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Henry Corrie Jackson (1879-1900) was born in Malvern, Worcestershire.

He was the son of the Reverend Corrie Jackson (1853-1895) who was noted for being for some time the Chaplain to the Foundling Hospital in London, a childrens’ home whose inmates are said to have inspired some of the writings of Charles Dickens (1812-1870).

The 1881 Census found one year old Corrie and his older sister Sylvia Margaret living in the village of Hilgay in Norfolk where their father was the Curate.

Corrie’s mother passed away on 22 January 1891 by when she had given birth to two more girls, Phyllis Corrie & Elsie Muriel. The 1891 Census return described Corrie senior as a “Clerk in Holy Orders” and showed he was bringing up his four children in the St Pancras area of London with the help of two servants.

As the St John’s Church memorial window indicates, Corrie then went on to study at Merchant Taylor’s School and St John’s College, Oxford.

Corrie attested for service in the 59th (Oxfordshire) Company of the Imperial Yeomanry in Oxford on 5th February 1900 by when his father had been dead for 5 years and he gave his next of kin as Mrs H Sharman, Sylvia Margaret had married Hereward Reid Sharman, a solicitor, the previous year. Corrie gave his occupation as “University Student” and was assigned the regimental number of 8090.

The 59th Company sailed for South Africa aboard the Mahratta which left Albert Docks on 7th March 1900 and arrived at Cape Town on 31st March 1900. According to the newspapers of the day Corrie died of enteric fever on 26th May 1900. However, they got the location wrong as being Springfontein. Corrie was posthumously awarded the Queen’s South Africa Medal with two clasps – Cape Colony & Orange Free State.

One presumes his three sisters paid for the cross marking his grave in Boshof and the stained glass windows in St John’s Church. One has to feel for all three and especially the youngest Elsie, who before she celebrated her eighteenth birthday had lost both parents and her brother, she never married and passed away in 1936 aged only 53.

Why are Corrie and his mother, Elizabeth commemorated in St John’s Church near Keswick in Cumbria? As Berenice's photos partially indicate it is where Elizabeth (nee Hall) was born and brought up and in 1877 married Corrie’s father.

Corrie is also commemorated in Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford as shown by this photo taken by Mike Coyle and posted on the IWM website.