John Jebb (21 September 1805 in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

– 8 January 1886 in

Peterstow Peterstow is a village and Civil parish in Herefordshire, England, situated about west of Ross-on-Wye on the A49. General description Among the general features of the village is the Parish Church, begun in the Norman period contained windows ...

, Herefordshire) was an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

Anglican priest and writer on church music.

Life

Jebb was the eldest son of Mr Justice Richard Jebb of the Irish Court of King's Bench and his wife Jane Louisa Finlay, and nephew of John Jebb,

Bishop of Limerick The Bishop of Limerick is an episcopal title which takes its name after the city of Limerick in the Province of Munster, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it still continues as a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been un ...

. He was educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

and

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

. After graduating MA in 1829, Jebb briefly held the rectory of Dunerlin in Ireland before becoming a

prebendary A prebendary is a member of the Roman Catholic or Anglican clergy, a form of canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in particular seats, usually at the back of the ...

of Limerick Cathedral (1832), rector of

, Herefordshire (1843), a prebendary of

Hereford Cathedral Hereford Cathedral is the cathedral church of the Anglican Diocese of Hereford in Hereford, England. A place of worship has existed on the site of the present building since the 8th century or earlier. The present building was begun in 1079. S ...

(1858) and a canon residentiary (1870). Jebb married Frances, daughter of General Sir

Richard Bourke General Sir Richard Bourke, KCB (4 May 1777 – 12 August 1855), was an Irish-born British Army officer who served as Governor of New South Wales from 1831 to 1837. As a lifelong Whig (Liberal), he encouraged the emancipation of convicts and ...

, in September 1831 (she died in 1866). Jebb was a leading authority on the Anglican choral tradition and a significant figure in the English choral revival. When

Walter Hook Walter Farquhar Hook (13 March 1798 – 20 October 1875), known to his contemporaries as Dr Hook, was an eminent Victorian era, Victorian churchman. He was the Vicar of Leeds responsible for the construction of the current Leeds Minster an ...

, vicar of Leeds, proposed to reinstate choral services and a surpliced choir at

Leeds Parish Church Leeds Minster, or the Minster and Parish Church of Saint Peter-at-Leeds (formerly Leeds Parish Church) is the minster church of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It stands on the site of the oldest church in the city and is of architectural and l ...

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 Revd

Frederick Oakeley Frederick Oakeley (5 September 1802 – 30 January 1880) was an English Roman Catholic convert, priest, and author. He was ordained in the Church of England in 1828 and in 1845 converted to the Church of Rome, becoming Canon of the Westminster ...

at Margaret Chapel, London, in 1839, where the choir’s role was to lead the congregation in response, hymn and psalm. Jebb's policy was first made public in ''Three Lectures on the Cathedral Service'' (1841). A more scholarly and definitive treatment of the topic was published in his ''The Choral Service of the United Church of England and Ireland'' (1843) which was an enquiry into the low state of service and music provision in cathedrals and collegiate churches. He funded the building costs of the new rectory at Peterstow. St Peter's Church at Peterstow was restored in the 1860s under Jebb with

Sir George Gilbert Scott Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he started ...

as architect. The reopening was on 2 July 1866.''The Peterstow Millennium Book'', published by the villagers, 2000, p. 17.

Writings

* ''Three Lectures on the Cathedral Service of the Church of England'' (Leeds, 1841) * ''The Choral Service of the United Church of England and Ireland, being an Inquiry into the Liturgical System of the Cathedral and Collegiate Foundations of the Anglican Communion'' (London, 1843) * ''The Choral Responses and Litanies of the United Church of England and Ireland'' (London, 1847)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jebb, John 19th-century Irish Anglican priests 1805 births 1886 deaths People educated at Winchester College Alumni of Trinity College Dublin