Jackson, Gilbert Edward

Gilbert Edward Jackson was born on March 2, 1890 at Hedon, East Yorks, England, to Dr. John L. Jackson and Ida Beatrice (nee Bird), daughter of Henry James Bird of Market Rasen in Lincs. He received his education in England, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1911 from St. John’s College, University of Cambridge. In 1911, Mr. Jackson immigrated to Canada and in that same year, joined the University of Toronto as Lecturer in Economics. In 1916 he took leave from his academic duties to serve in the 2nd Battalion, Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment, and British Army. He was later promoted to 2nd Lieutenant in the 6th Battalion, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. After his discharge in 1919, Mr. Jackson resumed his position at the University of Toronto where he eventually became a professor of economics, a position he held until 1935. Mr. Jackson became the Editor of the Canadian Forum (1920-1925) and was appointed the first Director of the course in Commerce and Finance at the University (1926-1935). While on the faculty of the Department of Political Economy he also served as Secretary and Member of the Ontario Commission on Unemployment (1915-1916), President of the University College Literary Society (1920-1921), Chairman of Ontario Employment Service Council (1921-1923), Speaker at the Hart House Debates (1924-1926), and was the first Economist for The Bank of Nova Scotia (1926-1935).

In 1921, Mr. Jackson married Marjorie Lillian Kirkpatrick of Toronto and they had two children, John Denison and Joan Mary. Marjorie Jackson died tragically in the spring of 1927 when the children were still young. Mr. Jackson married Maria Elizabeth (Liesel) Ewringmann, the children’s governess in 1932 and during the Second World War they adopted a young girl named Mary whose parents were lost at sea. In 1944, his son died in action while serving in Normandy during the Second World War. His second wife died shortly after. By 1956, Mr. Jackson married Sadie McCool.

In 1935, Mr. Jackson resigned from the University to become Advisor to the Governors of the Bank of England, a position he held until 1939. On his return to Canada in 1939 he became a general business consultant for numerous corporations. During the Second World War he was acting Director of the School of Commerce at McGill University (1940), a member of the Industrial Disputes Enquiry Commission, National War Labour Board (1941-1943), and member of the National Selective Service Advisory Board (1942-1945). His services during the war were honoured by Britain when he was made Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1946 and appointed to the Order of King Christian X of Denmark for war work.

In 1944, his firm of consultants became Gilbert Jackson & Associates, a ‘think-tank’ focusing on business and economic issues. Among the consultants in his firm were retired Colonel William Wallace Goforth and John L. (Lorne) McDougall. He also founded an investment management company Canadian York Finance Company Limited in 1939. In 1947 the name was changed to Sentinel Associates of Canada Limited which continues in operation to this day.

During this period, Mr. Jackson was a member of numerous clubs, which included: Savage (London); Carlton (England); the Cambridge Union Society (England); York (Toronto); Arts and Letters (Toronto); the University Club (Montreal); and the Rideau Club (Ottawa).

Mr. Jackson was the author of An economist’s confession of faith (Toronto: Macmillan, 1935), If thine enemy hunger! (Canadian Institute of International Affairs, 1941) and Facts in the Case (Ambassador Books Ltd., 1944). In addition he served as editor of the Canadian Forum
1920-1925), published papers on economics, and delivered speeches in Britain, the USA and Canada. He died June 16, 1959.