Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 05.djvu/16

 home in command of the Amazon frigate. From 1787 to 1790 he commanded the Sibylle frigate in the West Indies. By the death of his father in 1792 he succeeded to the baronetcy, and in 1793 commissioned the Ruby, 64, for service in the Channel. Towards the end of 1794 he was transferred to the Ramillies, in which he went to the West Indies and Newfoundland, returning in the end of 1796 to form part of the North Sea fleet, in 1796, under Admiral Duncan, and of the Channel fleet in 1797 under Lord Bridport. In 1798 he commanded the Terrible, still in the Channel fleet, and attained the rank of rear-admiral 14 Feb. 1799. In the autumn of the same year he hoisted his flag at Portsmouth as assistant to the port-admiral; in May 1800 he was sent out to the Mediterranean, and, with his flag on board the Swiftsure, had the immediate command of the blockade of Cadiz until joined by Lord Keith in October. During the following year, with his flag in the Kent, he was employed on the coast of Egypt, conducting the blockade in the absence of the commander-in-chief, and afterwards superintending the embarkation of the French army. For his services at this time he was rewarded by the sultan with the order of the Crescent, with the insignia of which he was ceremoniously invested by the capitan pasha 8 Oct. 1801. During the short peace he remained in the Mediterranean as commander-in-chief, and, on the renewal of the war, as second in command under Lord Nelson, with whom he served, during 1804 and the early months of 1805, in the blockade of Toulon. In May, when Nelson sailed for the West Indies, Bickerton, with his flag in the Royal Sovereign, was left in command (Nelson Despatches, vi. 421), but was soon afterwards called home to take office at the admiralty, where he continued till 1812, when he was appointed commander-in-chief at Portsmouth. His active service ended shortly after the grand review in 1814, at which he commanded in the second post under the Duke of Clarence. He attained the rank of vice-admiral 9 Nov. 1805, of admiral 31 July 1810, was made K.C.B. 2 Jan. 1815, lieutenant-general of marines 6 Jan. 1818, and succeeded William IV as general of marines in June 1830. In 1823 he assumed, by royal permission, the name of Hussey before that of Bickerton. He married, in 1788, Anne, daughter of Dr. James Athill, of Antigua, but had no children, and on his death, 9 Feb. 1832, the baronetcy became extinct.



BICKHAM, GEORGE, the elder (d. 1769), writing-master and engraver, was born about the end of the seventeenth century, He was the most celebrated penman of his time, and published in 1743 a folio volume entitled 'The Universal Penman &hellip; exemplified in all the useful and ornamental branches of modern Penmanship, &c.; the whole embellished with 200 beautiful decorations for the amusement of the curious.' He also practised engraving, but his productions in this department had little merit. He engraved Rubens's 'Peace and War' and 'Golden and Silver Ages;' 'Philosophy,' a large plate from his own design; a few portraits, including those of Sir Isaac Newton, Bishop Blackall, Stephen Duck the poet, and George Shelly, John Clark, and Robert More, writing-masters; the plates to 'British Monarchy, or a new Chorographical Description of all the Dominions subject to the King of Great Britain,' 1748; and those to 'The Beauties of Stow,' 1763. Bickham was a member of the Free Society of Artists, and exhibited with them from 1701 to 1765. His stock-in-trade, plates, &c., were sold by auction in May 1767, and he died at Richmond in 1769.



BICKHAM, GEORGE, the younger (d. 1758), engraver, son of (d. 1769), was one of the earliest political caricaturists, and executed many of the humorous designs published by Messrs. Bowles, He engraved 'A View and Representation of the Battle of Zenta, fought 11 Sept. 1696,' and 'The Description of the Loss of his Majesty's Ship the Northumberland, taken by the French, 8 May 1744;' also many head-pieces for songs, portraits of himself and his father, and that of Serjeant  [q. v.] The younger Bickham was the author of 'An Introductive Essay on Drawing, with the Nature and Beauty of Light and Shadows,' &c., 1747. He died in 1758.



BICKLEY, THOMAS, D.D. (1518–1596), bishop of Chichester, was born at Stow, in Buckinghamshire, and began his education as a chorister in the free school of Magdalen College, Oxford. He afterwards became demy, and in 1541 was elected a fellow of the