John Jackson (boxer)

For the 2008 Olympian, see John Jackson (Virgin Islands boxer).
John Jackson
Born (1769-09-28)28 September 1769
Died 7 October 1845(1845-10-07) (aged 76)
Resting place Brompton Cemetery, London, England
Other names "Gentleman" John Jackson
Occupation Pugilist
Known for Champion of England

John Jackson (28 September 1769 – 7 October 1845) was a celebrated English pugilist of the late 18th century.

"Gentleman Jackson" stood 5'11" and weighed 195 pounds (or 14 stone).[1] Jackson won the title "Champion of England" in a fight on April 15, 1795 in which he beat Daniel Mendoza. After this he created a boxing academy for gentlemen at 13 Bond Street, London. Jackson's Saloon was popular with the nobility and gentry. Lord Byron relates in his diary that he regularly received instruction in boxing from Jackson.

Jackson lived in comfort after his boxing career. He is recorded as the proprietor of the Cock Hotel, a coaching inn in Sutton on the London to Brighton turnpike road.[2] He was charitable and held benefits for numerous charities. For example, he raised £114 for a Portuguese town which was destroyed by the French and £132 for British prisoners in France.[3] Jackson was so well respected that he served as a page for the coronation of George IV.[4]

Byron referred to Jackson as the 'Emperor of Pugilism', and the leading prizefight reporter, Pierce Egan, writing in Boxiana declared him to be the 'fixed star' of the 'Pugilistic Hemisphere'.[5]

When Jackson passed away, his remains were interred in Brompton Cemetery, London.[6] with a monument costing upwards of £400 which was provided by friends and admirers.[7]

In the artist Thomas Lawrence's 1797 exhibition at the Royal Academy, an enormous painting of Satan Summoning his Legions was based upon a giant portrait of Jackson. In 1814, Jackson helped to establish the 'Pugilistic Club'.[8]

Funerary monument, Brompton Cemetery, London

In popular culture

Jackson features as a character in Rodney Stone, a Gothic mystery and boxing novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

He and/or his saloon are frequently mentioned in Georgette Heyer's Regency romances.

The characters of Jackson and Mendoza also have minor but important roles in the film The Young Mr. Pitt.

See also

References

  1. ↑ James, Ed. ([c1879) The lives and battles of the champions of England from the year 1700 to the present time ..New York, E. James
  2. ↑ Charles Harper (1922), The Brighton Road, Cecil Palmer, pp. 158–159
  3. ↑ James, Ed. ([c1879) The lives and battles of the champions of England from the year 1700 to the present time ..New York, E. James
  4. ↑ James, Ed. ([c1879) The lives and battles of the champions of England from the year 1700 to the present time ..New York, E. James
  5. ↑ David Snowdon, Writing the Prizefight: Pierce Egan's Boxiana World (Bern, 2013)
  6. ↑
  7. ↑ James, Ed. ([c1879) The lives and battles of the champions of England from the year 1700 to the present time ..New York, E. James
  8. ↑ Snowdon

External links


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