Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/179

 sold in England and 50,000 in America; the seventeenth English edition appeared in 1885. The poem embodied in copious flowing blank verse the account of heaven and the last things given in the Apocalypse. It supplied evangelicals with poetry that did not offend their piety, and took for them the place held by Keble's 'Christian Year' among another school of churchmen. As literature it has the weakness of nearly all imitations of Milton.

Bickersteth was a voluminous writer of hymns. In 1858 he brought out 'Psalms and Hymns,' based on his father's 'Christian Psalmody' (new edit. 1860). A second effort, to which he gave the title 'The Hymnal Companion to the Book of Common Prayer,' soon superseded in evangelical parishes all other compilations; there were two editions, one with and one without annotation (1870; revised and enlarged 1876, and 1880). About thirty of Bickersteth's own hymns are in common use, the best-known being 'Peace, perfect peace,' which appeared in 'From Year to Year' (1883; 3rd edit. 1896), his best collection of scattered verse (, Dictionary of Hymnology, pp. 141, 342). Bickersteth's religious writing in prose includes a 'Practical and Expository Commentary on the New Testament' (1864), intended especially for family use, of which more than 40,000 copies were sold. Of his devotional works 'The Master's Home Call, or, Brief Memorials of [his daughter] Alice Frances Bickersteth, by her Father' (1872; 3rd edit, in the same year) circulated most widely.

In January 1885 Bickersteth was appointed dean of Gloucester, but immediately after his institution the prime minister, Gladstone, pressed upon him the bishopric of Exeter, in succession to Frederick Temple [q. v. Suppl. II], who was translated to London. Bickersteth's appointment was probably intended as a counterpoise to the nomination of Edward King [q. v. Suppl. II] to the see of Lincoln. Both bishops were consecrated in St. Paul's Cathedral on St. Mark's Day, 25 April 1885, when Canon Liddon preached on the episcopal office. Bickersteth carried forward many reforms in the diocese which Temple had initiated, notably the employment of the canons of the cathedral in diocesan work. Despite his gentleness, Bickersteth's spiritual gifts as a pastor made him a potent influence. His hospitality was comprehensive. For five months in 1891 In 1891 he was in Japan and Bishop Barry officiated in his absence. In 1894 he presided over the Church Congress at Exeter, and in an opening address advocated compulsory retirement from clerical work at seventy unless a medical certificate of efficiency could be produced. The death of his son Edward, the bishop of South Tokyo [q. v.], in 1897, was a heavy blow, and after a serious attack of influenza in the spring of 1900 he resigned his see. After five years of illness, he died on 16 May 1906, at his residence in Westbourne Terrace, London, and was buried at Watton.

In 1898 his portrait, a three-quarter length in oils, was painted by A. S. Cope, and given to the bishop to be kept in the Palace, with a replica for Mrs. Bickersteth. A memorial monument was placed in Exeter cathedral.

Bickersteth married twice: (1) in February 1848 his cousin Rosa, daughter of Sir Samuel Bignold of Norwich; she died in 1873, having borne him six sons and ten daughters; (2) in 1876 his cousin Ellen Susanna, daughter of Robert Bickersteth of Liverpool, who was the devoted companion of his later life and survived him without issue.

Besides the poetical works already mentioned Bickersteth published 'Nineveh, a poem' (1851), and 'The Two Brothers and other Poems' (1871; 2nd edit. 1872).

His prose work included, besides charges, sermons and the works cited, 1. 'Water from the Well-Spring. . . being Meditations for every Sunday,' 1852; revised and reissued 1885. 2. 'The Rock of Ages; or Scripture Testimony to the one Eternal Godhead of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,' 1859, 1860; new edit. 1888. 3. 'The Blessed Dead: what does Scripture reveal of their State before the Resurrection?' 2nd edit. 1863. 4. 'The Second Death; or the Certainty of Everlasting Punishment, &c.' 1869. 5. 'The Reef and other Parables,' 1874; 2nd edit. 1885. 6. 'The Lord's Table,' 1884; reissued as 'The Feast of Divine Love; or The Lord's Table,' 1896. 7. 'Thoughts in Past Years,' 1901, a volume of 18 selected sermons.

 BIDDULPH, MICHAEL ANTHONY SHRAPNEL (1823–1904), general and colonel commandant royal artillery, born on 30 July 1823 at Cleeve Court, Somerset, was eldest surviving son of Thomas Shrapnel Biddulph of Amroth Castle, Pembrokeshire, prebendary of 