Walsh was born on March 31, 1871, in Dublin. His family moved to the United States when he was five years old. He worked as a newsboy, glass factory employee, bellhop, and office boy before studying law in the office of Patrick A. Collins. In 1892 he graduated from Boston University Law School and became a practicing attorney. He served as legal counsel for a number of labor unions and for several years was a temporary clerk of courts in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. Although he was born John Joseph Walsh he went by John Jackson Walsh to avoid confusion with a law school classmate. Walsh was married twice. His first marriage was annulled by the Roman Catholic Church on the grounds of "irreconcilable religious differences". He had two children with his first wife.
Political career
Walsh was a member of the Citizen's Municipal League and supported James J. Storrow over John F. Fitzgerald in the 1910 Boston mayoral election. In 1911, Fitzgerald threatened to sue Walsh for statements he made before a legislative committee. In 1912, he was a candidate for the United States House of Representatives seat in Massachusetts's 10th congressional district but lost the Democratic nomination to William Francis Murray. In 1914, Fitzgerald appointed Walsh to the city planning board. From 1919 to 1920 Walsh represented the 8th Suffolk District in the Massachusetts. On June 17, 1920, Walsh announced that he would run for governor. He narrowly defeated 1918 and 1919 gubernatorial nominee Richard H. Long to win the Democratic nomination, but lost the general election to Republican Channing H. Cox 67% to 30%. In 1922, he ran for the United States Senate seat held by Henry Cabot Lodge. He finished third in the Democratic primary behind William A. Gaston and Sherman L. Whipple with 11% of the vote.
Later life
In 1930, Walsh was appointed chairman of the General Council of the Massachusetts Bay Tercentenary. On January 23, 1934, the Boston Bar Association field a petition for Walsh's disbarment in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, alleging that he collected money for a client and failed to account for all of it. Judge Edward P. Pierce found Walsh guilty of a breech of trust for mixing $5,490 paid on a judgment with his own money so that it was not readily available to his client and gave the appearance that the money was his. He was suspended from the practice of law for one year. Walsh died on September 17, 1949, of a heart attack at his home in Boston. He was 78 years old.
