I've read a range of suggestions for the origin of the Royal Signals' Mercury figure, from the plausible e.g. 1921-24 boxing champion Jimmy Emblem, to the implausible e.g. 1980s singer Jimmy Somerville (see Laura1976's old post here). Anyway, reading through the Royal Signals magazine The Wire online I noticed that 'Jimmy' (or actually, 'Jim') is referred to as early as June 1920, in the Sports News section; the article lays out the criteria for the award of 'a "Jimmy"' for those representing SSTC (the Signals Service Training Centre, in Sussex) at sports. As the creation of the Corps of Signals was signed off on 28th June 1920, and the Royal Warrant granted 6 weeks later (according to Wikipedia - I know, I know, but still) this June 1920 reference to 'Jim' suggests an earlier origin for the name, presumably from the Royal Engineers Signals Service. The editorial staff of the issue are identified as 'R.E.' on the front page of this issue. So does the name in fact derive from the Royal Engineers? I thought this was interesting - does anybody have an even earlier reference to Jimmy? Is anyone aware of a relevant RE use of the device/name? Here's the initial paragraph of the article: Jimmy.pdf Cheers, Pat.
