Caroline was born at "Woodlands" near Sevenhill and Penwortham, South Australia, the sixth child and third daughter of John Jacob and his wife Mary Jacob, née Cowles,. In 1869 the family moved to Mount Gambier, where her father had, controversially, been appointed Clerk of Court. In 1873 her mother re-opened Winnold House school, near Christ Church, Mount Gambier, which had until a few years previous been operated by the Misses or a Miss Fickling. It also served as their home. In 1878 the school was renamed Winnold House Ladies' College; its last year of advertised operation was 1886. Caroline, who had previously been home-educated, was at some stage enrolled at Winnold. She passed her first class certificate in May 1877, entered teachers training college 1879 and was appointed third assistant teacher at Port Adelaide in 1883, completed her second class that same year and was awarded her teachers certificate 1884. She studied physiology as a non-graduating student at the University in 1885 and won an Elder Prize for the subject. She had taught at Winnold for a few years. Caroline was appointed to the Advanced School for Girls in 1885, and resigned 1897 to take over Tormore House School in Buxton Street, North Adelaide, from the Misses McMinn, Martha, Sallie and Lizzie. During the following year she had a new building constructed in Childers Street, followed by a home for boarders next door. Her sister Ann served as manager from c. 1900. In December 1906 she took over Ellen Thornber's school at Unley Park, which she kept running as a separate entity for four or five years, closing in 1911. Around the time of The Great War interest in private girls' schools declined, and Caroline wound down her schools, closing first Unley Park then Tormore, and opening a smaller campus on Barton Terrace, North Adelaide. By December 1920 it was closed. Caroline occupied one of the "Andover" flats.
Other interests
Caroline followed her family's dedication to the Anglican Church. In 1913 she was appointed to the board of Adelaide Diocesan Missionary Association. She worked for the Collegiate Schools Association. She founded the Headmistresses' Union, was active in the Kindergarten Union and its Training College, and was a member of the South Australian Advisory Council on Education.
Family
John Jacob was born in Andover, Hampshire, and left for Australia on the barque Juliet around July 1837, arriving at Launceston in November and arriving in South Australia on the William in January 1838. In 1839 he drove cattle overland from Sydney to McLaren Vale where he established a station. He helped establish his brother's cattle run "Moorooroo" on Jacob's Creek, between the Lyndoch Valley and Tanunda, and settled at "Woodlands", near Penwortham. He was a friend of explorer John Ainsworth Horrocks, the town's founder; his sister Ann Jacob married Arthur Horrocks, brother of the explorer. He and William took out a lease of at Paralana, near Arkaroola in the north of the Colony, but their stock was mostly wiped out by drought in the mid-1960s and he returned to the Barossa and for a time worked as a land agent in Mintaro. William developed "Moorooroo", growing wheat and planting grape vines. In 1848 John Jacob married Mary Cowles at S. Mark's Anglican Church, Penwortham, the first such service in the town. Their children included:
Sarah Jacob married Thomas Williams on 2 July 1889, lived at 183 Archer Street, North Adelaide. They had three children.
William Frederic Jacob married Rosa Sarah Phelps on 17 August 1882
Ann "Annie" Jacob assisted Caroline at Tormore House School from c. 1900.
John Jacob pioneer of Geranium, married Anne "Annie" Searle on 9 February 1882. He was secretary of Bagot, Shaker & Lewis Ltd.
Henry Jacob married Florence Edith Wollaston on 28 December 1888, associated with Unitarian Church, Wakefield Street. He was chief draughtsman with Survey Department.
