The waymark coordinates are for the main door to the Bath Abbey. GPS receivers will not work inside the Abbey.
Sir Richard Hussey Bickerton began his Naval career as a captain's servant on his father's ship, but ebentually rose on his own to serve as second in command to Lord Nelson, and attain the rank of Admital in his own right.
This elegant and elegeic marble tomb is placed over the location of his tomb in Bath Abbey. It recites the highlights of his long and distinguished military career, infused with warm comments about the man himself, as follows:
"Sacred to the memory of
Sir Richard Hussey Bickerton Baronet,
Knight Commander of the Most Honorable Order of the Bath, Knight of the Imperial Ottoman First Order of the Crescent, Admiral of the Red Squadron of His Majesty’s Fleet; General of his Majesty’s Marine Forces; for many years one of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, a Director of Greenwich Hospital; a vice patron of the Royal Naval School; a Vice President of the Naval Charitable Society; and a Fellow of the Royal Society, who departed this life on the ninth day of February 1832 in his 73rd year.
Few men have descended to the tomb more sincerely beloved, and respected, or more deeply lamented, his active services in public life were marked by the most zealous attention to the duties of his station during the lengthened period of 60 years spent in his country’s cause. As opportunity offered, he ever evinced a noble courage in the exercise of his great professional knowledge, and experience; thus securing the approbation of all under whose orders he acted and the confidence and attachment of those whom he commanded, the estimation in which he was held by the service at large is the distinguishing eulogy of his professional merit. Others may have had more frequent opportunities of acquiring renown, but it would be difficult to find a man possessed of more real courage, honor, judgment, and every valuable quality that constitutes a brave and able officer, or by whom every duty was more uniformly and correctly fulfilled.
In the practice of every Christian, and moral duty, he was a bright example. His enlightened, and highly cultivated mind; his noble and honorable feelings, could only be equaled by his urbanity, amiable disposition and universal benevolence as a son, brother, or friend, he was equally esteemed; and his afflicted widow, who for upwards of 40 years was the friend of his bosom, can best testify his worth in the nearest and dearest of all human ties. As a small tribute of attachment to the memory of one she deems to have been the best of husbands and whom she believes to be now in everlasting peace and rest, through the all sufficient merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, she has caused this monument to mark the spot of his earthly remains."
For MUCH more on the life and career of this remarkable man, see: (
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"Sir Richard Hussey Bickerton, 2nd Baronet (11 October 1759 – 9 February 1832) was a British naval officer, who eventually rose to the rank of admiral. He was born in Southampton, the son of Vice-admiral Sir Richard Bickerton and first served aboard HMS Medway in June 1774, in the Mediterranean. His first command came in March 1779 when he was given HM Sloop Swallow as a reward for his part in an engagement with a much larger opponent. Bickerton later joined Rodney's squadron in the West Indies where he took part in the capture of Sint Eustatius in 1781. Making Post on 8 February 1781, He took temporary command of HMS Invincible and fought in her at the Battle of Fort Royal on 29 April 1781.
When Britain entered the French Revolutionary War in 1793, Bickerton joined the Channel Fleet before, in October 1794, being ordered to transport General Sir John Vaughan to the West Indies, to take command of British land forces there. After another spell in home waters, Bickerton was sent to the Mediterranean where he spent much of the war on blockade duty and, after their surrender, oversaw the evacuation of French forces from Alexandria. He remained in the Mediterranean during the short-lived peace and when hostilities renewed was second in command to Lord Nelson there.
Forced ashore by illness in 1805, Bickerton first served as a Lord of the Admiralty before finishing his naval career as Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, having attained the rank of full admiral in 1812"