James Francis Durham

James Francis Durham ( 8 August 1910), originally named Mustapha , was a Sudanese child found and adopted by the Durham Light Infantry after the Battle of Ginnis in 1885 during the Mahdist War. He is likely the first African soldier in the British Army.

Early life and education In 1885, a young Mustapha was found alone near the Nile by the 2nd Battalion of The Durham Light Infantry (DLI) after the Battle of Ginnis against the Mahdist State. Following the battle, a patrol led by Lieutenant Henry de Beauvoir de Lisle attacked the nuggar barge on which the boy's mother was trying to escape the area with him. The troops found the child near a river barge on the Nile. The boy's father, a Sheik (officer) in the Sudanese army, had been killed in the battle, and he had been separated from his mother, leaving him alone. just weeks before the birth of his daughter, Frances. He was buried in Fermoy Military Cemetery.