William Jacobson

The Right Reverend William Jacobson
Bishop of Chester
William Jacobson, photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1857.
Diocese	Diocese of Chester
In office	1865–1884
Predecessor	John Graham
Successor	William Stubbs
Personal details
Born	(1803-07-18)18 July 1803 Great Yarmouth
Died	13 July 1884(1884-07-13) (aged 80) Deeside
Nationality	British
Denomination	Anglican
Alma mater	Homerton College, London University of Glasgow St Edmund Hall, Oxford Lincoln College, Oxford

William Jacobson (18 July 1803 – 13 July 1884) was Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford University (1848–1865) and Bishop of Chester (1865–1884).

The son of William Jacobson, a merchant's clerk, of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, by his wife Judith, born Clarke, was born on 18 July 1803. His father died shortly after his birth, and his mother's second husband was a nonconformist. He was sent when about nine to a school at Norwich kept by Mr. Brewer, a baptist, the father of John Sherren Brewer. He went on to Homerton College, London, and in 1822–3 was a student at Glasgow University. On 3 May 1823 he was admitted commoner of St Edmund Hall, Oxford, being, it is said, befriended by Dawson Turner of Yarmouth, a member of the Society of Friends. He had little money. In May 1825 he was elected scholar of Lincoln College (B.A. in 1827), taking a second class in literæ humaniores.

Failing to win a fellowship at Exeter College, Jacobson was a private tutor in Ireland until 1829. He then returned to Oxford, obtained the Ellerton theological prize, was elected fellow at Exeter on 30 June, and proceeded M.A. On 6 June 1830 he was ordained deacon, was appointed to the curacy of St Mary Magdalen, Oxford, and was ordained priest the following year. In 1832 he was appointed vice-principal of Magdalen Hall, where he did much to encourage industry and enforce discipline. With a view to preparing an edition of the Patres Apostolici, he went at this period to Florence, Rome, and elsewhere to consult manuscripts. In 1836 he was offered a mastership at Harrow School by Charles Longley, the head-master, afterwards archbishop of York; but Longley was that year made Bishop of Ripon, nothing came of it. He offered himself as Longley's successor at Harrow, but was not appointed.