A.W. Jackson was the rector of Elvington parish church (near York) from the 
1930's to the 1950's and a man of many accomplishments.

A more complete biography will appear here in due course. 

A selection of his poems was published in 1960 by his friend, 
Thomas Wemyss Reid, with this biographical note:

This selection from the poems of the late Archibald Jackson has been compiled by some of his friends, who offer it as a fitting tribute to his memory; and they hope thus to introduce his work to a wider circle of readers.

Selection has not been easy. This little volume could be twice its present size without its quality suffering from the inclusion of poems which have had to be omitted. However, this collection is typical of a poet who wrote with no desire for literary approval or popular recognition, but simply because he could do no other.

He was a poet of the silence - that silence which only speaks when all other voices are hushed. He saw beyond the sight of ordinary men, beyond the sunset on the Roman Wall, beyond the blackbird singing its heart out in the silver birch, to a world of beauty which is, he said, the ultimate reality. He lived in a world whose frontiers are limitless, a vaster and yet far friendlier world than that of the daily papers and the news bulletins of the B.B.C.

Cyril Garbett, when he was Archbishop of York, knew Mr. Jackson as one of his country clergy, and greatly appreciated his poetry; so much so that, after reading some of the poems in manuscript, he suggested that it might be helpful if he contributed a Foreword. This he very kindly did. As all the poems have remained unpublished until now, it seems right that the Archbishop’s Foreword, written some ten years ago, should serve as an introduction to this volume.

Our English literature has often been enriched by the prose or poetry of the country clergy. The author of this book of verses is the rector of a rural parish on the banks of the Derwent in the Vale of York. He is both an archaeologist and a naturalist, and uses poetry as the channel through which he can express his thoughts both on the works of God as seen in nature and in the achievements of man as seen in architecture. Often in these verses, with the insight of an artist he reveals a loveliness in the sights and sounds of nature which otherwise might have passed un­observed; and sometimes, with the sensitiveness of a mystic, he writes of the intimations of the unseen world which have come to him through the beauty and wonder of that which is seen. In these verses there will be found many lines which will quicken the imagination of those who read them and will long remain in their memory.

Cyril Ebor. Bishopthorpe, York.  March 1950.