R. T. Claridge

[b] Claridge is widely credited with introducing the methods of Vincent Priessnitz to England, thus initiating the populist movement of the time.

[11] Richard Tappin Claridge was born in Farnborough, a village or parish in the county of Warwickshire,[2][12][13] and administered by the Stratford-on-Avon District Council.

[2][17] In April 1824 they had a daughter named Emma Green,[18] who later married Marie Etienne Charles Henri, Marquis de St. Aignan,[2][19] and subsequently resided in Nice.

Having gained my own health and saved the life of my daughter at Graefenberg, and having witnessed most astounding cures there", he wanted to promote this system.

[22] Claridge spent some time in Italy, from where around 1847 he continued promoting hydropathy by petition[23] and a letter written at Bagni de Lucco on 12 May 1847.

[24] On 7 January 1854, Claridge, now residing at a villa on the left bank of Paillon in Nice, married his second wife, Eliza Ann Morgan (née Beville) at Trinity Church, Marylebone.

[38][39] However, it was another field where Claridge first became prominent, namely that of pioneering the use of asphalt paving in the United Kingdom,[40][41][42] which he embarked on after returning from a tour of Europe in 1836.

[44] At the end of his life, Claridge was still living in Nice and died in Castellammare di Stabia on 5 August 1857,[45][3] and a copy of his will is held at The National Archives, Kew.

It was exhibited in 1844 at the Royal Society of British Artists, at Suffolk Street, Pall Mall,[47][48] and titled Portrait of Captain Claridge, Author of Hydropathy, or the Cold-Water Cure.

[49][e] In 1836, prior to his involvement in the promotion of hydropathy, Claridge journeyed through Europe, making notes along the way, from which he published his first known work in 1837, titled A Guide Along the Danube..., for which he wrote the preface on 1 May 1837, at Venice.

", with the announcement comprising the book's lengthy title, and noting "Observations on the recent political and social changes in Turkey and Greece.

[53] One review described it as appearing to convey, "in a concise manner, the necessary directions for a traveller to make a very interesting and instructive tour at the least possible expenditure of both time and money".

[44] In the meantime, between his 1836 tour of the European Continent, and his hydropathic adventures from the 1840s onwards, Claridge embarked on some pioneering business ventures in asphalt pavement, obtaining some patents, and setting up a company.

[71] Trials were made of the pavement in 1838 on the footway in Whitehall, the stable at Knightsbridge Barracks,[70][72] "and subsequently on the space at the bottom of the steps leading from Waterloo Place to St. James Park".

"The manufacturing process employed at Cubitt Town involved the heating of bituminous limestone in six large uncovered cauldrons, producing vapours considered offensive by many local residents.

[87][88][89] With increasing motor traffic, the directors of Claridge's Asphalte Co thought there was a future for the construction of roads using the tar-bound macadam method,[90] (now commonly known as tarmac) and invested a substantial amount of funds in the new company,[91] borrowing money to do so.

Scott's Lane, Beckenham; Dorset Street, Marylebone; Lordswood Road, Birmingham; Hearsall Lane, Coventry; Valkyrie Avenue, Westcliff-on-Sea; and Lennard Road, Penge were photographed as "some amongst many laid with 'Clarmac'"[93] In 1915, Claridge's Patent Asphalte Co. supplied asphalt for the Strand offices of the Government of the Dominion of New Zealand.

[97] Claridge's Patent Asphalte Company finally ceased operating on 10 November 1917,[82][98] after becoming insolvent following the failure of the joint venture entered into in 1914.

[101][102][103][f] Claridge wrote a number of works, but his best known, and most widely cited publication was Hydropathy; or The Cold Water Cure, as practised by Vincent Priessnitz....

[109] He stayed at Graefenberg for three months, "during which time the health of that part of my family who were subjected to the treatment was perfectly established; we acquired the habit of living more moderately, of taking more exercise, of drinking more water, and of using it more freely in external ablutions than we were accustomed to; and, I may add, that we have learned how to allay pain".

Following his return to England, Claridge commenced promoting hydropathy in Britain, first in London in 1842, then with lecture tours in Ireland and Scotland in 1843.

His 10-week tour in Ireland included Limerick, Cork, Wexford, Dublin and Belfast,[114] over June, July and August 1843, with two subsequent lectures in Glasgow.

[118] Similarly, Sir John E. Eardley-Wilmot, in his Tribute to Hydropathy, praised Claridge "for his strenuous exertions in the cause", to which every hydropathist "owes a deep debt of gratitude".

One satirical review of Claridge's Hydropathy, playing on both German and English language (e.g. bad=bath in German, but bad in English – see image of hydropathic applications at Graefenberg), summed up the enthusiastic promotion of Priessnitz's water cure thus: it has been our good fortune, since reading Claridge on Hydropathy, to see a sick drake avail himself of the "Cold Water Cure" at the dispensary in St. James's-park.

[31] Moreover, in 1843, doctor Thomas J. Graham wrote somewhat triumphantly that after returning from Graefenberg, "one of the most zealous Hydropathists in this country – a gentleman who in his common conversation speaks most contemptuously of everything but cold water as a remedy for disease", sought his advice for mouth ulcers and bronchial complaints "from which his favourite Cold Water Cure could not deliver him!."

[5] Surveying the publications on hydropathy from 1820 up to 1850, Metcalfe lists 69 authors of English works, and two Water-cure journals – one in London (from 1847) and one in America (from 1845).

[124] By October 1845, Claridge noted that "in Germany, there are at least fifty; France, Switzerland, the Tyrol, Hungary, Russia, Ireland, Scotland, all have their institutions, and England counts at least twenty, besides private individuals who are introducing it into their practice; and to show its dissemination, it is only necessary to state that at Graefenberg, at this moment, there are amongst the visitors some of the leading nobles of England, Russia, Poland, Austria and Italy".

"There can be no doubt that the Bath and Washhouse Movement received a great stimulus through the introduction of Hydropathy into this country, and the consequent dissemination of the curative virtues of water appliances, and sanitary reformers saw the necessity of personal cleanliness in order to ensure perfect health".

On the antiquity of hydropathy, Claridge addresses some of his critics, stating that "we are not urging its novelty, but its UTILITY" (p. 2, emphases in original text), and praises Priessnitz for bringing it to the fore again.

[31] e. ^ To aid in finding information on Claridge's portrait, it is noted that at the time (1844), artist James John Hill was residing at 58 Newman Street, as listed in Johnson's book,[49] and was still there in 1848, per Graves (1908).