NOTE: The memorial to Tom Jackson is now in two pieces. That it remains so is a disgrace on the part of our national footballing establishment and the operators/responsible organisation of and for Eastwood Old Cemetery; one which can easily be corrected by a relatively small amount of money from the former and some restorative cooperation between the both.
Thomas "Tom" Jackson
From 1910 for two seasons Tom Jackson would play for and captain St. Johnstone as it became both a professional and a League club. But he was neither from Perth but Thornliebank in Renfrewshire, beginning his adult football career, as a right-back, with the village club, nor were The Fair City club his first; far from it.
He was then twenty years old, having been born in 1876, the son of local parents with otherwise five daughters, his father a Calico Printer. And it would be, with him working as a clerk, that in 1898 he was first signed by St. Mirren, remaining with the club for a decade and over two centuries of appearances.
And it was whilst at Love Street that he achieved international honours, three caps in 1904 against each of the Home Nations, one in 1905 as captain and two more in 1907. By then he had had several offers to go South but had knocked them back and that might have gone against him in the long run. The Paisley Saints seemed to be for ever in need financially of selling off their better players, so when in 1907-8 he was injured twice there was clearly a falling out and he moved on but with such a transfer fee on his head that it in the end for him forced a drop out of League jurisdiction. He went first to Clyde, then to Bathgate and finally to the Perthshire Saints in the Central League. And at the Recreation Grounds, before hanging up his boots in 1912, he was to lead the team to the Perthshire, two Dewar and the Scottish Consolation Cups as well as election to the Second Division of Scotland's top-flight.
On final retiral Tom would return home to Thornliebank, to living with his mother and siblings, never having married and a clerk once more. Yet, despite being an only-son, at the the start of The Great War he was quickly called up to serve in The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. And unsurprisingly, whilst serving in northern France he was wounded only to be returned to the front in late 1916 in the final throes of the Battle of the Somme and there killed in action. He is buried in the Adanac Military Cemetery by the village of Miraumont south of Arras, with a memorial to him on the family grave by Thornliebank in Eastwood Cemetery.
Birth Locator:
1876 - The Baths, Thornliebank, Renfrewshire
Residence Locations:
1881-1901 - The Baths/North Park Terrace, Thornliebank, Renfrewshire
1911 - 82, Spiersbridge Rd., Thornliebank, Renfrewshire
Death Locator:
1916 - The Somme, France
Grave Locator:
Adanac Military Cemetery, Miraumont, France
Memorial in Eastwood Old Cemetery
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