Dickens' Scrooge 'inspired by Gloucester banker Jemmy' - BBC News
On James "Jemmy" Wood's death, people lined the streets to boo and throw stones at his coffin.
On James "Jemmy" Wood's death, people lined the streets of Gloucester to boo and throw stones at his coffin

Charles Dickens' Scrooge may have been inspired by a miserly Gloucester banker known as "the richest commoner in England".

Local historian Roger Smith said it was "widely accepted" Scrooge was based on James "Jemmy" Wood, who owned a bank on Westgate Street.

Mr Smith said Dickens knew of Jemmy but never actually met him.

"Jemmy was notorious for never spending any money on clothes and was very, very shabby and very grubby," said Mr Smith.

Born in 1756, Mr Wood inherited a shop and bank from his father.

"It was an old fashioned hardware store and in the corner of the shop was the Old County Bank," Mr Smith said.

Despite being "quite illiterate", Jemmy was said to be very shrewd and managed to accumulate a lot of money.

"He was always looking for ways to make money but he was very reluctant to spend it," Mr Smith said.

"He was known as the richest commoner in England."

James "Jemmy" Wood inherited a shop and bank from his father at the start of the 19th Century

Dressed in ragged clothes, the Gloucester miser also chose to shun public transport to save his precious pennies.

"He was travelling back from Tewkesbury in the rain but he was too miserly to pay for a carriage so he decided to walk," said Mr Smith.

"A hearse stopped and asked him if he wanted a lift and he climbed in the back with the coffin.

"He would also go down to the docks to fill his pockets with the coal that had fallen off the ships rather than paying for it."

On his death in 1836, Mr Wood left an estate worth "about £50m in today's money".

"He was abhorred because of his business practices," he said.

"During his funeral procession, the streets were lined with people and they all booed his coffin as it passed and threw stones at it."

"All that's left of him is his grave and a Blue Plaque outside McDonalds," said Mr Smith

But it may have been Jemmy's spectacular meanness that inspired Dickens to immortalize him as the "covetous, old sinner" in A Christmas Carol, where Scrooge is visited by ghosts that show him his past, present and deathly future.

"Charles Dickens was a regular visitor to Gloucester and he knew of Jemmy," said Mr Smith.

"He didn't actually meet him but he knew of Jemmy's practices so it's widely accepted that Jemmy was the inspiration for Scrooge.

"Jemmy was buried in St Mary de Crypt and that's all that's left of him - his grave and a Blue Plaque outside McDonalds."

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