Edward Bickersteth (priest)

Rev. Edward Bickersteth (19 March 1786 – 28 February 1850) was an English evangelical clergyman from the prominent Bickersteth family.

Life
He was born at Kirkby Lonsdale, Westmorland, the fourth son of Henry Bickersteth, a surgeon. Bickersteth attended Kirby Longsdale Grammar School and practised as a solicitor at Norwich from 1812 to 1815.

Within space of only 11 days in December 1815 he was ordained both as a deacon and priest. In January 1816 travelled to Africa to inspect and report on the work of the Church Missionary Society (CMS). He continued to travel overseas in connection with the work of the CMS throughout his life. He was the secretary of the CMS from 1824 to 1831.

On receiving the living of Watton, Hertfordshire, in 1830, he resigned his secretaryship, but continued to lecture and preach, both for the Church Missionary Society and the Society for the Conversion of the Jews. He was instrumental in the merger of the Anglican Central Committee and the Continental society in 1840 to form the Foreign Aid Society which supported evangelical Protestant ministry on the continent of Europe.

Bickersteth met Lord Ashley in 1835. The Earl made a visit of several days to Watton Rectory in the summer 1836. Following this visit the pair became friends, with Bickersteth becoming one of the reformer's close advisers.

He was active in promoting the Evangelical Alliance of 1845, strongly opposed the Tractarian Movement, and was one of the founders of the 1849 created Irish Church Missions, and also of the 1841 created Parker Society, societies. Bickersteth's library was sold at auction by Edmund Hodgson on 17 February 1851 (and 11 following days). It contained over 3900 lots. A copy of the catalogue is available at Cambridge University Library (shelfmark Munby.c.116(6)).

Works
His works include A Scripture Help (London, 1816), which has been translated into many European languages, and Christian Psalmody (London, 1833), a collection of over 700 hymns, which forms the basis of the Hymnal Companion (London, 1870), compiled by his son, Edward Henry Bickersteth, bishop of Exeter (1885–1890).

Family
Bickersteth was the brother of Henry, Baron Langdale, Master of the Rolls (1836–1851), and uncle of Robert Bickersteth, Bishop of Ripon (1857–1884).

His wife Sarah, whom Bickersteth married in 1812, was the eldest daughter of Thomas Bignold of Norwich, together they had six children. Edward Henry Bickersteth (1825-1906) Bishop of Exeter was his only son and Edward Bickersteth, founder of the Cambridge Mission to Delhi and later bishop of South Tokyo, his grandson.

Edward Bickersteth, Dean of Lichfield, was his nephew.