Bickersteth, Edward Henry

(1825-1906)

   Born in Islington, London, Bickersteth was the son of the Rev. Edward Bickersteth, assistant secretary to the Church Missionary Society. At Trinity College, Cambridge, he won several prizes for poetry. He was vicar of Christ Church, Hampstead, for thirty years and was appointed Bishop of Exeter in 1885. He toured India, Palestine and Japan, mainly to encourage missionary work. Yesterday, To-day, and For Ever: A Poem in Twelve Books, in blank verse, culminating in the Apocalypse, was published in 1866. He edited three hymnals and was a voluminous writer of hymns as well as dozens of poems. Some of his hymns appear in different hymnbooks; three are in Sankey's Sacred Songs and Solos: "Come Ye Ourselves Apart," "Peace, Perfect Peace," and "Till He Come," which is associated with the Communion service. Some of his other poems: "A Mother to Her Son on His Birthday," "Confirmation," "Conversion of Saint Paul," "Easter Day-Morning Prayer," "The Epiphany," "Good Friday," "Holy Communion," "Holy Matrimony," "A Marriage Hymn," "God, the Rock of Ages," "Saint Andrew's Day," "Whitsunday."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). Yesterday, Today and Forever: A Poem, in Twelve Books. New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1875. Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources (http://library.stanford.edu). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Cyber Hymnal (http://www.cyberhymnal.org/index.htm.