National Hunt jockey John Didman was born in Langley, Buckinghamshire in 1855. He rode his first winner on Scipio in the Hendon Handicap Steeplechase ay Kingsbury on January 9, 1875.
His most successful year in the saddle was in 1884 when he rode 11 winners. Also that year, he came close to landing a big race triumph when finishing runner-up on Pinafore behind the 1879 Grand National winner The Liberator in the Grand Annual Chase at Cheltenham.
He had finished third in the race two years earlier.
He rode a total of 47 winners over jumps, the last of them on 5-4 joint-favourite Modjeska, who came home eight lengths clear in the Selling Steeplechase at Wye on November 25, 1885.
John Didman died in 1932.