Official photographs from an expedition for the relief of Khartoum in Sudan.
'In 1884 the Anglo-Italian photographer Felice Beato (1832-1909) was appointed official photographer on an expedition for the relief of Khartoum in Sudan.
It was believed that no images from this period of Beato's career survived but The National Archives holds about forty of his photographs taken in Egypt and the Sudan and registered at Stationer's Hall for copyright purposes in the autumn of 1885.
The pictures show troops (made up of nationalities from across the British Empire) crossing the desert, the tribes they encountered and the towns they passed through on route.
The expedition arrived at Khartoum too late to relieve General Gordon who had been killed two days before. None of Beato's photos appear to show the expedition's arrival in the city.' (TNA, Flickr album description)