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 4th dragoon guards, entered the navy in 1739, on the outbreak of the war with Spain. In the following year he was appointed to the Suffolk, of 70 guns, with Captain Davers, and sailed in her to the West Indies, to form part of the expedition against Cartagena in the spring of 1741. After more than two years in the Suffolk he was for a few months in the Stirling Castle in the Mediterranean; he was then appointed to the Channel station, with Sir Charles Hardy or Sir John Norris, in the St. George, Duke, and Victory. Fortunately for himself [see ], he was early in 1744 appointed from the Victory to the Cornwall, of 80 guns, hearing the flag of his old captain, now Vice-admiral Davers, who was going out as commander-in-chief to the West Indies. Admiral Davers promoted him to a lieutenancy on 8 Feb. 1745–6, and he continued on the same station, in the Worcester, till the peace of 1748. In 1759 he commanded the Ætna fireship in the Mediterranean with Boscawen, by whom he was advanced to post rank on 21 Aug. after the destruction of M. de la Clue's squadron at Lagos. He was then appointed to the Glasgow frigate in the West Indies, and in 1761 to the Lively in the Channel. In 1767 he commanded the Renown in the West Indies; on the dispute about the Falkland Islands in 1770 he was appointed to the Marlborough, which he commanded for three years, and at the naval review, June 1773, steered the king's barge and received the honour of knighthood. For the next four years he commanded the Augusta yacht, and, when war with France was imminent in the spring of 1778, was appointed to the Terrible, of 74 guns, which he commanded in the battle of Ushant, 27 July. During the shamefull summer of 1779, while the combined fleets of France and Spain swept the Channel, the Terrible was one of the fleet at Spithead under Sir Charles Hardy. In 1780 Bickerton commanded the Fortitude, of 74 guns, still in the Channel, under Admirals Geary and Darby, and assisted in the second relief of Gibraltar, April 1781. He was shortly afterwards appointed to the Gibraltar, 80, as commodore of the first class; and with six other ships of the line and two frigates under his orders, he sailed for the East Indies on 6 Feb. 1782. The squadron did not arrive on the station till the beginning of the following year, with many men sick of scurvy. They were, however, able to take part in the indecisive action off Cuddalore, 20 June 1783. Sir Richard returned to England in 1784, and in 1786 was appointed commander-in-chief at the Leeward Islands, with his broad pennant on board the Jupiter, from which he was superseded on his promotion to flag rank 24 Sept 1787. During the Spanish armament of 1790 he held a command in the fleet under Lord Howe, and hoisted his flag in the Impregnable, of 90 guns. He became a vice-admiral on 21 September, and the dispute with Spain being happily arranged, he was appointed port-admiral at Plymouth, with his flag in the St. George. He was still holding that office when he died, of an apoplectic fit, 25 Feb. 1792.

He was created a baronet 29 May 1778, on the occasion of the king's visit to Portsmouth. At the time of his death he was member of parliament for Rochester. He married, in 1758, Mary Anne, daughter of Thomas Hussey, Esq., of Wrexham, and had issue two sons and two daughters.

 BICKERTON, RICHARD HUSSEY (1759–1832), admiral, son of Vice-admiral Sir Richard Bickerton [q. v.], entered the navy in December 1771, on board the Marlborough, then commanded by his father. In the Marlborough, and afterwards in the Augusta yacht, he continued with his father till 1774, when he was appointed to the Medway, of 60 guns, flagship in the Mediterranean. Two years later he was transferred to the Enterprise frigate, and afterwards to the Invincible with Captain Hyde Parker. On 16 Dec. 1777 he was made lieutenant in the Prince George, commanded by Captain Middleton, afterwards Lord Barham. He followed Middleton to the Jupiter, of 50 guns, where he remained as first lieutenant with Captain Reynolds, who afterwards succeeded to the command. On 20 Oct. 1778 the Jupiter, in company with the Medea frigate, fell in with the French 64-gun ship Triton on the coast of Portugal. A brisk action followed (, Nav. and Mil. Memoirs, iv. 441), in which both ships suffered severely; and though no particular advantage was gained on either side, the odds against the Jupiter were considered so great as to render her equal engagement equivalent to a victory. Her first lieutenant was accordingly promoted 20 March 1779, and appointed to the command of the Swallow sloop. After nearly two years' service in the Channel the Swallow was sent out to join Sir George Rodney in the West Indies; and on 8 Feb. 1781 Bickerton was posted into the Gibraltar. In the action between Hood and De Grasse off Martinique, 29 April 1781, he commanded the Invincible, and was soon afterwards sent