The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-04-19 00:00:00

DEPARTURE OF THE QUEEN FOR
DARMSTADT.

The Queen and Princess Beatrice, attended by the
Dowager Marchioness of Ely, Lady Churchill, Viscount
Bridport, General Sir H. F. Ponsonby, and Dr. Reid,
left Windsor Castle shortly after five o'clock on Tues-
day evening, on a visit to the Grand Duke Louis of
Hesse, at Darmstadt. Her Majesty and the Princess,
who, as well as the attendants, were attired in the
deepest mourning, on quitting the palace droNe down
the slopes to the Windsor Station of the South-
Western Railway, where a special train, consisting of
Great Western Company's saloon and several
other carriages, was in readiness near the
private waiting room for their conveyance)
to Port Victoria. At the Queen's wish the arrange-
ments for her departure were conducted with the
greatest privacy, the public being excluded from the
terminus, and none but the officials being permitted
upon the platform. The Queen and Princess left
'Windsor at 5.10, a number of spectators assembling
near the lodge gates and in the Home Park to see
them quit the station. The special train proceeded
over the South Western line, via. Staines and Rich-
mond, to Waterloo, which was reached at 6 o'clock.
Passing slowly through the junction on to the South
Eastern Railway, the Royal train travelled by way of
London Bridge, Dartford, and Gravesend to Port
Victoria, the terminus of the Hundred of Hoo
line, which is situated on the north bank of the
Medway, nearly opposite Sheerness. The Queen, who
is not travelling incognita, but as "Her Majesty the
Queen" and the Princess, at once embarked on board
the Osborne. The Queen and Princess Beatrice, who
will stay a fortnight or three weeks atDarmstadt, will
be the guests of the Grand- Duke Louis. The mar-
riage of the Princess Victoria of Hesse, her Majesty's
granddaughter, and Prince Louis of Battenberg will
take place at Darmstadt on the 30th inst., and the
ceremonial will, it is understood, be witnessed by the
Queen and Princess Beatrice, who return to Windsor
on the 3rd or 7th of May.

DEATH OF THE BISHOP OF RIPON
The Right Rev. Robert Bickersteth, D.D., Bishop
of Ripon, died on Tuesday in his palace. Ile had
been in failing health for some time, and had only
lately returned from passing the winter at Bourne-
mouth, very little the better for his stay in that place.
He did not, however, grow perceptibly worse until
Tuesday, when he was seized with a fit, from which
he never rallied. Ile died peacefully at 1.30 p.m.
The Bishop was in his 68th year, having been born
at Acton, in Suffolk, on August 24, 1816. He was
the fourth son of the Rev. John Bickersteth, rector
of Sapcote, Leicestershire, and was the younger
brother of Dr. Edward Bickersteth, the present Dean
of Lichfield. Originally he was trained for the
medical profession, and was a student at St.
Thomas's Hospital ; but feeling a vocation for
the ministry, in which so many of his name had
been eminent, he entered Queen's College, Cam-
bridge, with the intention of reading for Holy
Orders. Under the circumstances, he could hardly
be expected to distinguish himself in the Tripos ;
and accordingly in the degree list for 1841 we find
his name no higher than the Junior Optimes, or
third class. He was at once ordained, and became
curate to his father; and in 1845, after holding
curacies at Reading and Clapham, he was appointed
to the incumbency of St. John's, Clapham. After six
years in this post he accepted the important and arduous
rectory of St. Giles-in-the-Fields, London. In 1846
he married a daughter of Mr. Joseph Garde, of Cork.
Already at Clapham he had made a reputation in
evangelical circles as an excellent preacher ; and this,
reputation was increased by his sermons at St. Giles's.
In 1854 he was appointed Canon of Salisbury, and
towards the end of 1856, where he was but just 40
years of age, he was made Bishop of Ripon, on the
translation of Dr. Longley to the see of Durham.
Consecrated on the 18th of the following January,
Dr. Bickersteth was thus at the time of his death,
though by no means the oldest in years, the senior
bishop on the bench, Bishop Pelham of Norwich
having been consecrated in the same year (1857), but
owe time later.