Charles Jackson

Life
fl. 1795-1812; known as Charles Jackson of Wexford; author of the ‘loyalist’ A Narrative of the Sufferings and Escape of Charles Jackson, late resident, at Wexford, in Ireland : including an account of several barbarous atrocities committed in June, 1798 (1798, and 5 edns. to 1803); an English-born carver and gilder of picture-frames who moved to Cork c.1795 and afterwards to Wexford; m. a Catholic wife; fled with his family to Wales and London, receiving aid from Irish Protestant groups eager to help “loyalist” refugees; met Joseph Farrington, a member of the Royal Academy through Anglo-Irish literary and artistic figures incl. Edmond Malone, Martin Shee, James Barry and Lords Inchiquinn and Charlemont;

encouraged by Farrington and Malone to turn his experiences of the Rebellion into a ‘narrative’ which was widely read and often quoted by subsequently contemporary writers on the events - including some Catholics who picked up his details of kindly priests much to the annoyance of Sir Richard Musgrave who quoted him on other incidents in his own Memoirs of Different Rebellions [in] Ireland (1801); the Narrative, which some thought beyond the ability of a humble artesan, went into nine editions in London, Dublin, and even Sligo (1799) - often with changes, both additions and omissions;

Though largely his own in substance, the Narrative includes some details not known to him such as the mistreatment of Sir George Ogle’s wife, known to Malone from family correspondence; Jackson moved to Lincolnshire at some date and drowned by night nr. Spalding in 1812; his bereft widow contacted Farrington for support who relates much of Jackson’s history in his copious diaries (17 vols., Harvard 1978-79).

[ top ]

Bibliographical details
A Narrative of the Sufferings and Escape of Charles Jackson, Late Resident at Wexford in Ireland; The First Number of the Report of the Society for Promoting the Comforts of the Poor [with] The Natural Son, A Play [by Arthur Murphy ; Know Your Own Mind, A Comedy [Charles Jackson, Arthur Murphy, & Augustus Von Kotzebue] (Dublin: H Fitzpatrick; A Cunninghame; J Milliken, Carter 1798) - in Tracts [spine] bound with A von Kotzebue, The Natural Son: A Play , trans. by Anne Plumptre (Dublin, H. Fitzpatrick, 1798), xii, pp108; Arthur Murphy, Know Your Own Mind: A Comedy (Dublin: A Chamberlaine 1788), [8] 85pp. [3; Charles Jackson, A Narrative of the Sufferings and Escape [.. &c.] Third Edition (Dublin 1798), [2] x, 89pp. [pp.11-90; and The First Number of the Report of the Society for Promoting the Comforts of the Poor (Dublin: William Watson 1800), xii, xxiv, 72pp., [110pp. [Appendix]. Listed by Christian White, bookseller and described there as an unrecorded edition of Jackson’s Narrative - printed in  London, Dublin and Sligo in the immediate aftermath of the 1798 Rebellion; here styled a first edition [see Christian White, Rare Books - online; valued at £950; accessed 11.06.2024.].  

[ top ]

Criticism
Toby C. Barnard, ‘Fabricating 1798: Charles Jackson’s Narrative’, in Eighteenth-Century Ireland, 31 (2021), pp.71-77 [see extracts]

Commentary
T. Crofton Croker, Researches in the South of Ireland (London: John Murray 1824) contains an allusion to Jackson in the context of a wider account of the apparent succession of rebellions occasioned by "turbulent and disaffected men" (p.14) at different periods in Ireland:

Toby C. Barnard, ‘Fabricating 1798: Charles Jackson’s Narrative’, in Eighteenth-Century Ireland, 31 (2021), pp.71-77: ‘On a dark night in 1812, Charles Jackson was drowned near Spalding in Lincolnshire. The fatality was noted in his journal by Joseph Farington, the artist and diarist. Farington was interested in the story because he recalled how Jackson had escaped from Wexford in 1798. Soon after that event, Jackson came to London, where “from a manuscript account which he [Jackson] wrote by my [Farington’s] direction and from statements which he made to me, I wrote a narrative which was printed and published in his name”;. This unexpected revelation of Farington’s alleged authorship merits investigation. Successive editions of the Narrative bear Jackson’s name on the title-page and sometimes even add “written by himself”.’ (p.71)

Cont. [T. C. Barnard, ‘Fabricating 1798 ...’]: ‘Farington had no strong family links with Ireland. Yet, like many of his acquaintances, he waited apprehensively for news of possible invasion by the French, the 1798 insurrection, and reactions to the subsequent Act of Union. The company that he frequented included several artists of Irish origin – James Barry, Martin Shee, and Horace Hone – and those who had visited the island recently, such as James Gandon and John Harden. Particularly in London, Farington regularly met others with strong Irish connections, notably Lord Inchiquin ([O’Brien]; after 1800, marquess of Thomond) and Edmond Malone. However, none of these links explain why Jackson, newly arrived in London, should have sought out Farington. He was soon to be found at an address near Farington’s house. [...] (Barnard, op. cit., p.71; citing The Diary of Joseph Farington, ed. K. Garlick, et al., 17 vols., Yale UP 1978-79).
[...]
‘Farington was contacted in 1812 by Jackson’s widow, hoping that he might assist the bereft family. How he had come to do so earlier is not clear, but the diary entries from the time of his first encounters with Jackson give more detail about the relationship. Jackson was by trade a carver, gilder, and picture-framer. Early in the 1790s, in search of work, he had migrated to Cork where he married. He is recorded in Cork in 1795, but then moved to Wexford.’ (p.72.)
[...]
‘Jackson’s Narrative recounted his alarming experiences in 1798. Returned to England, he decided to share these experiences more widely. He confessed frankly that thereby he might make some money. The preface to his text also expressed the hope that it would scotch “the wild, irrational, French notions of liberty, equality, which soon exterminated every just principle”. The resulting innovations had opened “a door to confusion, plunder, cruelty, and death”, as displayed in Wexford. As a corrective, the author extolled “the glorious constitution of our ancestors”." (p.73.)
[...]
‘It is unlikely that Farington or Malone acted as passive amanuenses. On 23 August 1798, Farington had written, “this evening I completed Jackson’s narrative from his statement”. But their interventions can only be guessed. In a relaxed domestic setting, Jackson was unlikely to have been intimidated by the avuncular Farington. Malone with his disconcerting “Irish stare” may have been more forceful, but he too was credited with compassion. The most likely additions were the use of Jackson’s perils to generalize about the damaging consequences of subversive ideas and actions.' (p.75.)
[...]
‘Whatever polish was applied by Farington and Malone, they do not appear to have falsified Jackson’s outlook’ (p.76.); ‘Possibly Malone seized the chance of making the Narrative a vehicle of Protestant laments. Farington seems to have been motivated by sheer humanity, appalled by what Jackson had recounted. Details of the process of composition are rarely retrievable for most propaganda, but this rare example cautions against total trust in its authenticity, if not in its veracity. To what degree Jackson was the author of the work published in his name looks uncertain.’ (p.77; end.) [Available at Liverpool UP - online; accessed 11.06.2024.]

[ top ]

References
Belfast Public Library holds Narrative of the suffering and escape of Chas. Jackson ... barbarous atrocity committed by Irish rebels (1802).

[ There are no entries for this author in Dictionary of National Biography, D. J. O’Donoghue, The Poets of Ireland: A Biographical Dictionary (Dublin: Hodges Figgis & Co 1912); Brian Cleeve & Anne Brady, A Dictionary of Irish Writers (Dublin: Lilliput 1985) of the Dictionary of Irish Biography (RIA 2009). ]