Born Kirkby-Lonsdale, Westmorland; vicar of Hatton and Whittington, Lancashire.
 Kirkby Lonsdale 1865 Ordnance Survey.
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It took a lot of deft maneuvering for Rev. Richard JACKSON (1602-1681) to hold on to his financial assets, many of which had become seriously diminished by the mid-1600s. It was one hot mess of a time to be living in - with the collision of cultural-financial-religious power struggles reaching their peak in both England and Ireland. Even so, at the end of his life, he was able to pass on significant wealth to many of his 23 children, most of whom had lived to adulthood and many of whom had settled in Ireland (his 1st wife Dorothy OTWAY was mother of the first 15 children and died abt 1645; his 2nd wife Jane CARTER gave birth to the remaining 8 children). In the lives of his surviving children, the uplift from his financial legacy, as well as the contribution of his mercantile, church and government connections are clear. Many of his descendants went on to exercise considerable political and economic power in Ireland for at least the next couple of hundred years.
We catch an early glimpse of Rev. Richard in 1645 (age 43) when the likely final outcome of the conflict between the Royalists (Established Church) and the Parliamentarians (Puritans etc) was still unpredictable. It is clear that his faith loyalties kept shifting according to his short-term needs. To use a hockey metaphor, he often knew how to skate to where the puck was going to be, not where it had been. Following the hockey metaphor, imagine him digging in with the inside edges of his theological skates, leaning into each turn and using the friction to pivot – sometimes towards loyalty to the Puritans, sometimes to the Royalists, and then precipitously pivoting again and again as needed. Avoiding a painful fall in this kind of game was a mix of luck, timing, and connections.
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Jackson Hall, the birthplace of Rev. Richard, now operating as the Royal Hotel. It remained owned by members of the extended family well into the mid-1800s.I stayed there in 2015. |
Rev. Richard was a son of William JACKSON, a well-heeled mercer and merchant of Kirkby Lonsdale, and Mary SLATER of Keighley near Bradford, Yorkshire. Based on the assets mentioned in his father’s 1626 April 20 will, one would assume that he was financially secure, but two decades later, in the mid-1640s, he faced financial ruin after lending a significant sum of money to a recusant. Because the anti-Catholic laws had both been enacted and (more pertinently) had finally been effectively enforced, this debtor had no way of repaying him. In 1645, Rev. Richard appealed to Col. Gervaise BENSON (abt 1610-1679), [a Parliamentarian who later became a Quaker], who had close connections to Oliver CROMWELL. As BENSON put it in a letter sent to Whitehall, to the Right Honourable Lord WARTON aka Philip Wharton, 4th Baron Wharton (1613–1696):
 Philip WHARTON: Portrait 1632 by Anthony van Dyke |
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…. I am intreated by two speaciall friends to the cause to write to yor Lorp in ther behalfe. I make bold to do it knoweing yor Lorps readynes & noble disposition to here & help honest men, in any lawfull & faiseable mattr. First one Mr. Jackson ministr of Whittingham neare Kyrby Lonsdall, a vry pious & honest able man haveing heretofore entred bond as surety wth a popish recusant (I psume it was wth hopes to gayne him to or Church) principall for the sume of 100£, this was donne before these troubles, & the popish gentleman proveing a Delinquent all his lands & meanes beinge sequestred, is utterly disabled to satisfy that debt, whereuppon honest Mr. Jackson is like to beare the burden, but I feare it will breake his backe & the creditours (now tyme begineing to be open (?) in Lancashire where Mr. Jackson lives that suites may be tryed) doth labour to pursue Mr. Jackson & recovr his 100£ of him wch indeed is easyly done for the bond is cleere. Yet if lawe pceede agaynst Mr. Jackson & compell him to pay it as it will do, he will "be undone, and not able to subsist haveing wife & many children, 14 children he hath & the 15th (is by this tyme borne for every houre his wife lookes for it) this is this honest ministrs desire & I earnestly desire the same, that yor Lorp be pleased to advise his friend (that will repaire to yor Lorp) what course may be taken that Mr. Jackson may have satisfaction, if any be to be had out of the delinquents estate of lands or woods, or any way whereby himselfe & the publike be not priudiced, we leave it to yor Lorps wisdome, & information of any that shall be imployed to come to yor Lorp. I am sure if yor Lorp can help him you shall not neede repent of it he is so honest a ministr. SOURCE: The Ejected of 1662 in Cumberland and Westmorland. p. 890: 1645 Feb 28: Letter from Right Honrable Col. Benson NOTE: Given the uptick in the state of Rev. Richard’s financial health, BENSON’s intervention seems to have been effective. |
It is most likely that the popish recusant, the man who had incurred the debt wth hopes to gayne him to or Church principall, was the Catholic landlord and advowson of the Whittington Parish. Was this loan a dodgy part of Rev. Richard attempting to buy the seat? Possibly. Also, given the timing, it is likely that his first wife, Dorothy OTWAY, died in childbirth shortly after giving birth to Roger JACKSON (1645-1682). He was baptized March 15, 1645.
The conflation of the roles of advowsons (the power to appoint priests) with that of landlords was long standing and had originated from the practice of landlords donating lands for parish churches, and then being granted certain powers as recompence. Of course, this custom became decidedly wobbly when the advowson held to a faith that diverged from the politically permitted faith of the time. In 1635, Thomas CARUS, the patron of Whittington, was one of those who had been convicted of recusancy; in this case he had refused to attend Established Church services.
As a consequence, all his lands & meanes [were] sequestered during the First English Civil War. A few decades later, his patronage of Whittington Parish was transferred to Edward MIDDLETON. This transfer seems to have been a work-around in the legal grey area and was later judged to have been collusive. [SEE: British History: Whittington].
Although the ownership of Established Church parishes by Catholic landlords was not common, neither was it unheard of. Power shapeshifts, as always, according to need. Under-the-table deals for privileges were not unheard of. When Edward MIDDLETON in his role as advowson on Oct. 6, 1640 had appointed Rev. Richard as cleric of Whittington, it seems likely that there had been some quid pro quo involved. As a consequence, eight months later, on June 12, 1641 Rev Richard had to be reappointed, this time by King Charles (1600-1649), by lapse, as a result of the earlier buying or selling (aka simony) of an ecclesiastical privilege, in this case a permanent Church appointment. NOTE: The 2nd instance of simony mentioned in the table beneath was to Rev. Thomas BOUCHE (1654-1716) aka BOWTH, the husband of Vigesima JACKSON, Rev. Richard’s 20th living child. Her name was the Latin word for 20th.
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SOURCE: The History of the County Palatine and Duchy of Lancaster, Volume 2. edited by William Robert Whatton, John Harland, Brooke Herford |
A sundial at the Parish bearing the inscription Ex dn. Ric. Jackson Rector de Whittington An. Dn. 1641 recorded the date of Rev. Richard’s 2nd appointment to the Parish – the one by King Charles I, not his initial appointment by MIDDLETON. SOURCE: 'The parish of Whittington', A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 8 (1914), pp. 241-252. I do not know if it still exists.
ADDED April 1, 2025: The History of the County Palatine and Duchy of Lancaster, Volume 5. Edward Baines
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Two years later, in 1648, he was included as “Richard Jackson, pastor at Whittington” in the list of those who signed: The harmonious consent of the ministers of the province within the county palatine of Lancaster: with their reverend brethren the ministers of the province of London, in their late testimonie to the trueth of Jesus Christ, and to our Solemn League and Covenant : as also against the errours, heresies, and blasphemies of these times, and the toleration of them.
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That this extraordinary document was subscribed by nearly all the presbyterian ministers of Lancashire can be explained only by supposing that they were frightened out of calm thought and wise consideration by the monstrous apparitions, which were rising on all sides and threatening their newly-established Church. The signs of the times were disastrous; the portents were such as neither they nor their fathers had ever seen before. [SOURCE: Lancashire: Its Puritanism and Nonconformity. Robert Halley]. p 263] |
ADDED April 1, 2025: Lancashire Church Surveys 1650.
A lot of what was happening can not be reduced to any sharply defined polarities of white and black. The term Puritan often included Presbyterians and other dissenters (such as Quakers) and could apply to any denomination which committed to purify the Church of England of Papist practices. Presbyterians and other dissenters might in good conscience then choose to side with the Puritans but at the same time to maintain some of their Establishment Church alliances. One example of this would be John JACKSON b 1570 of Melsonby Yorkshire who was described as a Puritan but was also a known Royalist. [SOURCE: Alumni Cantabrigienses]. As was Rev. Richard:
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JACKSON, RICHARD. Matric. pens, from CHRIST'S, July, 1619; B.A. 1622; M.A. 1626. R. of Halton, Lanes., 1630-41. R. of Whittington, 1641-80. A member of the Presbyterian Classis, but conformed at the Restoration. Will (Archd. Richmond) 1680. Father of Francis (1649), Leonard (1668) and William (1644-5). (yte. Hist, of Lancs., vm. 251; E. Axon.). SOURCE: Alumni Cantabrigienses: A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates Cambridge Students list. |
After the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, Rev. Richard continued on as the Parish minister at Whittington for two more decades. The bequests itemized in his 1679 January 15 will reveal the extent to which his theological skating skills had paid off financially. At the time of his death in 1681 at age 79, he not only owned leases to several parcels of land but also had a library valued at £40, debts owing to him worth £60, plus all kinds of livestock, hay, corn, flax, meal, malt, hemp and yarn, for a total valuation (seemingly not including land) of £326.6.0 (or about £40,000 in todays currency). Not surprisingly, given the future fortunes of his sons, he had profited from a range of enterprises. Specific gold coins were also described and bequeathed, and he may have been a collector. One was engraved: In Hoc Signe Vinces: In this sign you will conquer.
 Source of Image: CoinQuest. |
Another coin that likely held personal and religious meaning for him was a coin minted in the 1640s which was described in his will as: Angell of gold of King Charles the first this Coyne bearing his Standard on the one side of it with this inscription for the Protestant Religion of privilege of Parliament, and the liberty of the Subject with this model in ring or edges of it Vizt. Exurgat Deus et Dissipentur Inimici . King Charles was the king to whom he had owed his reappointment in 1641, the time frame in which this coin was minted.
 These
coins were named after the Archangel St Michael who is depicted on the
reverse slaying a dragon. They were legal tender but also used as healing
amulets. It was believed that kings could cure people suffering from the
‘King’s Evil’ (scrofula),
and Charles I performed healing ceremonies in which these coins were given to
sufferers to wear around their necks. This coin
is pierced so that when looking down the wearer would be able to see St
Michael. |
Although Rev Richard’s twenty-three children as well as dozens of their Irish descendants were generally regarded as Church of Ireland, many of them went on to align as Presbyterian (or both/and) when it suited and Church of Ireland when it didn’t - for example, one had to be Church of Ireland to be able to assume political office. Later, in the 1766 Religious census, a couple of JACKSONs in Co. Armagh – James & Owen - likely descendants of Rev. Richard - were even recorded as Catholic (perhaps as a result of marriage). In later years, the forenames of Catholic JACKSONs shapeshifted and names such as John became Sean and so on.
These shifting allegiances of faith and politics continued over the course of several generations in Ireland, not only amongst the mercantile-class families such as the JACKSONs, but also amongst the organizations to which they belonged, such as the Clothworkers Guild of Derry.
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The Livery Companies were often viewed as a
source of ready cash by the monarchy and during the political troubles of the
seventeenth century they received many demands for money; in 1640 and 1641
alone these requests exceeded £10,000. Unable to meet the King’s
precepts, the Company was forced to borrow from individual members.
When Civil War erupted in 1642, further demands arrived, now from Parliament
and the City. |
Following on the heels of Rev. Richard, two of his sons became Church of England ministers: Francis JACKSON (1632-1670) & Leonard JACKSON (1650-1726), as did some of his grandsons and the husbands of two of his daughters (Rev. Thomas BOUCHE husband of Vigesima and Rev. John BRIGGS husband of Mary).
Later, in 1691, in keeping with the family tradition of staying connected to the church, Rev. Richard’s eldest son William JACKSON (1628-1688) – a merchant of Coleraine and MP for Londonderry in the Irish Parliament - contributed land for the church at Ardacleve (aka Articlave Lower Parish Dunboe, Barony Coleraine, Co. Londonderry) This transfer was witnessed by his younger brother Samuel JACKSON (1641-1706) who was mostly based in Dublin.
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St Paul’s Church was built to replace the ruin at Downhill. It is generally believed that Articlave village was the first settlement on the Clothworker Company Estate in 1611 and that the site was in all probability selected on account of the nearby river. When the ecclesiastical authorities had to consider the necessity of providing a new church for the parish it was natural that they should select the most advantageous position. A certain Captain Jackson gave a grant of one acre of land, and on this land the church was built. Bishop Hopkins gave the consent for the building of this church and Bishop King consecrated it on June 2nd, 1691. SOURCE: John Campbell on Flickr. |
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This inclination to be open to bridging the faith divide was also evidenced in the life of this Samuel JACKSON (1641-1706) of Dublin. After he had purchased several townlands in Co. Meath (lands forfeited in 1641 by the Catholic Royalist DRAKE family), he then leased the DRAKE lands back to the family on favourable terms. Not only was he welcome to visit the DRAKEs in their Co. Meath home, Drakerath, and stay for a few days with them, but he was also remembered for offering a 29 year old Peter DRAKE a connection to an East India merchant for a potential job opportunity, and just as importantly a green Purse with twenty Guineas in it. [SEE: Samuel Jackson - Gleanings of a Life.]
The Ireland-based children of Rev. Richard had benefitted from growing up in this Whittington Parish where their father as rector had Presbyterian leanings, the Parish itself was owned by a Catholic advowson and at the same time the church was theoretically branded Church of England. This kind of diversity in business and politics has long been recognized as one of the drivers of success. For Rev. Richard, it was part of what returned him to financial health after the worst of his 1645 crisis. Even though much of his shape-shifting may have been tainted by transactional motives and been bare-nakedly opportunistic, it did mean that he and his descendants had the head-set that enabled them to flourish for many more generations.
OTHER LINKS:
Earlier posts on my blog site explore other
aspects of Rev. Richard JACKSON.
For his family tree see on my website:
- JACKSONs of Kirkby Lonsdale, Westmorland and Coleraine, Londonderry This branch of JACKSONs starts in Kirkby Lonsdale with William JACKSON (?-1626) and includes the JACKSONs who became successful merchants initially based in Coleraine, who participanted in the Siege of Derry, as who became representatives in the Irish House of Commons. Their behaviour was not always defensible by today's standards, or even by the standards of their own time. Theirs is also the family tree that leads to Richard JACKSON of Forkhill.
- Daughters of Rev. Richard JACKSON.
SEE ALSO:
- ‘The public profession of the nation’: religious liberty and the English Church under Oliver Cromwell. Anne Hughes.
- Petitioning for the settling of the Church: The Lancashire and Cheshire Presbyterian
- campaign of 1646 and the politics of accommodation.
- The Restoration of the Church of England, 1660–1662: Ordination, Re-ordination and Conformity
