Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 29.djvu/105

This page has been validated.
Jackson
99
Jackson

ship came to London. Here he assisted William Hughes to engrave the illustrations of Mr. Weare's murder for the ‘Observer,’ and was afterwards employed by James Northcote, R.A. [q. v.], to engrave most of his well-known series of ‘Fables.’ Henceforth Jackson was one of the first engravers of illustrations on wood for popular literature or journalism. His work for Charles Knight's ‘Penny Magazine’ did much to insure the success of the periodical. Jackson also drew and painted domestic subjects with some success. Some of his drawings were engraved in the ‘New Sporting Magazine,’ and to that magazine as well as to Hone's ‘Every-day Book’ he contributed literary articles. Jackson took a literary and historical, as well as a practical interest in his profession as a wood-engraver, and continually collected materials for a history of wood-engraving. Ultimately he and his intimate friend, William Andrew Chatto [q. v.], joined together in bringing out the work in 1839. The project was Jackson's; the subjects were selected by him, and he contributed some of the historical matter, bore the cost of production, and engraved the illustrations; some of his best work as a wood-engraver is to be found in the first edition. The whole was edited and brought into shape by Chatto. A dispute followed between Jackson and Chatto as to their respective shares in the credit of producing it. Jackson died in London of chronic bronchitis on 27 March 1848, and was buried in Highgate cemetery. He was the brother of Mason Jackson, the well-known wood-engraver. There are good examples of his work in the print room at the British Museum.

[Information from Mr. Mason Jackson.]

L. C.

JACKSON, JOHN (1811–1885), bishop successively of Lincoln and of London, the son of Henry Jackson of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, and afterwards of London, was born in London on 22 Feb. 1811. He was educated under Dr. Valpy at Reading, and became scholar of Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1829. In 1833 he came out in the first class in the honour school of lit. human., a class which also contained the names of Charles John, afterwards Earl Canning, Henry George Liddell, afterwards dean of Christ Church, Robert Scott, afterwards dean of Rochester, and Robert Lowe, afterwards Lord Sherbrooke. Jackson remained at Oxford a short time after taking his degree, and failed in a competition for a fellowship at Oriel, but in 1834 was awarded the Ellerton theological prize. In 1835 he was ordained deacon, and began pastoral work as a curate at Henley-on-Thames. This he relinquished in 1836 to become head-master of the Islington proprietary school. Settled in North London, Jackson rapidly won a position as a preacher. As evening lecturer at Stoke Newington parish church he delivered the sermons on ‘The Sinfulness of Little Sins,’ the most successful of his published works. In 1842 he was appointed first incumbent of St. James's, Muswell Hill, retaining his mastership the while. In 1845 his university made him one of its select preachers, an honour repeated in 1850, 1862, and 1866. In 1853 Jackson was Boyle lecturer, and in the same year, at the suggestion of his friend Canon Harvey (to whom the post was first offered), whose curate he had been at Hornsey, he was made vicar of St. James's, Piccadilly. There his reputation as a good organiser and a thoughtful, if not brilliant, preacher steadily grew. He was appointed chaplain in ordinary to the queen in 1847, and canon of Bristol in 1853. In the same year the see of Lincoln fell vacant by the death of Dr. Kaye, and Lord Aberdeen asked Jackson to fill it. The choice was widely approved. Even Samuel Wilberforce thought it ‘quite a respectable appointment,’ which, however, had ‘turned at the last on a feather's weight’ (Life, ii. 179). The diocese found in Jackson the thorough, methodical, patient worker it needed. He welded together the counties of Lincoln and Nottingham, galvanised into life the ruridecanal system, stimulated the educational work of the diocese, and raised the tone of its clergy. In convocation he was active, but rarely spoke in the House of Lords. When Tait was translated from London to Canterbury in 1868, Jackson was unexpectedly selected by Mr. Disraeli, then prime minister, for the vacant see of London. The choice was amply vindicated by the results. Jackson, like his predecessor, had the mind of a lawyer, and was a thorough man of business. Despite grave anxieties over ritual prosecutions, he achieved much that was valuable. By the creation of the diocese of St. Albans, and the rearrangement of Rochester and Winchester, the diocese of London was made more workable, and towards the end of his life a suffragan was appointed for the oversight of East London. Jackson energetically supported the Bishop of London's Fund, encouraged the organisation of lay help, and, after much hesitation, created a diocesan conference. At first opposed to the ritual movement, he displayed toleration in his final action in the case of A. H. Mackonochie [q. v.] He died suddenly on 6 Jan. 1885, and was buried in Fulham churchyard. Methodical in thought and act, Jackson was