diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 9526526e34a..4b4a0fd74e7 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 **Bug fixes**
 
 - Fixed `EuiCallOut` header icon alignment ([#2006](https://github.com/elastic/eui/pull/2006))
+- Fixed `EuiInMemoryTable` sort value persistence through lifecycle updates ([#2035](https://github.com/elastic/eui/pull/2035))
 
 **Breaking changes**
 
diff --git a/src/components/basic_table/in_memory_table.js b/src/components/basic_table/in_memory_table.js
index a02252e8532..ea0d9477880 100644
--- a/src/components/basic_table/in_memory_table.js
+++ b/src/components/basic_table/in_memory_table.js
@@ -163,6 +163,7 @@ export class EuiInMemoryTable extends Component {
       // We have new items because an external search has completed, so reset pagination state.
       return {
         prevProps: {
+          ...prevState.prevProps,
           items: nextProps.items,
         },
         pageIndex: 0,