As Alex Jackson, perhaps the greatest player of his era, and his elder brother arrived back from America to join Aberdeen in 1924 they became the second and third players on the clubs books at the time with that surname. From 1923 the first, unrelated to either Alex and Wattie, had been James. A more expensive purchase than either of the brothers, the club's most expensive signing to that point, he had come from Motherwell, Queen's Park before that and would at centre-half and then right-back be an almost ever present, 34 and 33 league appearances respectively in two years, until in 1925 like Alex he too moved on.
Whereas, Alex would go to Huddersfield, Scotland glory and a degree of Chelsea then French infamy, James next port of call would be Liverpool, where he would earn the nickname, The Parson. There he would stay eight years to 1933, be involved in some memorable physical tussles with Everton's centre-forward, Dixie Dean, and an interesting relationship with his own team's foul-mouthed, Northern Irish goalkeeper, Elisha Scott. This was because, apart from being a member of a remarkable, international, sporting family Jimmy Jackson Jnr. would in the second-half of his playing career turn not to coaching, managing or even to journalism but to the church. He would continue not just to perform on the pitch, with a reputation for fair-play and never a harsh word but also, practising on and off the field not least from the pulpit the religion his family had clearly carried with them from Scotland, and be ordained as a Presbyterian minister.
James Jackson was himself the eldest son of a professional footballer. He had been born in 1900 in Newcastle because he father was not there at the time but had been. The elder Jackson, once more James, again a full-back but left-footed, had from 1894 played for Rangers, transferring to Newcastle in 1897 for fifty-eight games in two seasons before in 1899 aged 24 signing for Arsenal, Woolwich Arsenal as it then still was. His wife clearly stayed in Newcastle to have their first baby but must have moved south soon afterwards. Their second son, Archie, was born not far from the then Arsenal Manor ground in Plumstead. He, Archie that is, too would briefly play in the top flight; six games for Sunderland in 1923.
James Snr would stay with the Arsenal for six years and 183 appearances. In 1903-4 he was virtually an ever-present and a team-mate of fellow Scot,
John Dick, in the side that after a decade of trying finally won promotion to the First Division and the following season he was made captain. However, in 1905 he moved as player-manager to Leyton before quickly returning to just playing, joining West Ham for a season and returning north to Rangers in 1906. Thus James Jnr and Archie were respectively six and five when they returned to Scotland and it was there that both grew up and learned their football.
Now James Snr could have played for Scotland both because he had been born in Cambuslang and his career was after the decision had been taken in 1896 to select from Anglo as well as resident players. However, his football, unlike his sons', had not been learned in the country of his birth. At the age of two his family, or at least part of it, and he had emigrated to Australia, apparently to Townsville in Queensland but settling coincidentally in Newcastle, New South Wales that is, where the game had been played almost as long as in Britain. From there, playing for
Adamstown Rosebud and clearly showing talent, he only returned to Scotland in 1893 at the age of eighteen. However, James Snr was obviously never considered good enough to be selected to play for the country of his birth. He had, after all, as competition to begin with the likes of Daniel Doyle and then Rangers John Drummond and Sunderland's James Watson. And there was, of course, his own brother. James Snr was the thirteenth of fifteen children. His eldest brother was nineteen years older than he, twenty-one on the departure down-under and he stayed behind. His name was Andrew Jackson. He was also a noted footballer, also a full-back who moved to half-back, the high-point of whose career would be two Scottish caps in 1886 and 1888 with the low-point also that same year. He was the captain of Cambuslang team that in the Scottish Cup Final was trounced 6-1 by Renton, the game where modern football can be said to have been invented.
For James Jnr, however, it was another matter. He would both achieve representative honours and be caught between a rock and a hard place. He would play during his time in Scotland, when he was considered Scots by ancestry and residence, for a Scottish League XI. Whilst at Liverpool he would also play for an English League XI, however he would win no caps. For England he took part in two trial matches but Huddersfield Town's Roy Goodall would make the right-back berth his own. In terms of Scotland he would face two problems. He was neither sufficiently Scots nor was he Australian enough. From the Scots point-of-view he would be yet another, in spite of his upbringing, his accent and even his faith, where his place of birth would rule him out. It was a shame because Scotland in spite of considerable success in the five years from 1926 to 1930 James Jackson's prime years, would against England alone use five different right-backs. He might even have made an already strong Scottish team, perhaps the best ever, stronger still. And with regard to Australia again the problem was place of birth. Had he been born in Oz he could have chosen through his father and the Empire rule to play either for Scotland or alternatively for Australia. It was by then playing regular international matches, although it might have been a time-consuming journey both for home and away matches since most of those internationals were against New Zealand. However, being born in England scuppered both possibilities and to make matters worse he had a cousin who would not only play for Australia and against England, admittedly not at football but cricket, but be such a star of sport down-under that he was considered on a par with his contemporary, Donald Bradman, and he, the cousin, was born ... in Scotland so had he chosen football would have qualified
His name, like that of James's brother, was also Archie, Archie Jackson, the son of James's uncle, his father's brother. This second Archie had been born in Rutherglen in 1909. His father also a talented footballer. Indeed he had returned to Scotland with his younger brother but regarded as the better prospect as both set out seeking careers in the professional game. And once home he too had married, but, unlike James Snr., had with his wife and a young family returned to Australia, to Sydney in 1913 and remained. There young cousin Archie had grown up, was teasingly a schoolboy footballer of note, representing New South Wales, but also a cricketer of immense talent. A right-handed batsman and spin bowler he played his first first-grade game aged fifteen and a month. He took the field for New South Wales at the age of seventeen and two years later made his Test début, against England for Australia in Australia, opening the batting and scoring 164 in his first innings.
However, shortly after his initial game Jackson began to suffer ill-health. He was still selected to travel to England in 1930 but had a largely unsuccessful tour, dogged by sickness and subsequent loss of form. Indeed, once back in Australia he recovered somewhat but the following year would again collapse and in early 1933 his short life and career would end tragically as he succumbed to the curse of Scots and also its Diaspora, tuberculosis. It would force my grandmother to abandon Glasgow University and her Carnegie scholarship before the Great War. Her daughter, my aunt, born in Scotland, would carry it from Grangemouth and die from it in Brazil in 1939 aged just 18. Archie Jackson, Scots cricketer, would not make it beyond 23.