On 3 May 1823, he was admitted commoner of St Edmund Hall, Oxford, being, it is said, befriended by Dawson Turner of Yarmouth, a member of the Society of Friends.

[2] Failing to win a fellowship at Exeter College, Jacobson was a private tutor in Ireland until 1829.

He then returned to Oxford, obtained the Ellerton theological prize, was elected fellow at Exeter on 30 June, and proceeded M.A.

With a view to preparing an edition of the Patres Apostolici, he went at this period to Florence, Rome, and elsewhere to consult manuscripts.

[2] In 1839, Jacobson became perpetual curate of Iffley, near Oxford, was made public orator of the university in 1842, and was chosen select preacher in 1833, 1842, and 1863, but did not serve on the last occasion.

[2] In his charge at his primary visitation in October 1868 (published), Jacobson spoke on the duty of rubrical conformity.

His call to conformity gave offence to some low churchmen, and in the earlier years of his episcopate he was twice mobbed by Orangemen in Liverpool when on his way to consecrate churches intended for the performance of an ornate service.