He entered the
Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and was commissioned a
lieutenant in the
Royal Artillery on 27 July 1880. He served in
India and
Aden from March 1881 to 1883, when he joined the 4th
Battalion of the
Egyptian Army on its reorganisation by
Sir Evelyn Wood with the
brevet rank of
major. In the
Gordon Relief Expedition of 1884–1885, he was
ADC and military secretary to Wood. After holding an appointment in England for a brief period as ADC to Wood, who was now
General Officer Commanding Eastern District, he rejoined the Egyptian Army in 1886 as assistant military secretary to
Sir Francis Grenfell. He took part in the operations on the
Sudan frontier in 1889, including the engagement at
Toski and in the further operations in 1891, being present at the capture of
Tokar. His principal work was in the intelligence branch, of which he became assistant
adjutant-general in 1888 and director in 1892. A master of
Arabic, his knowledge of the country, the examination of prisoners, refugees and others from the Sudan, and the study of documents captured from the
Dervishes enabled him to publish in 1891
Mahdiism and the Egyptian Sudan, an authoritative account of the rise of
Muhammad Ahmad and of subsequent events in the Sudan up to that date. In 1894 he was governor of
Suakin. He was promoted to
brevet lieutenant-colonel on 18 November 1896. . Largely through his assistance,
Fathers Ohrwalder and Rossignoli, and two nuns escaped from Omdurman in 1891. Wingate also made the arrangements which led to the escape of
Slatin Pasha in 1895. He translated into
English Father Ohrwalder's narrative (''Ten Years in the Mahdi's Camp'', 1892) and Slatin's book (
Fire and Sword in the Sudan; 1896). As director of military intelligence he served in the campaigns of 1896–1898 which resulted in the reconquest of the Sudan, including the engagement at
Firket, the battles of the
Atbara and
Omdurman and the expedition to Fashoda. He was again
Mentioned in despatches for this work. He briefly (March–June 1897) went to
Abyssinia as second in command of the
Rennell Rodd mission. For his services he was promoted brevet
colonel and made an extra ADC to
Queen Victoria on 17 December 1897. On 8 September 1898, he was promoted to the regimental rank of
major. Wingate was in command of an expeditionary force which in November 1899 defeated the remnant of the
Dervish host at the
Umm Diwaykarat,
Kordofan, the
khalifa being among the slain. His daughter who was named Victoria Alexandrina Catherine Wingate was born the day after the victory against the Khalifa. Her baptism took place in January 1900 at All Saints' Church,
Cairo. As a measure of the esteem in which Wingate was held, Queen Victoria was the child's principal Godmother. ==Administrative career==