into the Egyptian Army. The Ansar lost nearly 1000 killed and wounded, with the rest of the Khalifa’s entourage including the women, children and livestock all being captured. Twenty-nine Emirs, over 3,000 fighting men, and 6,000 women and children surrendered themselves prisoners. The Egyptian losses were three killed and twenty-three wounded. But that most elusive Emir of them all, the wily Osman Digna, who had fought against the ‘Turks’ in nearly every battle since 1883, got away yet again. He was finally captured the following year, by a patrol commanded by Captain Frank Burges of the Gloucestershire Regiment, and exiled.
So ended the Sudan Wars which had begun nearly 20 years earlier, and which saw the death of Gordon, closely followed by that of the Mahdi himself, the abandonment of the Sudan, the years of devastation under the Khalifa, and ultimately the reconquest under Lord Kitchener.
Now that organised resistance was at an end, the expeditions which followed can only really be described as tribal pacification coupled with exploration and “showing the flag”.
Bahr-el-Ghazal 1900-02 13 clasps awarded to British officers, 3 to British other ranks and 3 to Royal Marine Artillery Sergeants.
As previously mentioned, an expedition commanded by Lieutenant Fell, R.N., had been sent from Khartoum at the beginning of November 1899 with orders to clear the sudd from the Bahr-el-Ghazal river and its major tributary the Jur. He arrived at Meshra-el-Req on 8 November, to be joined on the 14th by a military expedition led by Colonel W. S. Sparkes, Welsh Regiment, who had been given the task of exploring the Bahr-el-Ghazal region and asserting the authority of the government. Sparkes’ military force comprised of four British and twelve Sudanese officers, 84 regular and 266 irregular soldiers, and over 200 Sudanese wives and children. The expedition left Khartoum on 29 November in the steamers Zafir, Hafir and Tawfikieh.
It was at Meshra-el-Req that Sparkes Bey first came into contact with the Dinka, finding them to be mostly non co-operative and indifferent, rather than hostile. Two years previously these inhabitants had witnessed the passage of the Marchand expedition and seen the tricolour fly over Meshra-el-Req, and now some other ‘Turks’ had arrived and hoisted two more strange flags. The locals were not impressed. On 22 December Sparkes Bey left Meshra-el-Req, and moved down the Jur river to Jur Ghattas, an old slave zareba 120 miles south, where he arrived on 1 January 1901. Again raising the two flags and leaving Bimbashi Boulnoise with a small garrison, he pressed on south. He formed a military post at Tonj, and occupied Wau, which he reached on the 17th. Wau had been destroyed during the Mahdiya, so was now re-built and later became a thriving district, then provincial, headquarters. Here Sparkes was, for the first time, received with a little more enthusiasm - no doubt because many of the local tribes were refugees and perhaps thought the newcomers may be able to provide a degree of protection. To these tribes, having been driven from the north and east by the Dinka and Nuer, and the south and west by the Azande, any measure of protection would be more than welcome. Within a few months, Shambe, Rumbek, and Daym-el-Zubayr had also been occupied.
Sparkes had for some time been making friendly overtures to the Azande, when suddenly in May he was visited by envoys from Tambura, the paramount chief of the Azande, who brought gifts and a profession of peace. Hoping to obtain Azande’s support for the administration of the Bahr-el-Ghazal Province, Sparkes, accompanied by Captain Haymes and 25 troops, quickly arranged to call on Tambura’s home village to accept his allegiance in person. The party was extremely well received, with much food, many gifts and, most importantly of all, Tambura’s sworn allegiance. This was a vitally important achievement, as Tambura’s people had been well armed and trained by the French, who had established a fort in the village during their short sojourn in the area. Furthermore, as Tambura’s subjects included many other tribes more or less related to the Azande, he controlled quite a wide network of intertribal allegiances, and could probably have raised quite a large army of opposition if he had taken a mind to. However, Tambura was no fool, and having long appreciated the power (and guns) of the Europeans, decided that there could be far more advantage in co-operating with the British than resisting them.
Sparkes also sent messages of peaceful greetings to chief Yambio of another branch of the Azande people, known as the Nyam-Nyam, who lived on the great ironstone plateau in the southwest of the district. He had no response to these overtures, and was instructed by Khartoum not to attempt to push the issue.
The Sparkes expedition spent the next year exploring the remainder of the province, showing the flag, and establishing small posts. The country was uneasily peaceful, troubled only by the odd minor skirmish with the Nuer or Dinka, who, not recognising the authority of the government, naturally objected when made to return what they considered to be legally stolen cattle and slaves.
Sparkes Bey had seven silver cigarette cases made to commemorate the first Europeans to explore the Bahr-el-Ghazal region of the southern Sudan. These famous “Bahr-el-Ghazal cigarette cases” bear the facsimile signatures of the seven explorers. The recipients were:
Bimbashi W. A. Boulnois, R.A. Died of fever, Bahr-el-Ghazal, 29 May 1905 (whereabouts unknown)Lieutenant H. L. H. Fell, R.N. Died of fever, Bahr-el-Ghazal,15 June 1905 (whereabouts unknown)
Bimbashi H. E. Haymes, R.A.M.C. Died of wounds, Tonj, 15 March 1904 (in this sale) Bimbashi A. M. Pirie, D.S.O., 21st Lancers. Killed in action, Palestine, 21 November 1917 (case with family) Miralai W. S. Sparkes, Welsh Regiment. Died of fever, Bahr-el-Ghazal, 4 July 1906 (D.N.W. June 2009, private collection) Sergeant F. Boardman, D.C.M., Liverpool Regiment. Died of fever (National Army Museum) Sergeant F. J. Sears, D.C.M. & Bar, Royal Marine Artillery (Royal Marines Museum, Eastney)
Note: Lieutenant H. L. H. Fell was not involved in the subsequent military expeditions against the Agar Dinka, so was not entitled to the “Bahr-el-Ghazal 1900-02” clasp, whereas all the other cigarette case recipients were. Another case was sold by D.N.W. in July 2001 which must have belonged to either Boulnois or Fell.
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