Thomas Jackson (Bishop-designate of Lyttelton)

Thomas Jackson (1 September 1812 – 18 March 1886), was an English Anglican clergyman appointed in 1850 as Bishop Designate of the newly founded settlement of Lyttelton in New Zealand. After disagreements with the New Zealand colonists, Jackson never took up the bishopric, and instead returned to England.

Jackson was born in 1812 to a Wesleyan clergyman. His father was Thomas Jackson and his mother was Ann Hollinshead. He was educated at St Saviour's School in Southwark, and St Mary Hall, Oxford where he graduated BA in 1834 and MA in 1837.

In 1844, aged 32, Jackson was appointed Principal of St John's Training College for teachers at Battersea. This college trained teachers for English Church schools. Jackson retained this position until he was named as the Bishop Designate of Lyttelton in New Zealand. At the time, it was envisaged that the principal town in the new settlement would be Lyttelton, not Christchurch which eventually did become the main locality. He was named to the position in June 1850 and from that time until he sailed for New Zealand in September of that same year he addressed many meetings on behalf of the Canterbury Association, which was promoting immigration. He did much to further the cause of immigration.

A legal problem emerged some time before the first immigrant ships left England for Canterbury. The Letters Patent appointing Dr. George Selwyn (Bishop of Lichfield) as the Bishop of New Zealand had no clause providing for a resignation of part of the New Zealand Diocese which would have been needed if another person were to be appointed in Canterbury. It was determined that the Diocese of Lyttelton should include all of the South Island, whereas Dr. Selwyn wished to resign from only the Canterbury Settlement and Otago.

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