Geoffrey Jackson was born on 4 March 1915, the son of Samuel Seymour Jackson and Marie Cecile Dudley Ryder. He was educated at Bolton School, and Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and in 1939 married Patricia Mary Evelyn Delany; they had one son.

Jackson entered the Foreign Service in 1937 and his diplomatic career included the following positions: Vice-Consul at first Beirut [Lebanon], then Cairo [Egypt] and finally Baghdad [Iraq] (1937-46); Acting Consul-General, Basra (1946); 1st Secretary at Bogotá [Colombia] (1946-50), then Berne [Switzerland], (1954-56); Minister at Honduras (1956), then Ambassador to Honduras, (1957-60); Consul-General, Seattle [United States] (1960-64); Senior British Trade Commissioner in Ontario, Canada (1964); Minister (Commercial), Toronto (1965-69); Ambassador to Uruguay (1969-72), during which time Jackson was kidnapped by terrorists and held prisoner for 8 months, from January to September 1971; Deputy Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (1973).

Following his retirement from the diplomatic service, Jackson became Chairman of the BBC Advisory Group on the Social Effects of Television (1975-77) and was a member of the BBC General Advisory Council (1976-80). Jackson was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 1963, and became a Knight Commander of the Order (KCMG) in 1971. He died on 1 October 1987.

Publications: The Oven-Bird (1972); People’s Prison (1973); Surviving the Long Night (1974); Concorde Diplomacy (1981).