John Jebb

Who was John Jebb?

John Jebb D.D. was an Anglo-Irish Anglican clergyman and writer on church music.

He was the eldest son of Justice Richard Jebb and nephew of Dr John Jebb, Bishop of Limerick. He was educated at Winchester and Trinity College, Dublin. After graduating MA in 1829, Jebb briefly held the rectory of Dunerlin in Ireland before becoming prebendary in Limerick Cathedral, rector of Peterstow, Herefordshire, prebendary in Hereford Cathedral, and canon residentiary there.

He married Frances, daughter of General Sir Richard Bourke, in September 1831.

Jebb was a leading authority on the choral service of the Anglican Church and a significant figure in the English choral revival. When Dr Walter Hook, vicar of Leeds, proposed to reinstate choral services and a surpliced choir at Leeds Parish Church in 1841, it was to his friend Jebb that he looked for advice. With his cathedral background Jebb argued that in churches with a choir, the desired musical effect should not be marred by "the roar of the congregation". He persuaded Hook to adopt the cathedral form of service at Leeds rather than the alternative model demonstrated by the Rev.