CORPORAL RICHARD JACKSON
ROYAL INNISKILLING FUSILIERS
1ST MARCH 1917 AGE 40
BURIED: DRANOUTRE MILITARY CEMETERY, BELGIUM
"Corporal Richard Jackson, who was killed in action last month, served with the Inniskilling Fusiliers. He leaves a wife and seven children who reside at Derrylileagh, Portadown."
Portadown News 21 April 1917
His wife, chose his inscription. It comes from the New Testament, St John 13:34-5:
"A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."
These are the instructions Jesus gave to his disciples after the Last Supper, knowing that it was his last night on earth. Were these Richard Jackson's instructions to his wife as he left for war, or was this Mrs Jackson's plea to the world in the wake of the war?
Jackson, a farmer, was a member of the Derrylileagh Orange Lodge, which would make him a fierce Protestant, a fierce Unionist and a fierce supporter of the British Crown.