John Jackson (1843-1899)
John Jackson (1843-1899)
1899 Obituary [1]
JOHN JACKSON, youngest son of the late Sir William Jackson, Bart., was born on the 9th September, 1843.
After serving a pupilage of five years to the late John T. Woodhouse, of Derby, well known in that district as a mining engineer, he took charge, in 1866, of the extensive works and mines of the Clay Cross Coal and Iron Co, near Chesterfield, of which his father was the proprietor, jointly with Sir Morton Peto and Sir Joshua Walmsley.
These works are interesting as having been founded by George Stephenson at the time he was engaged in constructing the Midland Railway in the neighbourhood of Chesterfield.
During the thirty-three years Mr. Jackson held that important post he was regarded as a model employer of labour, always willing to hear representations as to complaints, and ready, when circumstances justified him, to redress grievances. In the memorable struggle of 1893, he was one of the employers who, with representatives of the miners, sat at the "Round Table Conference," with Lord Rosebery in the chair.
Mr. Jackson was a Justice of the Peace for the county of Derbyshire, and when his health permitted, was regular in his attendance at the Petty Sessions at Alfreton and Clay Cross. He took a deep interest in the affairs of the important mining centre, near which he lived, and indeed, in most of the public movements of the district and county.
When the proposal was made to perpetuate the memory of George Stephenson by erecting a Memorial Hall in Chesterfield, where Stephenson lived and died, he gave his hearty support to the project, and became one of the guarantors. Lately the Hall passed by purchase into the hands of the Chesterfield Corporation.
Mr. Jackson associated himself with the Chesterfield Institution of Mining and Mechanical Engineers, of which he was one of the most active members and at one time President. Personally, he was of a quiet kindly disposition, liked by everybody with whom he was associated. Through his thoughtfulness and consideration the affairs of the Company, so far as the relations between employers and employed were concerned, worked very smoothly, and the Clay Cross Company escaped much unpleasant friction by reason of his tact and kindness.
Mr. Jackson was in feeble health for some time before his death, which took place at Falmouth on the 28th February, 1899.
He was elected an Associate of the Institution on the 3rd February, 1874, and was transferred to the class of Members on the 4th November, 1879.
1899 Obituary [2]
JOHN JACKSON, of Stubben Edge, Chesterfield, died at Falmouth on February 28, 1899, at the age of fifty-five. He was the principal partner in the Clay Cross Coal and Iron Company, and was one of the leading men in the Midland coalfield. He was regarded as a model employer of labour; and in the Coal War of 1893 he was one of the coal-owners who sat at the round-table conference at the Foreign Office. He was a Justice of the Peace for Derbyshire, a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and for some time president of the Chesterfield Institute of Mining Engineers.
He was elected a member of the Iron and Steel Institute in 1881.