Wednesday 23 October 2024

JIMMY DURHAM

Jimmy Durham, found as a toddler in Sudan,was the first African to join the British Army as a fully enlisted soldier.

Jimmie (his original name Mustapha) was found floating in a makeshift  boat on the river  Nile during the Battle of Ginnis in 1885 at the age of two. His father had been killed in the battle while his mother had  fled in fear.

His parents were among thousands  of Mahdist warriors who clashed with British forces at Ginnis.The Mahdist State covered Abu Hamad in the North to Juba  in the South. Umm Badr  in the West to  Kassala in the East.

In the run-up  to the battle, the Mahdist  warriors, among  them  Jimmie's father, covered their bodies  with war paint  in the belief  that it would protect them from British  bullets.

Jimmie's father also took his wife and his little baby  to the war front, all of them covered  in war paints. However the magic paint didn't  work and the Mahdist were  felled by British  bullets one after  the other. 

Jimmie's  father was among  those who were killed  while  his mother fled out of fear leaving him behind. Other fleeing warriors  saw the baby on the battlefield, picked  him  and tried to sail down  the river Nile  to escape British  firepower.

Unfortunately  the British  forces  saw the boat and opened fire forcing the warriors  to flee by swimming  across  the Nile leaving  the baby and  a seriously wounded warrior in the small boat. When the British moved closer to check  what  was inside  the boat, they found the little baby still painted in war colours lying  next to the injured warrior.

When they enquired details of the baby  from the injured  warrior, he told them the baby was called Mustapha and his father had been killed on the battlefield  while his mother had   fled.  The British  soldiers took the child  and   adopted him as their  "regimental pet". They named  him James Francis Durham. The first two names  in honour  of two British  soldiers  who took care of him and the third in honour  of the regiment (Durham Light Infantry Regiment).

When the regiment  moved to Asia  and eventually to Britain, the soldiers  took Jimmy  with them. He was placed  in the custody of   Sergeant Robson who became  his adopted  father. In  1898 when the regiment  moved  to Burma, Jimmy also moved there and applied  to join  the British  Army as a child  soldier no. 6758, aged 14 years old.

However his application  had to be approved  first by Queen Victoria because no Africans were allowed to join  the British  Army  on the same terms as white soldiers. Because  of the support  given to the application by NCOs who had taken care of Jimmy, the application was approved  by Queen Victoria.

Jimmy served  in various stations in different  continents. He also joined the regimental band, playing the clarinet.

Despite being  Black,Jimmy considered the family of Sergeant  Robson as his own. After all, they had taken care of him ever since he was a child.This is evident  in a letter he wrote to Stella  the daughter  of Sergeant  Robson in 1908  stating:

"Dear Stella,

I hope you will always reckon me as your brother. I have known you from when you were a dear little child and I always used to look to your father and dear mother as my mother as well. They have treated me like one of you all.

Our band are in hopes of coming to Newcastle as we have been engaged to play at different places and I believe we are going to finish up at Darlington.I shall be very likely to be able to see you all,and l would like you to hear our band.

Your loving brother Jimmy".

Stella would later ask Jimmy to be godfather to her baby. 

Jimmy married a white lady called  Jane Green, who happened  to be a sister to  the quartermaster sergeant of the regiment.

In 1910, Jimmy was deployed to Ireland together with other soldiers but the weather there had a negative  impact on his health. He developed pneumonia  which killed him at the age of 27, leaving behind his expectant wife. 

His only child, a daughter, was born three  weeks  after  his burial. Sadly his daughter  who died in 1998, never had a child.

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