William Jackson (journalist)

The Reverend William Jackson (1737 – 30 April 1795) was a noted Irish preacher, journalist, playwright, and radical. He served first as a preacher and private chaplain of the Church of England before moving into journalism, writing for several newspapers in London across both sides of the political aisle.

In the 1770s, he took up the cause of Elizabeth Chudleigh as her secretary and publicist of sorts once she came under attack for charges of bigamy. This brought him into contact with Samuel Foote. Chudleigh, Jackson and Foote would all become embroiled in a very public feud, which would see all three face legal trouble for bigamy, sodomy and libel.

By the 1790s, Jackson had come to reside in France and became involved with a sect of Irish radicals. After being chosen for a mission under the Committee of Public Safety to visit England and Ireland, he was arrested in Dublin following meetings with the United Irish leaders Theobald Wolfe Tone and Archibald Hamilton Rowan. Charged with being an agent of the French Directory he was tried for treason; however, he committed suicide before he could be executed.^[1]