George Jackson (1898 - 1974)
"Burnbridge, Masham" signed and dated 1955, watercolour, together with a collection of further watercolours by the artist depicting "Pump Tree, Bishopton", "Ellington Banks", "Redhouses Sutton near Ripon", "Bellbeck Stones, Bolton Ghyll", "Low Mill, Ripon", "Early Spring Galphay Lane", "The Rectory Wath, Ripon", "River Greta, Rokeby Park", "Yewtree House, Oldfield", etc... (a collection) (all unframed)

Provenance: The artists collection; thence by descent

George Jackson was born in Ripon, into a family of drapers and outfitters. After studying art in Harrogate, Jackson joined the army and served as a messenger until he was captured and made a prisoner of war. This spell of incarceration had a lasting effect on his health. Back at home, Jackson taught art at St Olaves School (later Ripon Cathedral Choir School).
Jackson loved the Dales landscape and took a cottage in Castle Bolton, Wensleydale, where he was to become part of the Castle Bolton Group of artists and writers. This enclave accumulated in the Dales village around watercolourist Fred Lawson and his fellow Leeds School of Art contemporaries who visited him frequently. Artists such as Jacob Kramer, Charles Murray, Philip Naviasky and George Graham were joined by noted Yorkshire writers such as J.B. Priestley, Dorothy Una Ratcliffe and James Kirkup, united by a love of the Dales landscape and its people.
An artist, writer, playwright and poet, Jackson was a man of many talents. Whilst Jackson received only local recognition for his paintings of Ripon and the Dales, he was known for his plays which were staged around Wensleydale from the 1930s to the 1950s. Referred to at the time as 'Rustic Plays', his work told stories of life in Wensleydale using the local dialect and local villagers as actors. In addition, he was one of the founders of the ever popular Dalesman magazine, and a founder of and contributor to The Ripon Wakeman magazine.