George Andrew Jacob

Who was George Andrew Jacob?

The Reverend George Andrew Jacob DD was an English clergyman and schoolmaster and author of many books about education and Christianity.

Jacob was born at Exmouth, Devon, on 16 December 1807, where his father the Reverend Stephen Long Jacob was incumbent. His mother was Susanna, daughter of the Reverend James Bond of Ashford, Kent, England. His younger brother General John Jacob was an Indian Army Officer who created Jacob's Horse and was accorded almost mythical status in Sind Province. Jacob was headmaster of Bromsgrove Grammar School, a principal of the Collegiate School in Sheffield and headmaster of Christ's Hospital, then in the city of London, from 1853 until his resignation from that post in 1868. In 1846 he became a member of the College of Preceptors, then a relatively new institution, President of the same 1853–1856 and Dean thereof 1859–1873. In his career he published many educational and religious books. He died at Teignmouth, Devon, on 7 May 1896.

Jacob's great-grandson Alaric Jacob, the journalist and author, refers to him and his brother in his autobiographical novel Scenes from a Bourgeois Life.