In about 1895 he was employed in the wool industry at Kolp, Kullman & Co. Jackson's interest in conchology was encouraged by his future father-in-law, Robert Standen, an assistant keeper in the Zoology Department at Manchester Museum.
Jackson continued to study conchology, and also completed certificate courses in shorthand and languages at the Lower Mosley Street Schools from 1902 to 1904.
He played a key role in recording the organization's history, writing many obituaries as well as biographies of both Captain Thomas Brown and Martin Lister.
The pair became friends, and collaborated in mammalian osteological investigations, including the Glastonbury Lake Village excavations and cave explorations at Creswell Crags.
Buxton Museum and Art Gallery holds (in the Jackson Archive) in excess of one hundred unpublished 'bone reports'.
Just before World War I started, Jackson received a grant from the Royal Society of London to undertake geological survey work in the Dovedale area.
Jackson's study of the geological succession below the Kinder Scout grit, in which he demonstrated the presence of the Namurian Zones by their content of fossil Goniatites, was acknowledged by as an important contribution to Carboniferous stratigraphy.
He also engaged in teaching geology and archaeology, especially through Workers' Educational Association courses at centers in Manchester, Stockport, Buxton and Chapel-en-le Frith.
He also lectured to many societies, organized and lead field trips, ran Bangor Summer Schools in geology (1956 to 1962), and participated in the National Trust Dovedale Local Committee, the C.P.R.E., the Council for British Archaeology and the Peak Park Planning Board.