Sir Charles James Jackson (2 May 1849 – 23 April 1923) was a British businessman, collector, barrister, newspaper executive, politician, and writer, who was an authority on antique gold and silver plate.
In 1888, he was called to the bar at the Middle Temple, and thereafter developed his own practice on the South Wales legal circuit, as well as working on private Parliamentary bills relating to the building industry.
After his sister Helen married Henry Lascelles Carr, the owner of the Western Mail who later became the proprietor of the News of the World, Charles Jackson became a director of the newspaper in 1893.
[1] Jackson's investments in the newspaper, and his property holdings, made him a wealthy man, and allowed him to indulge his passion for silver.
The most important item is probably a two-handled cup in the auricular style (a 17th century ornamental style based on parts of the human anatomy, particularly the human ear, after which the style is named) associated with the Dutch silversmith Christian van Vianen, who worked for the court of Charles I....Unusual, inspirational pieces in the collection include one of the earliest known silver wine tasters, a 17th-century Catholic chalice made in Cork that can be taken apart for concealment, and an inkstand in the form of a library globe..."Sir Charles Jackson was knighted in 1919, for services to the Red Cross during the First World War.
[1] Derek Jackson became Professor of Spectroscopy at Oxford University between 1947 and 1957, and was also noted for his flamboyant personal life as a "rampant bisexual"[4][5] who was married six times.