Poetic Justice and the Prodigal Son

Societies tell their stories in a manner quite different from the way historians narrate them. While historians look for proof in the way of archaeological evidence, copper plates, etc, rarely do they admit folklore or other oral traditions as credible evidence of a historical occurrence.

Strangely, in yet other instances historians tend to over look credible proof as substantial enough to acknowledge the emotions that underwrite historical occurrences. It happens when history is written by those who perhaps desire that the society of which the history is written at best remain ignorant of the justice that history does to some of its actors in ways that only history knows best.

This is one such story - the story of William Collins Jackson, who set the stage of history aflame in which one of the greatest sons of India was consumed, Veerapandiya Kattabomman.

Jackson, William Collins was born in 1763 in a humble British family. By the reference of some well-wisher of the family, young Jackson was employed as a Writer by the EIC in 1781. In 1783, he became Assistant to the Secretary to the Select Committee and in 1785 became Deputy Secretary to the Select Committee. In the initial years of his employment in Madras and Bombay, Jackson’s fortunes were against him, though he managed to grab the attention of the Board of Governors in Madras who eventually made him Deputy Secretary in the Military and Political Department in 1786. He also served as Dutch, Spanish, and Portuguese Translator. His fortunes turned favourable when, in 1790 he was appointed Secretary in the Mlilitary, Political, and Secret Department, and Judge Advocate-General. Though he had built a modest fortune by then[1], the duties enrusted upon him began to tell upon his health and he requested the Board of Governors for change of vocation. Heeding to his request, the Board appointed him as Collector of Ramnad and Collector of the Southern Polygar Peishcush, in 1797.

On 12 March 1797, he took over as Collector at Ramnad. In the ensuing two years, he came to lock horns over the collection of Peshcush from Veerapandia Kattabomman. Bommu initially preferred to arrive at a compromise. However, the council Jackson received from some elements of his Cutchery inimical to Bommu resulted a deadlock and his failed attempt to arrest Bommu.

In his own memoir[2] published in London in 1812, Jackson suspected the Military President of EIC to have indirectly sided with Bommu which resulted in Bommu being returned to his Palayam with no more than an advice to comply with EIC directives.

In the meanwhile, allegations of improper appropriation of wealth by the Collector began falling on the ears of the Board. At least two specific instances of him asking for a ‘nuzzer[3]’ of 20000 and 18000 pagoda[4] from various sources came to be investigated by the Board of Governors. Jackson also made use of his position to trade privately in clothes and cotton, though such practice was prohibited by EIC nonetheless indulged by most English officials in India.

Together, both the instances of failure to secure Bommu and allegations of impropriety resulted in EIC asking Jackson to relinquish his duty[5] and returned to England. He returned to London in 1799 and eventually resigned from Company Service in 1812.

Jackson’s life took a different turn in London. With the wealth he had acquired in Madras Province, he purchased an elegant home at 11, Gloucester Place in London’s fashionable West End, and Mr Jackson had recently acquired a country estate in Langley, Buckinghamshire[6]. He had one son, William Jackson Burkes Collins who was born 1792. Jackson Jr was destined to inherit the family estate and a handsome £ 50000 at the passing of his father.

The Jr however had more than mere pleasure of being an Esquire’s son to give to his father. Wealth at his disposal made him frequent the brothels of London and indulge in improper public conduct, resulting in his arrest at least thrice and incarceration in Old Bailey. Every time Jackson Sr would use his moneys and connections to get his son out of Old Bailey, Jackson Jr managed to avail himself of another ignoble opportunity. Between 1810 and 1812, Jackson Jr indulged in a public fraud that became the theme of London society talk. The dismayed father, with the help of Sir George Shee (his brother-in-law) and few other factors eventually managed to save his son from Old bailey again on the condition that he would be deported to the Penal Colony in Australia.

In 1812, Jackson Jr was deported to Australia. He died in Sydney purportedly due to malaria in 1828 at the age of 36.

William Collins Jackson, the father, died in 1814, aged 51 and broken hearted. The trials and tribulations of the Jackson family of the London years became a theme for study of ‘wealthy Nabobs and their profligate sons”[7].   

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[1] Jackson even had his portrait done by John Smart in 1787 in the fashion of Victorian elites. The portrait is in a private collection in Germany. See:  http://www.historicalportraits.com/Gallery.asp?Page=Item&ItemID=1875&Desc=Portrait-miniature-of-a-Gentleman,-possibly-William-Collins-Jackson-|-John-Smart

[2] Jackson, WC (1812), Memoir of the Public Conduct and Services of William Collins Jackson, Esq. Late Senior Mechant on the Company’s Madras Establishment, Smith & Co: London, Pp 53-54.

[3] Nuzzer – gift. The Mughal custom of accepting personal gifts by officials of the Mughal administration was followed with fervor by many EIC officials resulting in the amassment of wealth beyond honorable means. 

[4] See the comment on Star Pagoda at Note 2.

[5] The Ramnad Committee forwarded their proceedings to the Governor in Council on the 31st day of December 1798; and on the very day they were received at Madras, viz. the 4th of January 1799, the Collector was “dismissed from his employ;” not for any measure originated in his public conduct, but “on Ly” for having written (after he had notified his intention to resign) a private letter to a Member of the Board of Revenue, containing some wholesome and salutary advice. “Considering,” said Lord Clive and his Council, “considering the important situations which Mr. Jackson has filled, and the repeated testimonies of approbation which he has obtained from this

Government, and from the Honorable Court of Directors, we have had much concern in manifesting this serious mark of our displeasure: but individual pretensions, however splendid, or meritorious, MUST Yield To the weighty NECESSITY OF SUPPORTING THE CONSTITUTED AUTHORITIES OF GOVERNMENT”. (Pp53-54 of the Memoir).

[6] Nicola Phillips, A Case Study of the Impact of Wealth on the Criminal Justice System in Early Nineteenth-Century England, Crime, Histoire & Sociétés / Crime, History & Societies, Vol. 17, n°1 | 2013, 29-52.

[7] Nicola Philips, The Profligate Son: Or, a True Story of Family Conflict, Fashionable Vice, and Financial Ruin in Regency England, OUP Oxford, 24-Oct-2013.