# Sir Evelyn Baring — Eminent Victorians character guide

> Sir Evelyn Baring in Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Baring, Evelyn Baring, Eve

**First appearance:** 0024-the-end-of-general-gordon

## Snapshot

The consul-general whose cool imperial calculus in Cairo must weigh Gordon's messianic mission against the hard facts of Egyptian finance and the Nile.

## Who they are

Baring is the sober administrator in a drama full of fanatics and visionaries, the man who understands that empires are run on budgets, not on heroics. His tension lies in being the voice of restraint against a British public that wants glory and a general who wants martyrdom. He matters because his pragmatic resistance to the relief expedition shapes the fatal delay at the heart of the Khartoum story.

## Relationships

### [General Gordon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/eminent_victorians_se/characters/general_gordon)

_rivalry_

Gordon and Sir Evelyn Baring were in constant conflict over the evacuation of Sudan, with Baring representing cautious imperial policy and Gordon defying orders.

### [General Gordon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/eminent_victorians_se/characters/general_gordon)

_rivalry_

Gordon and Sir Evelyn Baring were in constant conflict over the evacuation of Sudan, with Baring representing cautious imperial policy and Gordon defying orders.

### [General Gordon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/eminent_victorians_se/characters/general_gordon)

_rivalry_

Gordon and Sir Evelyn Baring were in constant conflict over the evacuation of Sudan, with Baring representing cautious imperial policy and Gordon defying orders.

## In the story

### [The End of General Gordon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/eminent_victorians_se/chapters/the-end-of-general-gordon)

The Consul-General in Egypt, whose hesitations about Gordon's appointment were overridden by the government. Gordon satirically imagines Baring 'bumping his way up' to Khartoum on a camel.

### [Bibliography](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/eminent_victorians_se/chapters/bibliography)

Author of 'Modern Egypt' under the title Lord Cromer.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/eminent_victorians_se/characters/sir_evelyn_baring
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/eminent_victorians_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/eminent_victorians_se/characters