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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