Born in Bristol, the son of the landscape painter Samuel JACKSON, he also became his father's pupil.  A particular interest in sunlight, mist, clouds and sea attracted him to coastal views.

Chiefly a watercolourist, his earliest works were of the coasts of Cornwall and Devon, his painting of Land's End, Cornwall (according to Wood) being a good example. The interest of John Ruskin was aroused by these, and Martin Hardie complimented his hazy effects. His more relevant connection to landscape became in time with the Thames Valley and Wales.