Memorial to 'Gentleman John' Jackson, Brompton Cemetery

Image: © Marathon Taken: 30 Nov 2011

'Gentleman John' Jackson was the national English boxing champion from 1795 to 1803. He opened a boxing academy in Bond Street whose old boys included Lord Byron and the Marquis of Queensbury. The monument was paid for by a grateful London public. The inscription on the base says 'SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF JOHN JACKSON, BORN 28TH SEPTEMBER 1769, DIED 7TH OCTOBER 1845. ALSO ELIZABETH, HIS BELOVED AND DEVOTED NIECE AND ADOPTED DAUGHTER. BORN 2ND JANUARY 1804, DIED 16TH DECEMBER 1882. IN DEATH NOT DIVIDED." For his story see www.royalparks.org.uk/visit/parks/brompton-cemetery/famous-graves-burials/john-gentleman-jackson-1769-1845 Lions in churchyards and cemeteries are not unheard of. There are the ones for George Wombwell in Highgate Cemetery - see https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5870551 and for Tom Cribb in Woolwich Churchyard who was a world champion English bare-knuckle boxer - see https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6710943 Brompton Cemetery is one of 'The Magnificent Seven' cemeteries and is the closest of the major cemeteries to the centre of London. Opened in 1836 on land owned by Lord Kensington, its original layout was based on the plan of a vast cathedral, with a chapel in the middle based on St Peter's Basilica in Rome. It was extended in 1844 to make the plot a full rectangle. In 1850 the government agreed to purchase all the London cemeteries, which was fortunate for Brompton as the original plan had been ruinously expensive. That edict was repealed two years later, except in the case of Brompton which by this quirk remains the only public cemetery to stay under government control and is now managed by The Royal Parks.

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