Zion [4] In March 1838, a consulate was opened in Jerusalem and a vice-consul was appointed "to afford protection of the Jews generally" in Palestine.

Under the influence of Lord Ashley, Lord Palmerston, the Foreign Secretary, called for the Porte to facilitate the settlement of Jews from all Europe and Africa in Palestine in addition to allowing Jews living in the Turkish empire "to transmit to the Porte, through British authorities, any complaints which they might have to prefer against the Turkish authorities."

The British government wanted to prop up the ailing Ottomans, and admitting Jews to Palestine with "the wealth they would bring with them would increase the resources of the Sultan's dominions.

The bishopric had the support of the Protestant king Frederick William of Prussia: his envoy appointed to England, specifically to aid Lord Ashley in the project.

Their joint efforts fell mainly to overcoming opposition from Anglo-Catholic groups in England, under the Oxford Movement, which was trying to reconcile the English Church with Rome.

Michael Alexander, a converted Jew and professor of Hebrew and Arabic at King's College, is chosen by Palmerston (on the advice of Ashley) to be the first 'Bishop in Jerusalem.'

For the time being the diocese would be run in joint effort with the united Evangelical Church in Prussia which rejected the idea of Apostolic succession, held by Anglicans.

Elliot Warburton on visiting Bishop Alexander's church in Jerusalem found a total congregation of eight converted Jews and one or two tourists.

[8][9] The Anglo-Prussian Union ceased to function in 1881, and no bishop was appointed between 1881 and 1887, and from 1887, the missionary effort continued solely under Anglican auspices.

[13] In 2014 the synod debated this international representative role, and determined that it was sufficiently important to restore the status of an archbishopric, with the bishop to be re-styled Archbishop in Jerusalem.