Sir Richard Bickerton, 1st Baronet

Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Bickerton, 1st Baronet (23 June 172725 February 1792) was a British naval officer who finished his career as a rear admiral in the Royal Navy and was ennobled as the first Baronet Bickerton of Upwood. He served in several naval engagements, and died Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth in 1792. His son Richard Hussey Bickerton, who likewise rose to flag rank in the Royal Navy, succeeded to the baronetcy following his death.

Naval career Richard Bickerton was born on 23 June 1727 in Bridgnorth, the third son of a Lieutenant in the 4th Dragoon Guards. Educated at Westminster School, before being commissioned as a lieutenant on 8 February 1746 at the age of 18. and while still commanding the Terrible

Bickerton reached flag rank on 24 September 1787, when he was appointed Rear Admiral of the Blue, and was promoted to Rear Admiral of the White on 21 September 1790, at that time flying his flag aboard the 90-gun second rate Impregnable. In the General Election of 1790, he was elected to the British House of Commons as Member of Parliament for Rochester in Kent, retaining that seat until his death from an apoplectic fit on 25 September 1792. At the time of his death he was Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth, flying his flag in the 98-gun second rate St. George.

Family In 1758 Bickerton had married Mary Anne Hussey, and the marriage produced two sons and two daughters, the former including Richard Hussey Bickerton, an equally successful naval officer who became the 2nd Baronet upon his father's death, and rose even further in the Navy's ranks to finish as Admiral of the Red.