A British general held a city for 10 months — killed two days before help arrived

In 1884, General Charles Gordon chose to defend Khartoum against the Mahdist army rather than evacuate it, holding out for almost a year with a badly outnumbered garrison. A relief force the British government had sent only reluctantly, and far too late, arrived two days after the city fell on 26 January 1885. Gordon was killed in the final assault, and the public outcry over the government's delay helped bring down Gladstone's ministry.

— Encyclopaedia Britannica, Siege of Khartoum — Siege lasted March 1884 – January 1885