Spy (Sir Leslie Ward, 1851-1922) (Lith.) — The Dean of Lichfield; Convocation. Issue 842. (First Edition Before the Bound Volumes. )

London: Vanity Fair, 1884. Original colour lithograph. 40 x 27cm (15.75 x 10.6 inches). Very Good. Dated Dec 20, 1884. Vincent Brooks, Day & Son (Lith.). Scarce. The Very Rev. Edward Bickersteth (1814-1892) was an Anglican priest in the 19th century. Edward Bickersteth was born in Acton into an ecclesiastical family: his father was the Rev John Bickersteth, sometime Rector of Sapcote; and his brother Robert was a future Bishop of Ripon. He was admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1831, and migrated to Sidney Sussex College two years later, graduating B.A. in 1836. Ordained in 1839, he began his career with curacies at Chetton and Shrewsbury Abbey. He held incumbencies at Penn and Aylesbury before being appointed Archdeacon of Buckingham. In 1875, he was appointed Dean of Lichfield. He resigned just a few weeks before his death on 9 October 1892. He was twice married: first, on 13 October 1840, to Martha Mary Anne, daughter of Valentine Vickers of Cransmere in Shropshire. She died on 2 February 1881, and on 12 October 1882, he married Mary Anne, daughter of Thomas Whitmore Wylde-Browne of The Woodlands, Bridgnorth, Shropshire. She survived him. .