Alan Mair Jackson

Rank:

Major

Unit at enlistment:

215th Battalion

Force:

C.E.F.

Volunteered or conscripted:

Volunteered

Survived the war:

Yes

Cemetery:

Farringdon Cemetery, Brantford, Ontario

Commemorated at:

Grace Anglican Church

Birth country:

New Zealand

Birth city:

Fielding

Address at enlistment:

177 Brant Avenue, Brantford, Ontario

Next of kin address:

19 Dufferin Avenue, Brantford, Ontario

Trade or calling:

Civil Engineer

Religious denominations:

Anglican

Marital status:

Married

Age at enlistment:

Image gallery:

Letters and documents

BX February 19, 1918

Gratitude of Men at Front – Shown in Letter to Dufferin Rifles I.O.D.E. in Response to Shipment

The Dufferin Rifles Chapter, I.O.D.E., has received an interesting letter from Alan Mair Jackson, O.C., H. Co., 7th Brigade C.R.T. It was dated January 12, 1918.

“Permit me to thank you most heartily for the generous gifts of sox which you sent to my company. I handed a pair to each of the men from Brantford and the balance to those I considered the most needy. All were deeply grateful for them, and will, I doubt not, write you their thanks individually.

“I think one of the wonders of the war is the magnificent work carried on by you good ladies at home. One can readily understand you supplying comforts to original contingents, but the wonderful perseverance and increasing effort you have displayed far surpass in my mind acts of bravery displayed by the men in the heat of action.

“Please be assured though, that while the magnitude of the task you have undertaken in supplying comforts to all your soldiers is still a matter of wonder to us all, it is appreciated and the subject of daily comment. I heard a man say yesterday: ‘We may be winning the war out here, but we are not doing half as much actual hard work as the women at home.’ And it is a fact that we have the interest and excitement of it all while you all sit and sew and knit and pack up parcels, and keep on doing more and more with a patience and perseverance no mere man is capable of. I thank you all most sincerely and from my company and myself wish you all the best of good luck.”

Howard Maurice Jackson, was the brother of Major Alan Mair Jackson

De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour, 1914-1919

Howard Maurice Jackson

Trooper No. 11298, Wellington Mounted Rifles, New Zealand Expeditionary Force, 2nd son of John Howard Jackson, of Brantford, Ontario, Canada, formerly of Dunedin, New Zealand, Surveyor and Engineer, by his wife, Laura; b. Lichfield, Auckland, New Zealand, 13 March, 1887; educ. Waitaki Boys’ High School, Oamaru, N.Z.; was employed in The National Mortgage, and subsequently by Messrs. Dalgety & Co.; enlisted in the Wellington Mounted Rifles the day war was declared, 4 Aug. 1914; served at the Dardanelles, and was killed in action there 27 Aug. following, during the severe fighting at Hill 60 that day. Col. Meldrum wrote: “Maurice came to see me an hour before moving out – perhaps he had a premonition. He talked quietly, but he was clear-eyed and game. He had taken part in most of our fighting and always did well. He was a fine soldier and died like one, falling as a soldier would wish to fall in the moment of victory. He was a brave spirit, and, writing as his colonel, I think you should be proud of him. I regard his loss as a personal one, for in him I lost a friend I valued.”

BX April 15, 1929

Major A.M. Jackson Passed Away Sunday – Demise Removes a Most Capable County Official – Saw Service in the Great War and Enjoyed the Esteem of All

One of the best known men in the city and county, and one of the most liked, passed away in the hospital shortly before 9 o’clock on Sunday morning in the person of Major Alan Mair Jackson, county engineer.

Some days ago he suffered from an attack of acute appendicitis and an immediate operation was found to be necessary. From this he rallied but ensuing complications resulted in his demise, including the aftermath of a trouble which he contracted while on active service.

The deceased, a son of the late John Howard Jackson and Mrs. Jackson, was born in New Zealand, in 1880 at Litchfield, located on the South Island. After the usual public educational studies, he graduated from a mining school and then left for England where after a short stay, he received an appointment in connection with an engineering contract in South America. After spending some four years there he decided to locate in Canada and coming to Toronto he secured his Ontario Land Surveyor’s degree. He was later joined by his father and they established themselves here as a firm of Land Surveyors. In 1919 Major Jackson, who had always taken a great interest in military matters and was a member of the 215th, joined the Canadian Railway troop which left Toronto for the front in France in 1916. He served for a lengthy period and he and his comrades frequently worked under very heavy fire. In order to see service he reverted to the rank of captain but won back his majority while with the Railway Construction Battalion.

When he returned to the city he was selected, May 1, 1919 as County Engineer and he had since discharged the duties of that office with marked ability and energy. The greatly improved highways throughout the county constitute eloquent evidence of his constructive skill. Not only that, but he also built up a most excellent organization whose benefits will be available for all time to come.

He was an active member of Grace church, of which congregation he had been warden, and he was also prominent in Rotary circles, with a position on the board. The Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario was likewise an organization in which he took great pride, and he was chairman of the Grand Valley section. In addition to the many other county interests which occupied his attention he was an ardent exponent of the need of reforestation. An exemplar of all of the best tents of true citizenship a devoted husband and father and kindly friend to all, has passed to his reward.

To mourn his loss he leaves a widow and four children, Howard, Hugh, Jean and Ian, all residing at home, also his mother and three sisters in New Zealand. One brother was killed in the Great War at Gallipoli. The funeral will take place on Tuesday afternoon.

Official War Record

“Enlisted at Brantford March 8, 1916, Captain in 215th Battalion, C.E.F. Left Canada February 7, 1917. Proceeded to France March 29, 1917. Transferred to 7th Battalion, Canadian Railway troops.

“Engagements, Wychaate Ridge, June 7, 1917; Ypres Salient, July 31, 1917; retreat of March 23.

“Promotion, Major June, 1917.

“Returned to Canada April 6, 1919. Demobilized at Toronto April 8, 1919.

County Tributes

Warden R.J. McCormack, “I was deeply grieved to learn of the death of Major Jackson. By the Ontario government road authorities he was regarded as one of the best engineers in this province. He rendered most valuable service to the County of Brant, and was most energetic and thoroughly efficient in all he did. The county has sustained a severe loss.”

Reeve C.M. Burt, Reeve of South Dumfries, “As chairman of the county roads committee I was naturally brought into intimate relationship with Major Jackson, and in every sense I can bear testimony that he was a most loyal and capable public servant. In every respect I can say that he was one of the finest men I ever knew.”

County Clerk A.E. Watts, “The late Major Alan Mair Jackson was a New Zealander by birth, and like many New Zealanders was more English, so far as carrying out the lofty traditions of the Old Land was concerned, than many native born Englishmen. His single aim in life was to do his duty to the utmost, whether it related to the family, his employer, the church, society at large, his King or his country. It was this high sense of duty that caused him to enlist for overseas service, although he had a wife and young family and already a brother had been lost on the hills of Gallipoli. Major Jackson was not relieved of his overseas duty until the spring of 1919 when he was appointed as county engineer to carry out the ‘County Good Road System,’ just inaugurated. From that time on until he was taken, our official duties brought Major Jackson and myself into almost daily contact and during that period it was the sense of duty, to be filled to the utmost, that was the sole idea in his mind. So much was this so that often his friends tried to restrain his boundless activities. As an engineer he had a mind far above the average and not only locally but also at Ontario Government headquarters, in Toronto, he was looked upon as an outstanding man in his profession. While enforcing discipline to the utmost among the workmen under his supervision, yet his authority was always exercised in such a just manner that he was beloved by all. The county has lost an official of high integrity, great skill and efficiency and of most lovable character in the passing of Major Jackson and myself a close personal and always dependable friend.”

BX April 15, 1929

Editorial

The Late Major Jackson

Major A.M. Jackson was a man who filled an important position with a zeal and fidelity not too generally in evidence, and all the more to be prized when such instances do occur. To him as County Engineer, the day’s labor was not counted by a certain number of hours for the reason that the available time was all too short in which to accomplish what he had in mind to achieve for the area under his charge. The daily limit of his work was the period in which such work could be efficiently done; this and nothing less was his personal standard.

A New Zealander by birth and upbringing – and there is no finer type to be found within the far-flung British Dominions – the keynote of his career was an incense loyalty whether in the relationships of the home and citizenship or when the occasion arose, on the battle front, with human liberty at stake.

A much valued official of the county, he also had many relationships with the city of Brantford, his place of residence, and to both communities his departure will come with a deep sense of personal loss.

BX April 17, 1929

Final Tribute Was Most Impressive – Funeral of Late Major A.M. Jackson Largely Attended

A most memorable tribute to respect was manifested yesterday afternoon when the funeral of the late Major Alan Mair Jackson took place. A private service was first held at the home, 59 William Street and the cortege then proceeded to Grace church. The edifice was filled by a very large congregation, those present including the members of the Brant County Council, Paris Council, Township Councils, fellow Rotarians, municipal officials of Brantford and of Brant County, members of the Ontario Association of Professional Engineers, Great War Veterans, R.C. Muir, head engineer of Ontario department of public highways and hundreds of private citizens of the city and county, for Major Jackson inevitably won the very highest esteem of all those with whom he came in contact. Ven. Archdeacon Fotheringham, rector of Grace church, was the officiating minister, assisted by Rev. E.A. Slack.

The full choir was in attendance and A.G. Merriman presided at the organ. The final hymn was “Peace Perfect Peace,” and then followed the beautiful “Lord now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace.” The pallbearers were: Guy Marston, county engineer of Norfolk and Simcoe; F.P. Adams, Brantford city engineer; R.L. Stratton, local manager of Bell Telephone Company, London, and Spencer Large, city, representing Rotary; John Leishman of the Brant county road department; William Galloway, the oldest employee of the Brant county road department; C.N. Armstrong, Detroit and J.B. Fitzgibbon, Bridgeburg.

Interment took place in Farringdon cemetery and a wealth of floral tributes covered the last resting place.