Introduction

Biography

William was the son of the son of an Exe­ter gro­cer, who lat­er be­came mas­ter of the ci­ty work­house.

After re­ceiv­ing some mu­sic­al in­struc­tion from John Sil­ves­ter, or­gan­ist of Exe­ter Ca­thed­ral, Jack­son was sent in 1748 to Lon­don, to stu­dy un­der John Tra­vers, or­gan­ist at the Cha­pel Roy­al and at St. Paul’s, Cov­ent Gar­den.

On re­turn­ing to Exe­ter, Jack­son de­vot­ed hims­elf to teach­ing mu­sic un­til Mi­chael­mas 1777, when he was ap­point­ed sub­chant­er, or­gan­ist, lay vi­car, and mas­ter of cho­ris­ters at Exe­ter Ca­thed­ral, suc­ceed­ing Ri­chard Lang­don.

Works

Jackson com­posed a large num­ber of ma­dri­gals, pas­tor­als, hymns, an­thems, so­na­tas for harp­si­chord, and church ser­vices.

His oth­er works in­clude:

• Twelve Songs, 1755
• Twelve Can­zo­nets for Two Voic­es, cir­ca 1770
• The Lord of the Ma­nor, an op­era, 1780
• Thirty Let­ters on Va­ri­ous Sub­jects, 1782
• Observations on the Pre­sent State of Mu­sic in Lon­don, 1791
• The Four Ag­es, an au­to­bio­gra­phy, 1798