Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Jackson, John (d.1689?)
JACKSON, JOHN (d. 1689?), organist and composer, was ‘instructor in musick’ at Ely in 1669 for one quarter only. He was organist of Wells Cathedral in 1676, and died at Wells probably in 1689, as administration was granted of his goods to Dorothea, his widow, in the December of that year. There are printed in Dering's ‘Cantica Sacra,’ second book, 1674, two of Jackson's anthems, ‘Set up Thyself’ and ‘Let God arise.’ In Tudway's manuscript collection, vol. ii. (Brit. Mus. Harl. MS. 7338), is Jackson's solo anthem, ‘The Lord said unto my Lord;’ in the choir-books of Wells are a service in C, and some single parts of various anthems and of a burial service. In the library of the Royal College of Music four out of the five chants described as ‘Welles tunes’ are attributed to Jackson, together with the organ part of the service in C, and of the anthems, ‘The days of Man,’ ‘O Lord, let it be Thy pleasure,’ ‘The Lord said unto my Lord,’ ‘O how amiable,’ ‘Christ our Passover,’ ‘Many a time’ (a thanksgiving anthem for 9 Sept. 1683), ‘God standeth in the congregation,’ and ‘I said in the cutting off of my days’ (a thanksgiving anthem for recovery from a dangerous illness).
[Grove's Dict. of Music, ii. 27; Cat. of the Library of the Sacred Harmonic Society; Dickson's Ely Cathedral; P. C. C. Administration Acts, December 1689.]