William Jacks

William Jacks (18 March 1841 – 9 August 1907) was a British ironmaster, author and Liberal politician.

Early life Jacks was born at Cornhill-on-Tweed, near Coldstream, Northumberland the son Richard Jacks, a farmer and land steward, and his wife, Mary Lamb. His father died when he was very young and his mother moved to Swinton, near Duns where he was educated at Swinton Village School. He served an apprenticeship in the shipbuilding yard Pile & Co. at West Hartlepool. In his spare time, he studied foreign languages and other subjects and this helped him develop a career in the iron and steel industry.

Iron merchant Jacks moved to a shipyard in Sunderland, and then became manager of Sunderland and Seaham Engine Works and Foundry. With his language skills, he was sent on an errand to Italy to intercept goods that the buyer did not intend to pay for, and not only retrieved the goods, but sold them at a higher price and obtained fresh business for his employers. He was encouraged to join a business in Glasgow in 1870 and founded the iron and steel merchants William Jacks & Co in 1880. He built and sold steamers, completed large contracts for ironwork, and became a director of several companies. Although Jacks' politics were on the opposite side of those of the junior partner, his example may have had an influence on the younger man.

Political career In 1885 Jacks was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leith District of Burghs in place of Andrew Grant (MP), but in the 1886 general election which followed Gladstone played what was known as the "Leith dirty trick", standing unopposed and thus ousting his former supporter.

Jacks was elected Chairman of the British Iron Trade Association in 1893 and was afterwards President of the West of Scotland Iron and Steel Institute and of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce. He was the first Chairman of Commercial College in Glasgow.

Literary career Jacks first literary work, published in 1894, was a translation of "Nathan the Wise" by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. In 1896 he published "Robert Burns in other Tongues," on the centenary of the poet's death.

On the strength of this, Glasgow University awarded him an LLD in 1899. His "Life of Prince Bismarck" brought appreciative letters from Bismarck's son and from Kaiser Wilhelm II, who gave him two volumes, biographies of Wilhelm I and of the Emperor himself. Jack produced "The Life of His Majesty William II., German Emperor, with a Sketch of his Hohenzollern Ancestors" in 1904.