Clarence Bicknell (27 August 1842 – 17 July 1918) was a British vicar, amateur archaeologist, botanist, artist, Esperantist, author and philanthropist.

[1] Clarence and ten of his siblings survived childhood and grew up in their parents' mansion, surrounded by extensive gardens, at Herne Hill, London.

In September 1878, he accepted the post of chaplain to a new Anglican church under construction for the British community in Bordighera, Italy, a popular resort for wealthy tourists.

He suffered some kind of crisis of faith, left his post, cut his ties with organised religion entirely, and returned to Britain in June 1879.

Among his friends and associates in the expatriate community were horticulturalist Ellen Willmott, author George MacDonald, banker Raphael Bischoffsheim, architect Charles Garnier, businessman Sir Thomas Hanbury and artist Louise Jopling.

Bicknell would sometimes escape the dust and heat of the Bordighera summer by travelling back to Britain to visit his siblings, especially his sister, Mrs Ada Berry.

Of help to him in this work was his close friendship with Swiss botanist Emile Burnat who shared his interest in the flora of the Maritime Alps.

Among other friends and associates in botany were Abbot Antonio Carestia (1825-1908), Reginald Farrer, Oreste Mattirolo, James Walter White, Cedric Bucknall, and Carlo Pietro Stefano Sommier (1848-1922) who recommended Bicknell be admitted to the Societa Botanica Italiana.

[10] Helping him in the work was Giacomo Pollini, and his son Luigi, who he employed as his assistants in the botanical and archaeological research that filled the rest of his life.

Located close to the border with France, the "Valley of Marvels" is the site of 35,000 Bronze Age petroglyphs, the recording of which became a major new research project for Bicknell.

Starting in 1885, he spent summers in a rented house at nearby Casterino, venturing out to draw, make heelball (wax and lampblack) rubbings and photograph the petroglyphs, eventually creating 12,000 images of the carvings.

[14] One of his associates in this research was palaeontologist Arturo Issel of Genoa who visited Bicknell at the site and used many of his illustrations and findings in his own books.

[15] Among others he met or corresponded with to discuss his findings were the French prehistorian Émile Cartailhac and British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans.

He wrote numerous original poems in Esperanto, which appeared in La Revuo and in The British Esperantist ; many others remained in the manuscript stage.

He translated Horatius in 1906 (by Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay); Guinevere (from "Idylls of the King" by Alfred Tennyson) in 1907; Rikoltado de la pecoj (from Harvesting the Pieces by Julian Sturgis) in 1915; Ŝakludo (from A game of chess by Giuseppe Giacosa, 1915) and numerous other works.

[20] The Museum features a hall where concerts, art exhibitions and other cultural events were staged, often to raise funds for local charities.

More than 38,000 of his rubbings of rock carvings, watercolour paintings of flowers or landscapes, letters, diaries, albums, notebooks, sketchbooks, plant samples, photos and personal items have been located in 36 museums and university collections in a dozen countries.

[30] It has so far produced a web site, published a biography, a short filmed biopic, and helped organize conferences, exhibitions and seminars in Britain and Italy.

E. Bernadini, Le alpi marittime (1979), 142–8 A. N. Branghain, The naturalist's Riviera (1962) NHM, 92 BIC • BM, Bicknell corresp.