13/08/2026
, 13th August 1885, the death of Harry Jackson, Victorian actor and stage manager.
Born Henry Jacobson in London in 1836 to Samuel Jacobson. Henry left England for Australia at an early age, where he took up acting as his profession, both in Australia and America. He returned to England around 1870, aged 34, settling in London and appearing in the Gaiety Theatre and the Princes Theatre, where he became stage manager. Jackson physically resembled Napoleon I whom he played to some acclaim.
Jackson later worked at the Drury Lane Theatre, where he mainly played Jewish characters in modern melodramas of the time, such as “Queen’s Evidence”, “The World” and “Pluck”. His best role was Moss Jewell, “the disreputable Jew diamond dealer” in the play “The World”.
Jackson was the first among leading Jewish actors to give his services to the Jewish Men’s Working Club and Institute in Aldgate in London, where he organised and performed in entertainment evenings. He was also very generous to less fortunate actors.
Jackson always wanted to be buried in a Jewish cemetery - something he mentioned to his relative Henry Lyon before undergoing an operation in 1883. He repeated these wishes two years later to Isaac Cohen, manager of the Pavillion Theatre in Whitechapel, when he revived his role of Moss Jewell on 12th August 1885. Jackson feared he would not be permitted to be buried in a Jewish cemetery given the offence his unflattering portrayals of Jewish characters during his career caused to fellow Jews and gave Cohen a small memento to ensure his wishes be fulfilled. Jackson died the following evening of a morphine overdose at his residence at 45 Great Russell Street aged 49. The ensuing inquest returned a verdict of death by misadventure.
Jackson need not have worried: he was buried at Willesden Jewish Cemetery on 19th August 1885. His obituary Jewish Chronicle reported that a very large number of “gentlemen connected with the dramatic profession” attended the funeral and that the coffin was covered with many wreaths from various friends and the Drury Lane and Pavillion Theatres.
Pictures: Caricature of Jackson as Isaacs (a conniving, offensive villain) in Queens Evidence (1878), 1885 illustration of Jackson, who bore a striking resemblance to Napoleon I, grave of Harry Jackson at Willesden Jewish Cemetery
