Born thirty-eight years ago, the son of an architect in the City of York, he resolved to be the architect of his own fortune in London. So, after receiving some instruction at the York Grammar School, Mr. Pickersgill drifted up to London, and became a clerk in the Post Office Savings Bank. Some of that leisure which belongs to Civil servants, even in the less favoured departments, he devoted to reading up for the University of London examinations. Moreover, he entered as a student at the Inner Temple, and was called to the Bar in 1884. He associated himself with the advanced politicians of Hackney and Bethnal Green. He delivered speeches from waggons in Victoria Park, and he was looked upon by his associates as one who would probably serve their turn in Parliament; wherefore in 1885 he was invited to be candidate for the South West Division of the new borough of Bethnal Green; and it then became a question of giving up his Parliamentary aspirations, or relinquishing his appointment in the Savings Bank. He chose the latter course, and has since had a seat in Parliament.

Mr. Pickersgill is a very earnest and well-meaning, but somewhat repellent man - more of the wax figure than the human being. Although never at a loss for a word, his speeches lack that ring of reality which places orator and audience on good terms. He regards it as his mission in life to keep his eye on the Home Secretary, Sir Charles Warren, the Police, and the Metropolitan Magistrates; indeed, it is understood that the dream of his life is to supersede Mr. Matthews as quickly as possible. He is regarded as a man of genius in certain out-of-the-way debating societies in the North-East of London; and it has been stated that he has read Shakespeare. He has a mechanical strut, a mechanical smile, and a mechanical voice. He can speak for an hour with the ease of a well-oiled machine.