John Charles Kirkham

John Charles Kirkham (also Kirkman ; * probably around 1830; † 1875 or 1876) was a British adventurer and mercenary who, after stays in Nicaragua and China, acted as military advisor and diplomat to the Ethiopian ruler Yohannes IV († 1889).

Life

Nothing is known about the early years of Kirkham, who presumably came from Scotland. What is certain is that he embarked on a military career early on. Between 1855 and 1857 he fought alongside William Walker in Nicaragua, from 1863 to 1864 he served as a non-commissioned officer under Charles George Gordon in China in the suppression of the Taiping uprising . He then worked as a ship steward for the British Pacific and Oriental Steamship Company ; In 1868 he took part as a sutler in the British punitive expedition to Ethiopia . There he finally let himself be from dejazmach Kassa (i) Mercha from Tigray, the later negusa nagast (German: "King of Kings") Yohannes IV., recruit as military advisor. Kirkham, who had never been more than sergeant during his military service , was now given the rank of colonel . Kirkham's work and the weapons Kassa Mercha received from the British as thanks for his support for their punitive expedition are seen as crucial to Kassa Mercha's victory over his rival, the ruling Tekle, in the battles of May Zulawi and Assam in 1871 Giyorgis II († 1873), carried away.

When the Ethiopian rulers in the following years with a threatened invasion of its territory by the Egyptian Khedive Ismail Pasha was confronted, he sent Kirkham with letters for the monarchs of the German Reich , Great Britain , Austria-Hungary , the Russian Empire and the French President after Europe . This diplomatic mission, which should appeal to the “Christian solidarity” of the European monarchs and thus help to prevent the threatening Egyptian invasion, was unsuccessful. On the one hand, the European powers had a vital interest in good relations with Egypt because of the " Suez Question ", on the other hand it is also unclear whether Kirkham had even visited one of the capitals of the countries that were the target of this initiative, apart from London .

After the first attempt by Egyptian troops to establish themselves in Ethiopia had been repulsed in 1875, Kirkham, who had only been involved in these fighting in the initial phase and was later responsible for overseeing the return of Egyptian prisoners of war, was given another diplomatic mission in the same year Mission to Europe entrusted. When attempting to cross Egyptian-dominated territory, however, he was captured. The Egyptians took him to Massaua and kept him in a cage for a long time when there was insufficient food. Kirkham finally succumbed to the consequences of his bad treatment in captivity.

literature

• David Hamilton Shinn and Thomas P. Ofcansky: Historical Dictionary of Ethiopia (= African Historical Dictionaries). New Edition, Scarecrow Press Inc., Oxford 2004, ISBN 978-0810849105 , pp. 240f. (Keyword: Kirkman, John C. ).