Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Jackman, Isaac
JACKMAN, ISAAC (fl. 1795), journalist and dramatist, born about the middle of the eighteenth century in Dublin, practised as an attorney there. He ultimately removed to London and wrote for the stage. His ‘Milesian,’ a comic opera, on its production at Drury Lane on 20 March 1777, met with an indifferent reception (Biog. Dramat.; Genest, Engl. Stage, v. 554). It was published in 1777. ‘All the World's a Stage,’ a farce by Jackman in two acts and in prose, was first acted at Drury Lane, 7 April 1777, and was frequently revived. Genest (ib.) characterises it as an indifferent piece, which met with more success than it deserved. It was printed in 1777, and reprinted in Bell's ‘British Theatre’ and other collections. ‘The Divorce,’ ‘a moderate farce, well received,’ produced at Drury Lane 10 Nov. 1781, and afterwards twice revived, was printed in 1781 (ib. vi. 214). ‘Hero and Leander,’ a burletta by Jackman (in two acts, prose and verse), was produced ‘with the most distinguished applause,’ says the printed copy, at the Royalty Theatre, Goodman's Fields, in 1787. Jackman prefixed a long dedication to Phillips Glover of Wispington, Lincolnshire, in the shape of a letter on ‘Royal and Royalty Theatres,’ purporting to prove the illegality of the opposition of the existing theatres to one just opened by Palmer in Wellclose Square, Tower Hamlets. Jackman seems to be one of two young Irishmen who edited the ‘Morning Post’ for a few years between 1786 and 1795, and involved the printer and proprietor in several libel cases (Fox Bourne, Hist. of Newspapers; John Taylor, Record of my Life, ii. 268).
[Authorities in text; Webb's Irish Biography, quoting Dublin Univ. Mag.]