Prof Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

FSA DLitt (1 November 1909 – 20 February 1991) was an English

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Lingu ...

and a translator who specialised in the

Celtic languages The Celtic languages (usually , but sometimes ) are a group of related languages descended from Proto-Celtic. They form a branch of the Indo-European language family. The term "Celtic" was first used to describe this language group by Edward ...

. He demonstrated how the text of the

Ulster Cycle The Ulster Cycle ( ga, an Rúraíocht), formerly known as the Red Branch Cycle, is a body of medieval Irish heroic legends and sagas of the Ulaid. It is set far in the past, in what is now eastern Ulster and northern Leinster, particularly coun ...

of tales, written ''circa'' AD 1100, preserves an oral tradition originating some six centuries earlier and reflects

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foo ...

Irish society of the third and fourth century AD. His ''Celtic Miscellany'' is a popular standard. In retirement, Jackson continued his work on place-names and

Goidelic languages The Goidelic or Gaelic languages ( ga, teangacha Gaelacha; gd, cànanan Goidhealach; gv, çhengaghyn Gaelgagh) form one of the two groups of Insular Celtic languages, the other being the Brittonic languages. Goidelic languages historically ...

. However he suffered a stroke in 1984 that restricted his work. An obituary was published in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' on 8 March 1991 and in the journal ''Nomina''.

Early life

Born at

Beddington Beddington is a suburban settlement in the London Borough of Sutton on the boundary with the London Borough of Croydon. Beddington is formed from a village of the same name which until early the 20th century still included land which became t ...

, Surrey, England, he was the son of Alan Stuart Jackson and his wife, Lucy Hurlstone. His early education was at Hillcrest School, Wallington (1916–19), and then at

Whitgift School ("He who perseveres, conquers") , established = , closed = , type = Independent school , religious_affiliation = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head Master , head = Christopher Ramsey , c ...

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an exten ...

, from 1920 to 1928. He won an open scholarship to

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. The ...

in 1928. He studied under

Hector In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...

and

Nora Chadwick Nora Kershaw Chadwick CBE FSA FBA (28 January 1891 – 24 April 1972) was an English philologist who specialized in Anglo-Saxon, Celtic and Old Norse studies. Early life and education Nora Kershaw was born in Lancashire in 1891, the first dau ...

, becoming fluent in six Celtic languages. At

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

he read

Classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

and then studied the early cultures of Ireland and Britain. He was then awarded a travelling scholarship during which he undertook study and fieldwork in Wales and Ireland. In the 1950s he spent his vacations recording dialects for the Linguistic Survey of Scotland.

Academic appointments

Jackson returned to Cambridge in 1934 as a lecturer in Celtic. In 1939 he went to

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

and was appointed an associate professor in 1940, being the first chair of the Department of Celtic Language and Literature. He undertook war service with the Uncommon Languages section of British censorship (where he said he learned Japanese in three weeks). Afterwards he went back to Harvard, and became a full professor in 1948. He accepted the chair of Celtic Languages, History and Antiquities at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1 ...

, Scotland (1950–1979).

Publications

While at Edinburgh Jackson published articles and books on the ancient

Celts The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...

, and the Dark Ages and

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, on all six modern Celtic languages, on folklore, placenames and dialects. A bibliography of his publications appears in ''Studia Celtica'' 14/14, pp 5–11 (1979–80). His writings are always insightful and stimulating, often the only sources in English for their subject, and even where the reader may wish to disagree with his conclusions, the weight of his erudition and mastery of the early Celtic material must be taken into account. It is scarcely possible to come across a publication or longer article on Celtic studies that does not refer to Professor Jackson's work. There is also the advantage for those not familiar with the Celtic languages that much of his work is in an English-language medium, although this can make an appreciation of Celtica rather unbalanced, as an understanding of sources in at least Welsh can help develop a larger picture, where different opinions are represented.

List of publications

* 1935. ''Studies in Early Celtic Nature Poetry'', Cambridge: University Press. * 1935. ''Early Welsh Gnomic Poems'', Cardiff, University of Wales Press. *1951, see below 1971 * 1953. ''Language and History in Early Britain: a chronological survey of the Brittonic languages, first to twelfth century A.D.'', Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Press. * 1955. "The Pictish Language" in F. T. Wainwright (ed.) ''The Problem of the Picts''. Edinburgh. * 1955. ''Contributions to the Study of Manx Phonology'', University of Edinburgh Linguistic Survey of Scotland Series. * 1959. "The Arthur of History" ''Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages'', Oxford: Clarendon Press. . * 1959. "Arthur in Early Welsh Verse" ''Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages'', Oxford: Clarendon Press. * 1961. "The international popular tale and early Welsh tradition" ''The Gregynog Lectures, 1961'', Cardiff: University of Wales Press. * 1964. ''The Oldest Irish Tradition: a window on the Iron Age'', Cambridge: University Press. Reprinted 1999. * 1967. ''A Historical Phonology of Breton'', Dublin:

Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) ( ga, Institiúid Ard-Léinn Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a statutory independent research institute in Ireland. It was established in 1940 on the initiative of the Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, in Dub ...

* 1969. ''The

Gododdin The Gododdin () were a Brittonic people of north-eastern Britannia, the area known as the Hen Ogledd or Old North (modern south-east Scotland and north-east England), in the sub-Roman period. Descendants of the Votadini, they are best known ...

: the Oldest Scottish poem'', Edinburgh: University Press. * 1971. ''A Celtic Miscellany: Translations from the Celtic Literatures''; revised ed. (The Penguin Classics; 247.) Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. (first published by Routledge & Kegan Paul in 1951). Poetry and prose from six Celtic languages, Irlsh, Scottish Gaelic, Manx, Welsh, Cornish and Breton. * 1990. ''

Aislinge Meic Con Glinne ''Aislinge Meic Con Glinne'' ( Middle Ir.: The Vision of Mac Conglinne) is a Middle Irish tale of anonymous authorship, generally believed to have been written in the late 11th/early 12th century. A parody of the "Vision" genre of religious text, ...

'', Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Dublin,

Other activities

Jackson was a Fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars s ...

(elected 1957) and a Commissioner for the ancient and historical monuments of Scotland. He held honorary degrees from universities in England, Wales, Ireland and

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

. He was appointed a

in 1985 for his work on Celtic studies. He was an Honorary Fellow of the

Modern Language Association The Modern Language Association of America, often referred to as the Modern Language Association (MLA), is widely considered the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature. The MLA aims to "st ...

. He was a member of the Council of the English Placename Society for over forty years, being both vice-president and then President. He gave the John Rhys Lecture at the British Academy in 1953 on ''Common Gaelic'', and the 1964 Rede Lecture on ''The Oldest Irish Tradition''. In 1977 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

. His proposers were Douglas Grant,

Evelyn Ebsworth Evelyn may refer to: Places * Evelyn, London *Evelyn Gardens, a garden square in London * Evelyn, Ontario, Canada * Evelyn, Michigan, United States * Evelyn, Texas, United States * Evelyn, Wirt County, West Virginia, United States * Evel ...

, Neil Campbell,

Arnold Beevers Cecil Arnold Beevers (27 May 1908 – 16 January 2001) was a British crystallographer, known for Beevers–Lipson strips, a computational aid for calculating Fourier transforms to determine the structure of crystals from crystallographic data ...

, and Sir

Thomas Malcolm Knox Sir Thomas Malcolm Knox (28 November 1900 – 6 April 1980) was a British philosopher who served as Principal of St Andrews University from 1953–1966 and Vice-president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh from 1975–1978. Biography Knox w ...

. He retired in 1979.

Family

He married Janet Dall Galloway on 12 August 1936. Their two children, Alastar and Stephanie, were born in the United States but brought up in Scotland.

References

* ''

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'',

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...

. * ''Studia Celtica'' 14–15, pp 1–11 (1979–80). * '' The English Placename Society Journal'', Volume 23 pp 49–50 (1991). * ''Studia Celtica'' 26–27, 202–212 (1991–92). * ''

Proceedings of the British Academy The ''Proceedings of the British Academy'' is a series of academic volumes on subjects in the humanities and social sciences. The first volume was published in 1905. Up to 1991, the volumes (appearing annually from 1927) mostly consisted of the te ...

'' 80, pp 319–32 (1993 for 1991). * '' Nomina'' 15, pp 127–29, 1991–2. {{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Kenneth H. 1909 births 1991 deaths Harvard University faculty Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Arthurian scholars Celtic studies scholars Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Linguists from England Historical linguists Oghamologists Linguists of Pictish People from Croydon Phonologists Corresponding Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America People educated at Whitgift School Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh