Daft Jimmy

Posted by Victoria S Dennis March 04, 2009 at 21:41In reply to Daft Jimmy posted by Graham Cambray on March 04, 2009 at 14:52:

What is the origin of 'worse than the murder of daft Jimmy'?

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A very limited contribution - it may be Scottish in origin. At [Dead link removed - ed]
one Joan Green recalls the old phrase:
"Whit a commoshum. It wiz wurse thin the murdir o' daft Jimmy."
(GC)

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A possible origin for this phrase might have been the murder of James Wilson by Burke and Hare. A children's entertainer, he appears to have been known in his day as "Daft Jamie" rather than "Daft Jimmy", however. This is a suggestion and nothing more. (GC)

It's a perfectly plausible one, however, given the huge notoriety of the "Burke and Hare" case. (VSD)