Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Jobson, Frederick James

by George Clement Boase

JOBSON, FREDERICK JAMES, D.D. (1812–1881), Wesleyan minister, son of John Jobson, who died 19 April 1875, aged 88, was born at Northwich, Cheshire, on 6 July 1812, and served an apprenticeship to Edward J. Willson, architect, at Norwich. In 1834 he entered the Wesleyan methodist ministry. His evangelistic fervour at once secured him a reputation as a preacher. His first appointment was at Patrington, Yorkshire, and in 1835 he went to Manchester. In 1837 he became assistant at the City Road Chapel, London, where during his career he served three terms, each of three years. His knowledge of architecture proved useful to him in his relations with the normal training college at Westminster, the new Kingswood School, Bath, and the Theological Institution, Richmond, in all of which he took an active interest. In May 1856, in conjunction with Dr. John Hannah, he was sent as one of the representatives of the British conference to the Methodist Episcopal conference at Indianapolis. He attended the Australian conference at Sydney in January 1861, and on his return to England in 1862 published an account of his journey under the title of ‘Australia, with Notes by the way of Egypt, Ceylon, Bombay, and the Holy Land.’ In 1864 he was chosen book steward of the Wesleyan Methodist organisation, and under his management the publishing department was greatly developed, and he superintended the ‘Methodist Magazine’ for twelve years. He was elected president of the Wesleyan Methodist conference on 5 Aug. 1869. He died at 21 Highbury Place, Holloway Road, London, on 4 Jan. 1881, and was buried in Highgate cemetery on 8 Jan. He married, in 1834, Elizabeth Caborn of Bemersley, Staffordshire. Besides many devotional works, he was author of:

1. ‘Chapel and School Architecture,’ 1850.
2. ‘America and American Methodism,’ 1857.
3. ‘Perfect Love for Christian Believers,’ 1864.
4. ‘Serious Truths for Consideration,’ 1864.
5. ‘Visible Union with the Church of Christ,’ 1864.

[Gregory's Life of Fredk. J. Jobson, 1884, with portrait; Pope's Death and Life in Christ, a funeral sermon, 1881; Evans's Lancashire Authors, 1850, pp. 136–40; Wesleyan Methodist Mag. September 1844, with portrait, June 1871, with portrait, and 1881, civ. 150–7, 176–85, 285–94, 397; Times, 5 Jan. 1881, p. 9; Illustr. London News, 14 Aug. 1869, p. 165, with portrait.]

G. C. B.