The Great War Mesopotamia Advance of Baghdad 17th January 1917 Officer Casualty group awarded to Captain W.E. Jackson, 3rd Reserve Battalion attached 1st Battalion, Manchester Regiment. Jackson was originally present out on the Western Front from March 1915, and suffered an injury whilst mounting and falling from his horse whilst leaving the trenches at Neuve Chapelle on 3rd July 1915. He then saw service in Mesopotamia from February 1916, and was killed in action on 9th January 1917, on which day his division attacked across the river near to Kut, and his battalion successfully captured the Turkish trenches. Having consolidated, they then endured a heavy Turkish counterattack, which whilst maintaining hold of the trenches, incurred severe casualties, one of whom was Captain Jackson.
Group of 3: 1914-1915 Star; (LIEUT. W.E. JACKSON. MANCH. R.); British War Medal and Victory Medal; (CAPT. W.E. JACKSON), all with individual named card boxes of issue; Memorial Scroll named to: ‘Capt William Ewart Jackson Manchester Regt.’
Condition: Extremely Fine, the Scroll with some staining, the card boxes now flattened.
Commission Warrant into the British Army Special Reserve of Officers with facsimile signature of King George V, issued to William Ewart Jackson, on his commission as a 2nd Lieutenant, dated 16th August 1914, and appointing him to the 3rd Battalion, Manchester Regiment.
Buckingham Palace Telegram sent to his parents at 27 East Avenue, Burnage Lane, Manchester after he was confirmed as killed in action, dated 23rd January 1917.
William Ewart Jackson was born on 28th April 1893 and came from Levenshulme, Manchester, being educated at the Manchester Municipal Secondary School followed by Manchester University where he was a member of the Officer Training Corps, after which he went to work as a civil engineer, being employed from 10th October 1913 as a surveying assistant to the Inland Revenue Valuation Department in Inverness. Owing to the Great War Jackson was then commissioned into the Special Reserve of Officers as a 2nd Lieutenant on 16th August 1914, and appointed to the 3rd Reserve Battalion, Manchester Regiment.
Having embarked on 20th February 1915, Jackson was then attached to the 1st Battalion out on the Western Front from 3rd March 1915, but when at Neuve Chapelle on 3rd July 1915, injured himself when he slipped and fell from his horse whilst mounting it on leaving the trenches. Having rested for two days and then returned to duty, on 12th July a sharp pain had developed whenever he went to mount his horse, and his right knee became swollen and painful. He went to rest in a Casualty Clearing Hospital for a week and then sent to the hospital at Etretat on 25th July, being admitted on 29th July, where it was discovered he had suffered synovitis of the right knee. As of 20th August 1915 he was deemed fit to return to active service.
Owing to the disaster at Kut al Amara in Mesopotamia, Jackson was then sent with the 1st Battalion to serve there. He embarked as Devonport on 22nd January and disembarked at Basra on 23rd February 1916, and then saw further service as part of the 8th (Jullundur) Brigade in the 3rd (Lahore) Division. Hospitalised owing to colitis on 6th April 1916, he was sent to recover in India aboard a transport ship which left Basra on 27th April, and disembarked at Bombay on 3rd May, but having recovered, he then sailed to rejoined his unit on 9th June, and disembarked at Basra on 11th June, before rejoining the 1st Battalion in the field on 26th June, before being killed in action on 9th January 1917.
On 9th January 1917 the 3rd (Lahore) Division where involved in the advance on Baghdad attacked across the river at Kut, and the 1st Battalion successfully got into the Turkish trenches and consolidated their position. However the Turks then counterattacked and a furious fight ensued. The trenches were held but with severe casualties, one of whom was Captain Jackson, who is now buried in Amara War Cemetery. Aged 24 at the time of his death, he is shown as the son of Harry J. and Harriet E. Jackson, of 27 East Avenue, Burnage Lane, Levenshulme, Manchester.
