The bronze statue was made in 1902 as an exact replica of the original Singer statue designed by Edward Onslow for the Royal Engineers in 1889. It was cast by Parlanti’s of London using the more uptodate lost wax method.

The statue certainly has an eventful history. After casting in 1902 it was first placed in St Martin’s Place, London, before being shipped to Khartoum. This was an adventurous journey on the S.S. Cedardine, which collided with another ship on the River Thames, resulting in the statue being submerged for over 24 hours. Eventually, it arrived in Alexandria in November 1902 where, after a long journey by rail and river, including another shipwreck and submersion this time in the River Nile, it finally reached Khartoum and was erected on a high stone plinth in Gordon Avenue in 1903. In 1958, shortly after the Sudan became independent, it was shipped all the way back to the UK and since 1959 has stood at Gordon’s School.

The statue has suffered over the years, not only from its submersions but also from UK weather. We have now reached a stage where the required repairs cannot be postponed indefinitely as this will cause even greater damage to the statue and we are therefore actively seeking funding in order to carry out a renovation project within the next year.