John Andrew Jackson, murdered 1863, Mount Pleasant, Killowney Little

[AdrianB38]

On 4 June 1863, John Andrew Jackson, JP, was murdered in the grounds of his home at Mount Pleasant, Killowney Little, Ballymackey CP, Co. Tipperary.

I am reliant for information about this on reports in the Nenagh Guardian and other newspapers accessed online, especially when FindMyPast has a freebie on Irish records. While the Nenagh Guardian noted that Jackson's money, watch and chain were missing, this was dismissed by them as an attempt to mislead as to the real object of the murder, which the paper considered to be a part of the violent agrarian movements. (It was judged significant enough to be reported in English newspapers, which I do have access to on FindMyPast).

The aftermath led to distinct ill-feeling - the police seemed to arrest anyone in the vicinity who might have had any linkage. I have a report in the papers of the inquest and know that John Madden, the victim's steward, was arrested on suspicion of the murder and detained for some 6w before being released. (Jackson's in-laws seem to have had it in for Madden as he was later sued by them for non-payment of rent, using the evidence of a suspiciously shambolic state of accounts).

I have not been able to find any indication about a murder trial, never mind a conviction.

Does anyone know / can anyone find anything about a trial or conviction for the murder?

Thanks

[Maggsie]

Hi,
I logged into the Nenagh Guardian site and it has an archive section.
They have some pages about John Andrew Jackson, I am not a subscriber, sorry.
The house "Hermitage" was not that far from Mount Pleasant, I saw Hermitage being renovated about 4 years ago. Mount Pleasant was the Major's home.
Maggsie

[annclare]

I searched the irishnewsarchives.com and the only references to John Andrew Jackson were the initial account of his murder and inquest 8 Jun 1863 Nenagh Guardian and a list of those offering a reward July 11 1863 Nenagh Guardian - no account of criminal proceedings. Also searched the Irish Times archive and the only account was a copy of that report from the Nenagh Guardian of Jun 8th.- it may be that no one was apprehended so no court case?

annclare

[AdrianB38]

Thanks folks - given that you've searched more than I was able to, I suspect that the case never did come to trial.

Just to add to what was alluded to above, John Andrew Jackson's father was Captain (later Major) George Jackson and the family's main home was at Mount Pleasant. Some time about the end of the 1840s, the Major moved out of Mount Pleasant, leaving JAJ (his eldest surviving son) to take over there. The Major moved to Rapla, not far off, where his younger son, George Herbert Jackson, took over the house after the Major's death.

Trying to track who occupied which house, when and leased from who, is not easy. The Landed Estates Database gives a good snapshot at certain dates but bits get missed of the story - after JAJ's murder, Mount Pleasant went up for lease but I think it later went back to being a Jackson house, so whether it was a sub-lease, I don't know. And most of these families are related to one another several times over....

[Wexflyer]

...The Landed Estates Database gives a good snapshot at certain dates but bits get missed of the story ...

Can you say specifically what this database is and give a link? Is it a national database?
Thanks

[aghadowey]

Possibly this one for Connacht & Munster?
http://www.landedestates.ie/

[AdrianB38]

Possibly this one for Connacht & Munster?

That's it thanks. My caveat would be that like many university web-sites, if it goes down at a week-end, then there seems no on-call to deal with any serious problems so it might be several days before it returns. This has happened to me on this site - but have patience, it's always returned so far.

[Rody Dunne]

Hi.
Just wondering if you made any progress with finding out what happened with the murder trial. I'd love to get some further information on it. Also how did you come to have interest in this case?

[hallmark]

An aside.....

March 25, 1844
Melancholy death - A letter dated Nenagh Wednesday says, "Intelligence
arrived this morning that the lady of Mr. Tuthill of Rapla, and the sister
of Judge Jackson, was found outside the house quite dead. She had fallen
out of an upper window of her husband's residence, situated about two miles
from Nenagh."