Andrew Bickford

Admiral Andrew Kennedy Bickford CMG (16 July 1844 – 9 October 1927) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Station.

Andrew Kennedy Bickford
Born16 July 1844
Madras, India
Died9 October 1927 (1927-10-10) (aged 83)
AllegianceUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Service/branch Royal Navy
RankAdmiral
Commands heldHMS Thalia
Pacific Station
Battles/warsAnglo-Egyptian War
AwardsCompanion of the Order of St Michael and St George

Early life

Bickford was educated at the South Devon Collegiate School and Stubbington House School.[1]

Bickford joined the Royal Navy in 1858 and took part in the action involving the Huáscar in 1877.[2] He commanded HMS Thalia during the Anglo-Egyptian War of 1882 and became Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Station in 1900.[2] His flagship in the Pacific was HMS Warspite until March 1902, when he hoisted his flag on board the first class cruiser HMS Grafton, and Warspite returned home.[3] Promoted to vice admiral in 1904[4] and to full Admiral in 1908, he retired later that year.[2]

Legacy

The Bickford Tower erected at Esquimalt, British Columbia for signalling purposes in 1901 is called after him.[2]

Family

Bickford married Kathleen Dore on 16 April 1868 in the parish church of Queenstown (Cobh).[5] She was the daughter of Dr. Patrick Dore of Skibbereen who had died in 1847 from inflammation of the lung during the Irish famine.[6][7] The mortality rate amongst physicians in Ireland at this time was in the order of 25%, due to the outbreak of deadly infectious diseases contracted by many of the weakened famine victims.[8] Kathleen's mother, Catherine Power, was sister of Maurice Power, Member of Parliament for Cork 1847–1852.

Further reading
  • Light Airs and Gentle Breezes - a victorian naval life Story: The Life & Times of Admiral Bickford by Richard E. Bickford (his grandson), published by Tartan Edge, 1996

References
  1. "BICKFORD, Admiral Andrew Kennedy". Who Was Who. A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press. December 2007. Retrieved 1 December 2012.(subscription required)
  2. Naval & Military Museum Archived 9 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  3. "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36720. London. 20 March 1902. p. 10.
  4. "Royal Navy Flag Officers of the Dreadnought Era 1904-1945". Archived from the original on 27 April 2016. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
  5. "Marriages". No. 18 April 1868. Cork Examiner. Note: Notice in the paper say Kathleen was daughter of the late Dr Dore.
  6. "Deaths". Cork Examiner. 1 February 1847.
  7. Note: In his book Light Airs and Gentle Breezes, Richard F. Bickford, gives date of Dr Dore's death as being much later.
  8. Cormac Ó Gráda, University College Dublin. "Ireland's Great Famine". Economic History Association. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
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