[1] By the advice of his uncle, Dr. Robert Batty, in October 1801, he went to Edinburgh to pursue his medical studies, and in the following year was called home to take his father's practice in his temporary absence.

With a view to obtaining a medical degree, on 22 June 1802 his name was entered in the books of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and, on 27 October in the same year, he was elected a scholar on the Hewitt foundation.

[2] A change of scene being deemed necessary to insure his recovery, he obtained, through Dr. Batty, the post of medical attendant to Edward, fifth earl of Oxford, who was then on a tour in Italy.

[3] Bickersteth became a King's Counsel in 1827, and 1836 brought him membership of the Privy Council, appointment as Master of the Rolls and a peerage, which he accepted on condition that he could concentrate on law reform and remain politically independent.

After the Public Records Act of 1838, he and his Deputy Keeper, Francis Palgrave, the full-time working head of the office, started to organise the transfer of state papers from the Tower of London, the chapter house of Westminster Abbey and elsewhere, to one single location.

[2] Langdale married Lady Jane Elizabeth Harley, daughter of his patron the 5th Earl of Oxford by licence on 17 August 1835, in St. James, Paddington, London.