Francis Ernest Jackson was born on 15 August 1872 in
Huddersfield, the son of a printer. He was apprenticed as a lithographer, and later attended life-drawing classes at the
Yorkshire College. He then studied in
Paris at the
Académie Julian and the
École des Beaux-Arts under Bouguereau, Ferrier, J.-P. Laurens and Constant. On his return to Britain he designed posters and practised lithography. He began teaching the skill at
London County Council schools including Bolt Court, Camberwell, Croydon and Chelsea, before
William Lethaby invited him to join the staff at the
Central School of Art and Design in 1902. In 1907 he became a co-founder of
The Neolith and a founding member of the
Senefelder Club, as well as starting the lithograph journal "The Imprint" in 1913 with fellow tutors
Edward Johnston, J.H. Mason and publisher Gerard Meynell. In addition, throughout the
First World War, he was in charge of
propaganda lithography for the
Ministry of Information. In 1921, Jackson left the Central School to become the Professor of Drawing at the
Royal Academy Schools under
Charles Sims. He died at
Oxford on 11 March 1945, from injuries sustained after he was knocked down by a motorcycle. A memorial exhibition to Jackson was held at the
Beaux Arts Gallery in 1946. A memorial to him lies in
St James's Church, Piccadilly. ==Philosophy of Art==