Sir George Duckett (Jackson), St Michaels Church, Bishop Stortford, Herts, UK
Posted by: bill&ben
N 51° 52.257 E 000° 09.447
31U E 304315 N 5750504
A memorial to Sir George Duckett (formerly Jackson) on the chancel wall of St Michael’s Church.
Waymark Code: WMBG7G
Location: Eastern England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 05/18/2011
Views: 3
Sir George Jackson was born in 1725 and joined the Navy as a
clerk when he was 18. He rapidly rose through the ranks of the admiralty and in
1768 he became the Judge Advocat of the Fleet. He
became a baronet in 1791 in his own name, but had to change his name as a
result of a legacy he inherited from the Duckett
family.
Jackson was a considerable public benefactor, becoming the
patron of Captain Cook the explorer. The dedicated memorial in St Michael’s
Church is in recognition of the part he played in the construction of the Stort Navigation, a scheme which made the River Stort navigable and brought trade to Bishop’s
Stortford.
The memorial reads
To the memory of
Sir George Jackson
Bart
Afterwards
Sir George Duckett Bart
Judge Advocate of the
Fleet
Who died 15th
December 1822. Aged 97 years
He was for many Years
a Secretary of the Admiralty
And a Member of
Parliament for
Weymouth
and Melcombe Regis, and for Colchester.
CAPTAIN COOK
Of whom he was a
zealous friend and early Patron
Named after him
Point Jackson in New Zealand
And Port Jackson in
New South Wales
In 1769
He made the River Stort navigable
To this
Town.