Book of letters addressed to Sir Richard Hussey Bickerton, 2nd Baronet 1st May 1812 - 15th May 1815 while on HMS ROYAL WILLIAM till 11th October 1813; HMS PRINCE 15th October 1813 - 15th May 1815.

Administrative / biographical background
Sir Richard Hussey Bickerton, 2nd Baronet (11 October 1759 – 9 February 1832) was a British naval officer, who eventually rose to the rank of admiral. He was born in Southampton, the son of Vice-admiral Sir Richard Bickerton and first served aboard HMS Medway in June 1774, in the Mediterranean. His first command came in March 1779 when he was given HM Sloop Swallow as a reward for his part in an engagement with a much larger opponent. Bickerton later joined Rodney's squadron in the West Indies where he took part in the capture of Sint Eustatius in 1781. Making Post on 8 February 1781, He took temporary command of HMS Invincible and fought in her at the Battle of Fort Royal on 29 April 1781. When Britain entered the French Revolutionary War in 1793, Bickerton joined the Channel Fleet before, in October 1794, being ordered to transport General Sir John Vaughan to the West Indies, to take command of British land forces there. After another spell in home waters, Bickerton was sent to the Mediterranean where he spent much of the war on blockade duty and, after their surrender, oversaw the evacuation of French forces from Alexandria. He remained in the Mediterranean during the short-lived peace and when hostilities renewed was second in command to Lord Nelson there. Forced ashore by illness in 1805, Bickerton first served as a Lord of the Admiralty before finishing his naval career as Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, having attained the rank of full admiral in 1812.