ve built a picture of his life. He was born into a working-class family in 1870 in Rise Carr, Darlington. He enlisted as a private in the 4th Dragoon Guards at the age of only 15, and transferred to the 21st Hussars who went to India. The regiment became the 21st Lancers and was sent to Egypt and Sudan, where they fought at Omdurman.”
Arthur was later posted to Dublin, where he met Sarah Jane Donnelly (née Langford). “Sarah was an impoverished widow with two children whom she’d had to place in a charitable school so that she could work.
“Arthur rode to the rescue in 1902 when he married Sarah and adopted the children. The family moved to London and four more children were born, including my mother Edna.”
During his military career, Arthur played the French horn in his regimental band. He retired from the armed forces in 1909 after 23 years of service. His musical talent won him a place in orchestras in West End theatres and at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.
Despite being in his mid-40s at the outbreak of the First World War, Arthur volunteered and was at the Somme. He later saw action in Salonica, Mesopotamia and Egypt. “I had no idea that he served during the First World War, until I found his army records.
“Relatives said that Arthur was a fair but strict Victorian patriarch. He was a good family man, and my mum idolised him.”
Arthur died in 1943, while working as a nightwatchman during the blackout. Jennifer is inspired by both his army service and his dedication to his family.
“I’d love to step back in time and see him reuniting my grandmother Sarah with her two lost children. What a moment it must have been for her.”
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