Our Anzac losses - the Jackson family

So many Picton and Sounds families lost loved ones during World War I; four grandsons of  James (Jimmy) and Emma Jackson were killed.   Jimmy Jackson was one of the original Te Awaiti whalers of Arapawa Island, and settled in the Sounds in the 1830s. Much of the following information was gleaned from Carol Dawber’s book: The Jacksons of Te Awaiti.

Charles and his brother Albert (Jack) Jackson sparring for the camera. Both were keen boxers and were coached by their brother-in-law Jim Godwin. Image courtesy John Symons
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Albert Ernest Jackson (known as Jack) was the youngest son of James II and Sarah Jackson.  He was a tall young man and a keen boxer.  He joined up immediately in 1914 in the 12^th Nelson Regiment, and was wounded at Achi Baba, Gallipoli, on 7 May 1915.  He was taken to hospital in Egypt where he died of fever on 17 June, 1915, aged 22.  He is buried in the Cairo War Memorial Cemetery.

Percy Jackson, 1890-1917. Courtesy John Symon
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Percival Hounslow Jackson (known as Hector), was the son of Richard and Letitia Jackson.  He was working on his aunt Eliza Baldick’s farm in Port Underwood when he enlisted in 1916 with the Canterbury Infantry Brigade.  After he was killed in the trenches in Ypres, Belgium on 5 October 1917 his medals were sent to his sister, Ruby Hodgman, and he was buried in Tyne Cot Cemetery, Belgium.  He was 27.

Horace Neal, the son of Mary (nee Jackson) and Fred Neal, was born in Koromiko, where his father was farming in Speeds Road.  The family later moved to another farm in Grovetown, from where Horace enlisted in the Canterbury Regiment in 1916.  He became a Corporal and was killed in action in France on 19 November 1918, eight days after Armistice Day.  He is buried in the Fifteen Ravine British Cemetery, Villers-Plouich, in France.

Horace Neal. Image supplied by author
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Richard Stent was the youngest son of Emma (nee Jackson) and Charles Stent, who brought up their family in the Rangikitei. Richard joined the New Zealand Rifle Brigade and was killed in action on the Somme in France, and died on 3 July 1916 aged 20. His memorial is in the Cite Bonjean (New Zealand) Memorial at Armentieres.

Another of James Jackson’s grandchildren, Annie, lost her husband Percy Brooker, who was killed in action in France on 2 September 1918.  She had named their son Jack Albert Ernest, born in 1916, after her brother Jack who had been killed the previous year.  Percy was in the Canterbury Regiment and died aged 37 less than a year after enlisting.  He is buried in the Bancourt British Cemetery in France. 

Loreen Brehaut, 2014 (updated July 2020)

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