James Guidney - Birmingham Daily Post 10 January 1859

James Guidney or Jemmy the Rock Man (born 1779 or 1782; died 1866) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

soldier and later street pedlar in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, England. Guidney was born in Norwich in 1779 or 1782. He received five years of part-time education, and worked as an

errand boy A courier is a person or organization that delivers a message, package or letter from one place or person to another place or person. Typically, a courier provides their courier service on a commercial contract basis; however, some couriers are ...

, before joining the 48th (Northamptonshire) Regiment, initially as a drummer boy, in 1797. He served with them in

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

and then

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

, where he lost his right eye as the result of

Ophthalmia Ophthalmia (; also called ophthalmitis, and archaically obtalmy) is inflammation of the eye. It results in congestion of the eyeball, often eye-watering, redness and swelling, itching and burning, and a general feeling of irritation under the ey ...

. In around 1809 he transferred to the First Royal Veteran Battalion, claiming to have eventually been promoted to "Sergeant and Drum Major to the Battalion". Several artists painted Guidney; a watercolour portrait by John Church Dempsey is in the

Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) is a museum located in Hobart, Tasmania. The museum was established in 1846, by the Royal Society of Tasmania, the oldest Royal Society outside England. The TMAG receives 400,000 visitors annually. ...

and three in oil (one by

William Thomas Roden William Thomas Roden (31 May 1818 – 25 December 1892) was a nineteenth-century English artist. Life William Thomas Roden was born in Bradford Street, Birmingham, England, the son of William and Sarah Roden. He was apprenticed to a Mr. Vye, ...

), and a watercolour, are in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, which also holds a silver plated relief, and the tin from which he sold medicated toffee, "good for cough or cold". His short biography, ''Some particulars of the life and adventures of James Guidney, a well known character in Birmingham. Written from his own account of himself.'', was published anonymously in Birmingham and ran to at least four editions, with revisions. It is considered autobiographical, and has many demonstrably-incorrect dates. Among the incidents described are the capture of a purported

mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are ...

, and a lamb that Guidney claimed had assumed human form and instructed him to grow a beard. Guidney died on 28 September 1866 and is buried in Birmingham's

Witton Cemetery Witton Cemetery (), which opened in Witton in 1863 as Birmingham City Cemetery, is the largest cemetery in Birmingham, England. Covering an area of , it once had three chapels; however, two of these were demolished in 1980. The cemetery would ...

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Guidney, James 19th-century British Army personnel 18th-century British Army personnel Northamptonshire Regiment soldiers 18th-century births 1866 deaths Military personnel from Norwich