Uncle Jimmy

Richard Ashworth ‘Jimmy’ Hamer 1905-1982

Jimmy was the youngest child of Thurston and Rose Mary ‘Rosita’ Hamer. The story I was told was that when Jimmy was born there were complications in his feeding and the baby and mother both came close to death. The father rushed to have the baby baptised, and he was given the name Richard. Both baby and mother survived, and Rosita was very upset because she said she had wanted the child to be called James or Jimmy. Thereafter he was called Jimmy, and people were often surprised when on legal documents that name never appeared.

Jimmy was the only child living at home with his parents in January/February 1913 when the unfolding of the Mexican Revolution began to have a major impact on the safety and well-being of the residents of Mexico City. At the beginning of the ‘Decena Tragica‘ Thurston and Rosita locked up their house on Calle Genova, and took Jimmy with them to a hotel in the city centre while they made plans to leave the city. Jimmy would have been 8 years old at the time, and it must have been frightening when the day came to leave the comparative safety of the hotel and risk a passage to the train station in a coach. Jimmy and his mother were packed around with suitcases in case they came under fire. They got to the station safely and took one of the last trains out of the city to the safety of Veracruz, where they lived for some time.

I believe that Jimmy and his mother were very close. She died when he was 28, and he lived after that with his father. After the death of his father in 1945, Jimmy was offered a room in the

Jimmy at the organ

house of his brother-in-law, Kenneth Bannister, and he lived at Reforma 13 for the remainder of his life. I remember his room there which was always extremely neat and tidy and contained evidence of some of his hobbies. He was an enthusiastic photographer, and had an 8mm movie camera and projector, and he loved putting on film shows for us. He also played the piano and he bought himself a small organ which he could play with headphones, and from which he derived much pleasure.

Jimmy never married and think he never held down a full-time job. He worked as a part-time book-keeper for many years for various organisations, including the British Benevolent Society and eventually for Longman in Mexico.

He was an exceedingly gentle, kind and generous man. He liked children, and became a friend of his nephews and nieces and eventually great-nephews too. When my brother and I were young we would see a lot of ‘Uncle Jimmy’ (he was actually a great-uncle of course).

Jimmy reads to Michael and Richard

He would read to us and as we grew older he shared with us his love of trains. He had some electric train sets and he participated enthusiastically in contributing to and helping to set up quite an impressive set of trains (HO gauge) in what had been John Golding’s studio at Calle Comunal 52. He loved organising treats and expeditions, which often involved trains. I remember going to the zoo in Mexico City with him and riding on the miniature train there, and also a couple of trips by train to Cuernavaca. When we were small Jimmy would often babysit for us, and we always greatly looked forward to those occasions. He would make us French toast for supper and would read to us and play games with us. He also became a firm friend of Christopher Plummer, and great-nephew who was a little younger than Richard and me.

I owe a lot to Uncle Jimmy. I have a weakness for puns, thanks to him, and he taught me to love and enjoy the writings of Stephen Leacock. He was very much a favourite uncle, a visitor from the adult world who was able to fully understand and participate in the joys and explorations of the growing child.