Francis Jackson, CBE

Born in 1917, Francis Jackson, a native of Malton, Yorkshire, was a chorister at York Minster from 1929 to 1933. He was a pupil of Sir Edward Bairstow, organist of York Minster, and gained the Fellowship of the Royal College of Organists in 1937. The same year he graduated Bachelor of Music at Durham University, attaining a doctorate there in 1957. He was organist of Malton Parish Church at the age of sixteen, and succeeded Bairstow at York Minster in 1946. Francis Jackson has given recitals all over the world, and has made records both with York Minster Choir and of organ music. He has written extensively for the Church, and his output includes anthems, organ solos, organ sonatas, monodramas, a concerto, a symphony and some solo songs. He was an honorary Fellow both of the Royal School of Church Music and of Westminster Choir College at Princeton, USA. In 1978 he was appointed OBE in the New Year Honours. On retiring from York Minster in 1982 he received the Fellowship of the Royal Northern College of Music, the Doctorate of York University and, at the hands of the Archbishop of York, Lord Blanch, the Order of Saint William of York. In 2007 he was appointed CBE. Dr Jackson died peacefully in York after a short illness on 10th January 2022 aged 104.