Educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, Jessopp was ordained a deacon in 1848. In 1850, he was ordained a priest and became the curate of Papworth St. Agnes. He moved to Cornwall where he became the headmaster of Helston Grammar School in 1855. In 1859, he was appointed headmaster of King Edward IV's School in Norwich where he remained for the next 20 years. In 1871, he published Dissertations on the Fragments of Primitive Liturgies and Confessions of Faith Contained in the Writings of the New Testament. Jessop's writings combined his theological background with an excellent historical insight. In 1879, he became the rector of Scarning in Norfolk and, in 1902, the chaplain ordinary to the king. In 1880, he published An Antiquary's Ghost Story which influenced his close friend, M.R. James, and led to James' Ghost Stories of an Antiquary. When Jessop's wife, Mary, died in 1905, his life and health began to decline. He suffered from hallucinations and general senility that eventually led to his death in 1914. Among his other works are One Generation of a Norfolk House: A Contribution to Elizabethan History (1876), History of the Diocese of Norwich (1884), Arcady For Better For Worse (1887), The Coming of the Friars & Other Historical Essays (1888), The Trials of a Country Parson (1890), Studies of a Recluse (1892), Random Roaming (1893), Simon Ryan the Peterite (1896), Before the Great Pillage (1901) and William Cecil, Lord Burghley (1904). |
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