Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Jackson, Basil
JACKSON, BASIL (1795–1889), lieutenant-colonel, born at Glasgow on 27 June 1795, was the son of Major Basil Jackson of the royal wagon train, who died on 10 Sept. 1849 at the age of ninety-two. He entered the Royal Military College in 1808, obtained a commission in the royal staff corps on 11 July 1811, and was promoted lieutenant on 6 May 1813. He was employed in the Netherlands in 1814-15, was present at Waterloo as deputy assistant quartermaster-general, and was afterwards sent to St. Helena, where he remained till 1819. He served in Canada and was employed in the construction of the Rideau canal. He was promoted captain on 17 Sept. 1825, and was given a half-pay majority on 7 Feb. 1834.
In February 1835 he was made assistant professor of fortification at the East India Company's college at Addiscombe. He was transferred in December 1836 to the assistant professorship of military surveying, and held that post till 30 Dec. 1857, when he retired on a pension. He had become lieutenant-colonel on 9 Nov. 1840, and had sold out in 1847. He afterwards lived at Glewston Court, near Ross, Herefordshire, till September 1874, and at Hillsborough,co. Down, till his death on 23 Oct. 1889. He married, on 28 March 1828, the daughter of Colonel George Muttlebury, C.B.
He published: 1. 'A Course of Military Surveying' (1838), which passed through several editions, and was the text-book at Addiscombe. 2. (in conjunction with Captain C. R. Scott, also of the royal staff corps) 'The Military Life of the Duke of Wellington' (2 vols. 1840), furnished with unusually good plans.
[Times, 24 Oct. 1889; Dalton's Waterloo Roll Call, 1890; Vibart's Addiscombe.]