Name

Thomas Graham Jackson

Designation
architect
Born
1835
Place of Birth
London
Location
London
Died
1924

  • Born : 21 December 1835 London
  • Awards : Royal Gold Medal (1910)
  • Died : 7 November 1924 (aged 88)
  • Burial : Sevenoaks Parish Church

Thomas Graham Jackson was educated at Brighton College and Wadham College, Oxford, before being articled to Sir George Gilbert Scott. Jackson spent four years as a pupil of George Gilbert Scott, and set up practice in 1862. The first 15 years were spent mainly in church designs but in 1876 he won the competition for the Examination Schools in Oxford, and began a fashion for freely Jacobean style buildings. particularly for university and school buildings. Oxford University became the centre of Jackson's architectural activities, so much so that it was said that the city was being rebuilt in the ‘Anglo-Jackson‘ style.

In 1910 the Institute ventured to show its appreciation of Shaw's achievements but the architect, apparently upset by the tone of the communication announcing his nomination, again declined. Perhaps surprisingly, the RIBA then turned to Thomas Graham Jackson. Jackson had been Norman Shaw's staunchest ally in his opposition to the RIBA‘s examination and registration policies in the early 1890s. In I892 this dissatisfaction found expression in a series of protesting essays published under the title Architecture: a Profession or an Art?  which was edited by Shaw and Jackson. In his acceptance speech for the RIBA Gold Medal in 1910 he remarked “that as an incorrigible unbeliever... in the possibility of discovering an artist by examination;” he remained convinced that it was due to “that freedom from the bonds of strict professionalism to which...The British School of Architecture is indebted for that proud position which it holds".

In later years Jackson produced a series of architectural histories, beginning in I873 with Modern Gothic Architecture, in which he expressed his dissatisfaction with the Gothic Revival, followed by Byzantine and Romanesque Architecture (I913), Gothic Architecture in France, England and Italy (1915) and The Renaissance of Roman Architecture (1921-I923).

Jackson was created a Baronet, of Eagle House in Wimbledon in Surrey, in 1913. He died on 7 December 1924 and was buried at Sevenoaks Parish Church.

Assistant: Isaac Taylor

Residence
1924 : 49 Evelyn Gardens Kensington