OBITUARY.

DEAN JACOBS. The Anglican Church has sustained a loss in the death of the very JRevjDean Jacobs, which took' place at the Deanery •at a late hour last night. The late Dean 'has been in, failing health, for the past few years, but until recently- 'he attended the daily services' afc the Cathedral, towards the last being wheeled there in his chair. Ever since the foundation of Canterbury lie has been a familiar figure da connection with the Anglican Church. He was the spn of .Mr ■; William .■■■'Hearne , Jacobs,, and was bprn. afc Chale Abbey, Sfc "Catherine's, Isle of Wight, on Jan. 3, 1824. At ten. years of age he was sent to the Charter House School, and at seventeen he was captain of the school and obtained by competition an open exhibition, leading in due course to 1 a scholarship, which afterwards was rewarded by a fellowship on the Mich■el foundation at Queen's College, Oxford. Mr Jacobs matriculated in June, 1841, and, went into residence a/t. Oxford in October of the same year. At the final examination at Easter in 1845 he obtained a first in classics. Having taken the B.A. and M.A. degrees in due course, he became in the year 1848 a Michel fellow of Queen's College. He was ordained deacon in 1847 by Dr Monk, the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol. During 1847 he. was curate of Bassall, in Gloucestershire, and in 1848 held the position of head-master of St Nicholas College, Shoreham. In the same year he took ! priest's orders and was afterwards curate ! of All Saints', Poplar, London. In June, 1850, he.- was appointed l>y the newlyformed Canterbury Association to the post of classical professor in the College which it proposed to found in the Canterbury, Settlement. The, late Dean came to Canterbury with the Pilgrims, arriving-' in the Sir George Seymour, one of the first four ships, on Dec. 17, 1850. He was the first of the Pilgrim chaplains to, leave the .ship and take up his abode on shore, and 'hence it came to pass that he conducted the first •* service ever held in Canterbury. The service'was held in Lyttelton on the morning of Dec. 22. Many will read with interest the late Dean Jacobs's graphic account of the scene. " "There was," jhe says, "no church, no schoolroom, no place even in which it seemed possible service could be held. There was a warehouse on Norwich Quay, close by the water-side, full above and below (for it had two storeys) of sugar barrels, flour barrels, tarpaulins, coils of rope, and what not, a most unecelesiastieal interior. It was a bam, with, of course, a lean-to. The upper storey of this warehouse was our church, better after all; or at least more wholesome and airy, than the catacombs in which our Christian forefathers were fain to find a refuge and a sanctuary j but though airy it was dark, for there were no windows, but only a wide opening at the seaward end, whereat j protruded a windlass for lifting barrels and | heavy goods. Stairs, of course, there were none whereby to ascend to the church aloft 1 —-a ladder 'sufficed, but, if I remember rightly, something like a permanent lad- \ der with a back tp it was erected before Sunday came round. The seats were rough J planks resting on cases, the lectern a case upon a case. Very hearty and' happy, notwithstanding, were our first services in this shapeless, ungainly building. The first service was held in the early morning. Mr and Mrs Godley and a few others attended; the bulk of the passengers of the three ships had not yet come to. live on shore. A sermon was preached aud the Holy Communion was administered." About six months later, in July, 1851, the Rev H. Jacobs, as he thenj was, conducted the service and preached the ] sermon at the opening of the first church | on the plains, built where St Michael's ! now stands. On April 26, 1852, he opened Christ's College Grammar School, of which he was the first head-master. He resigned this position in 1863 and was nominated incumbent of the parish of Christchurch — afterwards St Michael's. In the following yeaT he was offered the Bishopric of Nelson, rendered vacant by the resignation of Bishop Hobhouse. He declined it, and was soon, afterwards appointed Archdeacon of Christchurch. He resigned this office in June, 1866, on being made Dean. In 1873 he resigned the incuirfbency of St Michael and All Angels. In May, 1876; he was a second time appointed Archdeacon of Christchurch, holding the office in conjunction with that of Dean until last year. In 1878, when Bishop Harper went to England to attend the Second Lambeth Conference, the Dean as his Commissary at the annual meeting of the Dio- ] cesan Synod, and at the termination of the session, he was presented by the members with a cheque to cover the fees for taking the degree of Doctor of Divinity at Oxford. Since 1865 he had been one of the clerical representatives to the General Synod, and for several years he was editor ; of the "New Zealand Church News." In the year 1890 he paid a visit to Eng- ■ . landj.ajid! on .jhis extras' present^

with an address in; the Cathedral by the clergy and fai'ty. Since 'his return fa© devoted himself mostly to *he w-ork of iJhe Cathedral, of which he was head of the Dean and Chapter. Dean Jacobs was a distinguished classical scholar, and contributed to the literature of tJhe day ids well-known "History of tfhe Church in New Zealand," in 1889. In the following year he miljlished a bbok of poems, many of which' were suggested to liim while writing the history of t'fee Church, and to them he added a monaDer of poems and sonnets which 'he bad! previously written. In good' works not directly connected' with! the Churdh the late Dean Jacobs has always borne Ma parj;. For many yeare he was a consistent supporter of the "early closing" movement, and he also took great interest in the St John Ambulance Association: and the Society for the. Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Many other societies and movements of a philanthropic character have received # considerable assistance from him. A thoroughly loyal Churchiqan, his sympathies were yet not confined wholly, to his own communion.. His geniality gained him a large circle of friends amongst all classes and creeds, and he was universally beloved. He leaves a widow and two sons and six daughters to mourn their loss. .One of his sons, Mr Henry Jacobs, has jbut recently returned from South Africa. ■ In the absence of Bishop Julius, his commissary has given instructions forA the^ Cathedral bells to be tolled 'this morning," and the funeral will take place on Saturday afternoon at the Church of England Cemetery, Barbadoes Street.