Material relating to General Gordon's visit to China in 1880, mainly correspondence between his brother Sir Henry Gordon and Thomas Wade. The papers concern the controversy attached to Gordon's visit, such as H.W. Gordon's claim that Wade and others had encouraged Li Hung-Chang to rebel against the government in Peking, which Wade denied.

The collection concerns General Charles George Gordon (1833-1885) and his visit China in 1880, which was prompted by a telegram he received from Sir Robert Hart (1835-1911), commissioner of customs in Peking. Gordon's mission was to advise the Chinese government on the threat of war with Russia. During his time in China he visited his old friend Li Hung-Chang. Other individuals that figure in the collection are Sir Henry William Gordon (1818-1887), author of Events in the life of Gordon (London, 1886); Thomas Francis Wade (1818-1895), diplomat and first professor of Chinese at Cambridge; Sir Philip Henry Wodehouse Currie (1834-1906); Colonel Sir John Fretcheville Dykes Donnelly (1834-1902); Amelia Wade (née Herschel), wife of T.F. Wade; Colonel Thomas Wade (d. 1846), father of T.F. Wade; and the Rev. John Charles Pollock (b. 1923).