Michael Alexander takes office as first Anglican-German Bishop in Jerusalem

Background. The Anglo-Prussian bishopric in Jerusalem was a joint venture of the Church of England and the Evangelical Church in Prussia, established in 1841. It resulted from missionary efforts and the 1840 Quadruple Alliance expedition. The see was organized similarly to an Anglican diocese, with the holder subject to the metropolitan authority of Canterbury. The Bishops in Foreign Countries Act 1841 authorized the consecration of a bishop for a foreign country.

Appointment and Consecration. Michael Solomon Alexander, a Jewish convert who had served as a rabbi, was proposed as the first Protestant bishop. He was appointed bishop of the United Church of England and Ireland in Jerusalem. Sources give conflicting accounts of his elevation to the episcopate: one states he was consecrated a bishop on 7 November 1841 to serve as the first "Bishop in Jerusalem", while another states he was ordained a bishop on 7 December 1841 at Lambeth Palace. These claims differ both in date and in the rite described, and neither is given precedence here.

Residence in Jerusalem. Alexander took up his residence in Jerusalem at the beginning of 1842. Under his leadership, various institutions were established, including a School of Industry, an Enquirers House, a Hebrew College, and the first hospital in Palestine. The Roman Catholic church subsequently sent a Patriarch to Jerusalem to counteract Alexander's influence.