Jackson was born in Lurgan, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, the son of a Church of Ireland rector, and educated at Ballinamallard Primary School and Portora Royal School, Enniskillen. In 1979 he achieved the Louis Claude Purser Entrance Scholarship to Trinity College, Dublin. As only a Junior Freshman, he was elected as a Scholar of the College, the greatest undergraduate achievement, and as a Senior Freshman was awarded the Bishop Berkeley Gold Medal for Greek. As a Sophister, he achieved a First in the Moderatorship Part I along with a Mullins Classical Exhibition, before finally taking a first class Moderatorship II in Classics and a Gold Medal, and graduating B.A., incepting to M.A. in 1982. He read Theology at Cambridge University where he was elected a foundation scholar of St John's College, Cambridge and took a First Class Tripos Part II in Theology and Religious Studies. He is married to Inez Cooke, a medical doctor who was born in County Fermanagh, and they have one daughter, Camilla.
Ecclesiastical career
He was ordained to the Anglican ministry as a deacon in 1986 and a priest in 1987. His first pastoral appointment was as a curate at Zion Parish, Dublin, and he also lectured at Trinity College, Dublin and the Church of Ireland Theological Institute. His next appointment was as college chaplain at Christ Church, Oxford, from 1989 to 1997 where was also a student. He returned to Ireland and served as the incumbent of St Fin Barre's Union and Dean of Cork, from 1997 to 2002. Jackson has held many notable positions in the Church of Ireland, including chairmanship of the Church in Society Committee and, currently, chairmanship of the Board for Social Theology. Jackson also plays an active role in the wider Anglican Communion, especially in the areas of ecumenism and inter-faith dialogue. Jackson was elected Bishop of Clogher by the Church of Ireland House of Bishops on 21 November 2001 and consecrated at St Patrick's Anglican Cathedral, Armagh on 6 March 2002. On 2 February 2011, he was elected Archbishop of Dublin and Bishop of Glendalough, and enthroned at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin on 8 May 2011, succeeding John Neill. Jackson has caused several controversies during his incumbency in Dublin, including a media fracas regarding comments about sectarianism made in a speech during the 2013 diocesan synod There was also controversy over the closure of the 200 year old Church of Ireland College of Education and its amalgamation into Dublin City University, ending the historic link with Trinity College, Dublin
