Historical research necessitates hours and hours of trawling through archives seeking relevant information. But sometimes you find something that completely stops you in your tracks and affects you in a very emotional way.
This was the case when I came across the Private Papers of 2nd Lieutenant G C Jackson at the Imperial War Museum. The story contained was both humbling and inspiring and serves as a powerful reminder that even during the darkest of times, the best of humanity is still there, shining through.
Lieutenant George Conway Jackson of the “A” Coy, 6th Battalion, King’s Own Scottish Borderers was born in 1890 in Fife, Scotland to Mrs Eliza Sophia Jackson and Mr Edward James Jackson. He studied at Exeter College, Oxford, and prior to the First World War, was forging a career for himself in business in British Colombia. Upon the declaration of war, however, he quickly returned to Scotland to enlist into his brother Edward’s regiment.
Before he left for war in December 1914, his mother, Eliza, gave him her Daily Light prayer book. In the inside cover she wrote, ‘G. Conway Jackson from his mother, Dec 1914’, alongside a verse from the Bible: ‘I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Previously she has also used the prayer book to record important dates, such as Conway’s birthday, the day he left home for Oxford University in 1909, the day he arrived in Montreal in 1913, and various other family anniversaries and occasions.
In his letter home from the front, dated 23 September 1915, Conway included a passage to be read only by his mother in which he referred to the strength and comfort that the prayer book had given him and stated that if anything should happen to him, then she should know that he was ready for it and went ‘cheerfully and thankfully’ to meet God. Tragically, Conway died two days later on 25 September 1915 during a battle south of the canal of La-Bassée-Lens (start of the Battle of Loos) and has no known grave.
Four years after his death, in June 1919, Eliza, with no prior warning, received a letter in the post from a British officer called Captain E. Wynne Hughes who was serving in the British Army of the Rhine. Contained with his letter was her son’s Daily Light prayer book and an account by a German officer detailing the events surrounding her son’s death in 1915.
Lieutenant substitute Fritz Hirz, found the book in the hands of Lieutenant Jackson following the battle on the canal of La- Bassée, and he described in a report how he was struck by the peaceful look upon Lieutenant Jackson’s face. He stated, ‘he must have been a child of God and must have found that rest in Jesus, which the world does not know’. Upon reading the inscription written by his mother inside the book, he determined it must have been a dear souvenir of his and kept it with the intention of returning the book to his mother after the war. Despite all the chaos around him, the feelings of a mother somewhere, unknown to him, were still paramount in his thoughts.
The officer, however, died later during the war and it was his brother who prepared the account to send to Eliza. Captain Hughes was billeted with the siblings’ cousin and decided upon hearing the story that he would find Eliza’s address through the war office and facilitate the returning of the prayer book to her.
Eliza’s response to the letter is not recorded, but one can assume that the return of this memento must have been of great comfort to her. In her son’s last letter home, he specifically referenced the Daily Light book, and moreover, she had used the prayer book to record the normality of family life before the war. It was a family keepsake, but more than that, it had comforted Lieutenant Jackson in his last moments, and so the return of the book may have allowed Eliza, and indeed the rest of the Jackson family, to feel closer to Conway, particularly in the absence of him having any known grave.
Ultimately, they were only allowed this kindness because of the thoughtful actions of a German officer who saw Lieutenant Jackson not as an enemy, but a young man like himself, who would be deeply missed by his loved ones. At that moment and under the most trying circumstances, the German officer exemplified the best of humanity, as did his brother and Captain Hughes who later completed the Officer’s wishes and insured Eliza was reunited with her son’s great source of comfort.
Information summarised from Private Papers of 2nd Lieutenant G C Jackson, IWM, Documents.3240.
The Past Alive Today 