Edgar Jacob was born on 16 November 1844 at Crawley Rectory, near Winchester. He was educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford, graduating in 1867. In 1868, he was ordained, serving in three parishes before taking up the post of domestic chaplain to the bishop of Calcutta in 1872.
Returning to England in 1876, he was appointed first warden of the Wilberforce mission in South London and examining chaplain to the bishop of Winchester, and two years later vicar of Portsea. In 1896, he was consecrated bishop of Newcastle, holding the see until 1903, when he became bishop of St. Albans. He retired in 1919 and died on 25 March 1920 at St. Cross.
From the guide to the Edgar Jacob, Bishop of St. Albans collection, 1916, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)
