Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Jebb, John (1805-1886)

1399012Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 29 — Jebb, John (1805-1886)1892Thomas Seccombe (1866-1923)

JEBB, JOHN, D.D. (1805–1886), canon of Hereford, eldest son of Richard Jebb, Irish judge [see under Jebb, John, 1775–1833], and nephew of Dr. John Jebb [q. v.], bishop of Limerick, was born at Dublin in 1805. He was educated at Winchester and at Trinity College, Dublin, graduating B.A. in 1826, M.A. in 1829, and B.D. in 1862. Having held for a short time the rectory of Dunerlin in Ireland, he was appointed prebendary of Donoughmore in Limerick Cathedral, 1832, and instituted to the rectory of Peterstow, near Ross, Herefordshire, 1843. He was appointed prebendary of Preston Wynne in Hereford Cathedral in 1858, and was prælector from 1863 to 1870, when he was appointed canon residentiary. ‘A Literal Translation of the Book of Psalms,’ 2 vols., which he published in 1846, brought him some reputation as a Hebrew scholar and he was appointed one of the revisers of the Old Testament, but soon resigned the post in the belief that the plan proposed by his colleagues involved unnecessary change of the authorised version. He died at Peterstow on 8 Jan. 1886. Besides numerous sermons, pamphlets, and contributions to the church papers, Jebb's chief works are:

  1. ‘The Divine Economy of the Church,’ 1840, 12mo.
  2. ‘The Church Service of the United Church of England and Ireland, being an Enquiry into the Liturgical System of the Cathedral and Collegiate foundations of the Anglican Communion,’ 1843, 8vo.
  3. ‘Three Lectures on the Cathedral Service of the Church of England,’ Leeds, 1845, 16mo.
  4. ‘A Plea for what is left of the Cathedrals, their Deans and Chapters, their Corporate Rights and Ecclesiastical Utility,’ 1862, 8vo.
  5. ‘The Rights of the Irish Branch of the United Church of England and Ireland considered on Fundamental Principles, Human and Divine,’ 1868, 8vo.

[Times, 13 Jan. 1886; Athenæum, 1886, i. 104; Men of the Time, 12th edit. p. 583; Newman's Letters, ed. Mozley, ii. 216; Cotton's Fasti Eccl. Hib. i. 412–13; Annual Register; Brit. Mus. Cat.]

T. S.