Augustus Jessopp
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Augustus Jessopp (20 December 1823 – 12 February 1914) was an English cleric and writer. He spent periods of time as a schoolmaster and then later as a clergyman in
Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
, England. He wrote regular articles for ''
The Nineteenth Century ''The Nineteenth Century'' was a British monthly literary magazine founded in 1877 by James Knowles. It is regarded by historians as 'one of the most important and distinguished monthlies of serious thought in the last quarter of the nineteent ...
'', variously on humorous, polemical and historical topics. He published scholarly work on local Norfolk history and on aspects of English literature. A good friend of the academic and ghost-story writer
M. R. James Montague Rhodes James (1 August 1862 – 12 June 1936) was an English author, medievalist scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–1918), and of Eton College (1918–1936). He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambrid ...
, he is described by James' biographer R. W. Pfaff as "a fine specimen of the learned but somewhat eccentric country parson."


Early life

Born in
Cheshunt Cheshunt ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London on the River Lea and Lee Navigation. It contains a section of the Lee Valley Park, including much of the River Lee Country Park. To the north lies Broxbourne and Wormley, ...
, Hertfordshire, on 20 December 1823, he was the son of John Sympson Jessopp (c.1780–1851), barrister-at-law, and his wife Eliza Bridger Goodrich. He was educated at St John's College, Cambridge (B.A. 1848 and M.A. 1851). He took orders in 1848, and in the same year he married Mary Anne Margaret Cotesworth. Jessopp took on the curacy of Papworth, Cambridgeshire, where he resided till 1854, when he became headmaster of Helston Grammar School. Here he remained until 1859, when he succeeded Dr Vincent at
Norwich School Norwich School (formally King Edward VI Grammar School, Norwich) is a selective English independent day school in the close of Norwich Cathedral, Norwich. Among the oldest schools in the United Kingdom, it has a traceable history to 1096 as a ...
, being thus brought into relations with East Anglia, the region he came to write about. His tenure at Norwich (where
George Meredith George Meredith (12 February 1828 – 18 May 1909) was an English novelist and poet of the Victorian era. At first his focus was poetry, influenced by John Keats among others, but he gradually established a reputation as a novelist. '' The Ord ...
's elder son was among his pupils) was uneventful, and from the fact that he seldom, if ever, alludes to schoolmastering in his subsequent writing, it may not have been to his taste. He began work on his historic studies while at Norwich, and became rector of
Scarning Scarning is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It covers an area of and had a population of 2,932 in 1,092 households at the 2001 census, which eased at the 2011 Census to 2,906 in the same number of households. For l ...
in Norfolk in 1879. During this period he was awarded a Bachelor and Doctor of Divinity (1870), from Worcester College, Oxford.


Journalism for ''The Nineteenth Century''

''
The Nineteenth Century ''The Nineteenth Century'' was a British monthly literary magazine founded in 1877 by James Knowles. It is regarded by historians as 'one of the most important and distinguished monthlies of serious thought in the last quarter of the nineteent ...
'' was under the direction of James Knowles, and Jessopp's success may be due to this circumstance. His work certainly was what the editor wanted, and he wrote well, in a forcible, colloquial style, with earnestness, full of knowledge of his subjects, and helped by boisterous illustrations.
Joseph Arch Joseph Arch (10 November 1826 – 12 February 1919) was an English trade unionist and politician, born in Barford, Warwickshire, who played a key role in unionising agricultural workers and in championing their welfare. Following their enfranc ...
loomed large in the public eye; people wanted to hear what a county parson had to say about the agricultural labourer. He was firmly convinced that things were not going well in the rural parishes, and he was righteously indignant at the condition of the labourer's cottage, and the growing tendency to deprive him of all chance of rising to a higher level, an evil aggravated by the abolition of small farms. He realised also, the dullness of village life, the grinding monotony, and the impossibility of escape, though perhaps he was too prone to assume that these burdens would be as heavy to his neighbours as to himself. His entire picture was unreal, giving the worst rather than the average conditions. He certainly did his best to brighten village life; he was quite free from clerical bigotry, and candidly admits that the stuffy little Ranter's chapel is too often the only place where the religious emotions of the rural poor can be stirred and the yearnings of the soul satisfied. Unfortunately his well-meant efforts came to little largely because he went too late to parish work. His best years had been spent as a schoolmaster. Jessopp was essentially a man of the study, and the "monsters of life's waste" he attacked were too often those he imagined must be the bane of his poorer neighbours—rather than those that really oppressed them. Again, he was not Norfolk born. He never comprehended the inner nature of the hard-grained East Anglians that rates stranger and foe as nearly equivalent. For those reasons, he came to cross purposes with his people. He lost his temper sometimes and wrote about his neighbours in terms some of them resented. Numbers of ''The Nineteenth Century'' travelled down to Scarning; and when local celebrities recognised their portraits, dancing with stage antics to amuse the rector's town friends, and understood he was getting paid handsomely for the show, the feud waxed bitter.


Historical writings

As early as 1855, Jessopp issued a reprint of John Donne's ''Essays in Divinity'' with notes. In 1897, he wrote a short life of Donne in the ''Leaders of Religion'' series. His ''One Generation of a Norfolk House'' must have cost him much labour; it is the story of one of the Walpoles who became a Jesuit in the time of
Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...
, and it was while he was engaged over it at Mannington Hall,
Lord Orford Earl of Orford is a title that has been created three times. The first creation came in the Peerage of England in 1697 when the naval commander Admiral of the Fleet Edward Russell was made Earl of Orford, in the County of Suffolk. He was c ...
's seat, that he was favoured by a nocturnal visit from a ghostly ecclesiastic in the library. Much good-humoured banter followed his communication of his experience to the press, and probably his picturesque statement helped to draw public attention to this Henry Walpole, an unimportant figure and quite undeserving of the toil and research his ''vates sacer'' bestowed upon him. In 1879, he published his ''History of the Diocese of Norwich''; in 1885, ''The Coming of the Friars and Other Historical Essays''; and in 1881 and 1890, ''Arcady for Better or Worse'' and ''The Trials of a Country Parson'', his most popular works. In 1890, he edited afresh Bell's edition of the '' Lives of the Norths''. In 1884, Jessopp theoretically came close to eternal damnation of his soul when he ran foul of the Muggletonians, who claimed to possess this power through issuing curses. His article entitled "The Prophet of Walnut Tree Yard" appeared in the August issue of ''The Nineteenth Century''.
Lodowicke Muggleton Lodowicke Muggleton (1609–1698) was an English religious thinker who gave his name to Muggletonianism, a Protestant sect which was always small, but survived until the death of its last follower in 1979. He spent his working life as a journey ...
had been born in Walnut Tree Yard, Bishopsgate, in 1609. Jessopp's article was written with robust humour, probably because the writer assumed the sect extinct or moribund. The mid-century '' Chambers' Encyclopaedia'' would have told him just that. Jessopp felt obliged to apologise, which he did on 20 September 1887. However, it could have been much worse. Until the middle of the century, Muggletonians condemned those who ridiculed them.
Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...
suffered just this fate. In 1896 he and
M. R. James Montague Rhodes James (1 August 1862 – 12 June 1936) was an English author, medievalist scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–1918), and of Eton College (1918–1936). He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambrid ...
co-edited an edition of
Thomas of Monmouth Thomas of Monmouth ( fl. 1149–1172) was a Benedictine monk who lived in the Priory at Norwich Cathedral, England during the mid-twelfth century. He was the author of ''The Life and Miracles of St William of Norwich'', a hagiography of William ...
's ''Life'' of
William of Norwich William of Norwich (2 February 1132 – 22 March 1144) was an English boy whose disappearance and killing was, at the time, attributed to the Jewish community of Norwich. It is the first known medieval accusation against Jews of ritual murder. ...
, containing historical essays on the background to the events, which were the origin of the antisemitic
blood libel Blood libel or ritual murder libel (also blood accusation) is an antisemitic canardTurvey, Brent E. ''Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis'', Academic Press, 2008, p. 3. "Blood libel: An accusation of ritual mur ...
.


Academic career and recognition

Jessopp became a member by incorporation at Worcester College, Oxford in 1870, and in 1895 he became an honorary Fellow of that Society. His college at Cambridge conferred the same honour on him in the same year. In 1890, Oxford appointed him a select preacher, and his handsome presence and his sonorous voice made him an imposing figure in St Mary's pulpit. In 1895, he became an honorary canon of Norwich, and he was Chaplain-in-Ordinary to King Edward VII from 1902 to 1910. In 1907, Jessopp was granted a
Civil List pension Pensions in the United Kingdom, whereby United Kingdom tax payers have some of their wages deducted to save for retirement, can be categorised into three major divisions - state, occupational and personal pensions. The state pension is based on ...
of £50, in addition to a £100 pension previously granted in recognition of his services to archæology and literature. He resigned his benefice in 1911 and went to live at The Chantry, Norwich. On his removal from Scarning he sold most of his valuable library, and the sale attracted considerable attention. It included a number of letters addressed by George Meredith to Dr and Mrs Jessopp, and a number of Meredith first editions with autograph inscriptions of the author. Jessopp died on 12 February 1914 and was buried at Scarning on 14 February. A biography of Jessopp has been published: ''Augustus Jessopp: Norfolk's Antiquary'', Nick Hartley, Torre, M & M Baldwin, 2017, Jessopp gave a talk in the Reading Room in High Street,
Tittleshall Tittleshall is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk.Ordnance Survey (1999). ''OS Explorer Map 238 - East Dereham & Aylsham''. . Location The village and parish of Tittleshall has an area of 1376 hectares or . The parish is ...
in 1882 to mostly agricultural workers of the area where he compared life then (1882) to the much harsher conditions (he had discovered from a chest full of old documents) which existed in 1282, citing harsh punishments for very petty offences. The Reading Room still stands.


References


External links

* * *
The Antiquarian of Arcady
introduction to an edition of Jessopp's ghostly writings, by
Jessica Amanda Salmonson Jessica Amanda Salmonson (born January 6, 1950 John Clute and John Grant,Salmonson, Jessica Amanda, in ''The Encyclopedia of Fantasy'', pp. 832–833, Orbit, London / St Martin’s Press, New York (1997).) is an American author and editor of fan ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jessopp, Augustus 1823 births 1914 deaths 19th-century English Anglican priests Headmasters of Norwich School People from Cheshunt People from Scarning