ADM Sir Richard Hussey Bickerton RN Tombstone -- Bath Abbey, Bath, Somerset, UK
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member Benchmark Blasterz
N 51° 22.858 W 002° 21.497
30U E 544659 N 5692386
The beautiful memorial to Royal Navy Admiral Sir Richard Hussey Bickerton, features evocative symbolic reliefs of his Naval career and deep sadness
Waymark Code: WMT99N
Location: South West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 10/18/2016
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member lumbricus
Views: 3

The waymark coordinates are for the main door to the Bath Abbey. GPS receivers will not work inside the Abbey.

This memorial to Royal Navy Admiral Sir Richard Hussey Bickerton stands in a place of honour inside Bath Abbey.

Blasterz spent several minutes appreciating the beautiful relief carvings on this tombstone. The mourning angel, draped over a tombstone with his death mask, a fallen Union flag and both a sextant and sabre on the ground all speak to great sorrow and testify to Admiral Bickerton's outstanding Naval career.

The evocative carved epitaph reads 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."
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Date Sculpture was opened for vewing?: 01/01/1834

Website for sculpture?: [Web Link]

Where is this sculpture?:
Bath Abbey
Bath, Somerset UK


Sculptors Name: S. C. Chantrey

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Recent Visits/Logs:
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SMacB visited ADM Sir Richard Hussey Bickerton RN Tombstone --  Bath Abbey, Bath, Somerset, UK 08/29/2017 SMacB visited it
Benchmark Blasterz visited ADM Sir Richard Hussey Bickerton RN Tombstone --  Bath Abbey, Bath, Somerset, UK 07/25/2016 Benchmark Blasterz visited it

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