War Memorial
Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Robert Bickersteth is remembered on the Leigh War Memorial, and his story spans both world wars.
During the First World War he served with the Royal Garrison Artillery Territorial Force, and as a Lieutenant he was awarded a campaign medal for his wartime service.
Soon after that conflict ended, Bickersteth came to Leigh in Kent, making his home at Paul's Hill House. There he lived with his wife, recorded as Evelyn (also known as Evie), and the couple raised three children.
When the Second World War came, he returned to uniform. The Army List of April 1942 records E. R. Bickersteth in the Administrative Branch under Regular Army Emergency Commissions, serving with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, and by then he had reached the rank of Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel.
He did not live to see the war's end. On 4 January 1945 he died at the Brotherton Wing of the Leeds Infirmary, still holding the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. A notice of his death, giving his address as Pauls Hill, Leigh, appeared in the Deaths section of The Times on 11 January 1945. His name remains on the village memorial today.