36 Facts About Clarence Bicknell

Clarence Bicknell was a British vicar, amateur archaeologist, botanist, artist, Esperantist, author and philanthropist.

Clarence Bicknell was the youngest son of successful British businessman and patron of the arts, Elhanan Bicknell, and his third wife, Lucinda Sarah.

Clarence Bicknell was just seven years old when his mother died in 1850.

Clarence Bicknell's father remarried a year later and soon after young Clarence was sent to Rev J Edward's boarding school at Dorney, Buckinghamshire.

Elhanan Clarence Bicknell was a committed Unitarian and a major donor to the British and Foreign Unitarian Association.

Clarence Bicknell decided on a career in Anglican ministry, entered holy orders and was ordained a deacon in 1866.

Clarence Bicknell then accepted a position at St Peter's Church, Stoke on Tern, a village in Shropshire.

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

Clarence Bicknell returned to Bordighera later in the year and purchased Villa Rosa, which became his home for the remainder of his life.

Clarence Bicknell gave financial support to local students undertaking higher education or specialist training.

Clarence Bicknell contributed to the support of refugees who came to the town during World War I During the conflict he volunteered with the Red Cross to roll bandages and collect bags of sphagnum moss to dress wounds.

Clarence Bicknell travelled further afield in December 1889 on a voyage to Egypt.

Clarence Bicknell established a bank, became the local representative for travel agent Thomas Cook and, later, served as the British vice consul.

Clarence Bicknell began to collect examples of each type, which he would later draw and paint, press and classify in a systematic manner.

Clarence Bicknell's expeditions took him further into the Maritime Alps, collecting an ever-increasing range of plants.

Clarence Bicknell discovered a number of new plant species, several of which bear his name.

Clarence Bicknell later published and described 4 new species of plants;.

Clarence Bicknell first visited the Valle della Meraviglie in the Maritime Alps in 1881 in search of rare plants.

The rock carvings had been known and written about since at least 1690, but Clarence Bicknell was the first person to make a methodical study of them.

Clarence Bicknell catalogued these, and speculated about their age and purpose.

Clarence Bicknell delivered a paper on his findings to the Societa Linguistica in Genoa in 1897, that was later published.

Clarence Bicknell was an enthusiast for Esperanto, the universal language published in 1887 by Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof.

Clarence Bicknell learned to speak it in 1897, wrote and translated poems into Esperanto and taught the language at Milan and Bordighera.

Clarence Bicknell attended the first International Esperanto Congress, held at Boulogne in 1905, at the end of which he was voted a member of the Esperanto Language Committee.

Clarence Bicknell attended later annual congresses at Geneva, Cambridge, Barcelona, Krakow and Bern.

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

Clarence Bicknell translated Horatius in 1906 ; Guinevere in 1907; Rikoltado de la pecoj in 1915; Sakludo and numerous other works.

Clarence Bicknell was the first significant contributor of Christian hymns to Esperanto literature.

Clarence Bicknell is credited as the composer of one hymn tune, COME FAITHFUL PEOPLE, published in the 1906 English Hymnal.

Clarence Bicknell probably took art lessons at home or at school.

Clarence Bicknell certainly received instruction in Italy where he took lessons with expatriate Belgian artist Jules Pierre van Biesbroeck.

Clarence Bicknell became an accomplished artist with pen and watercolour, using his skill to sketch or paint his botanical subjects and, later, in creating decorative works with a botanical or archaeological theme.

Clarence Bicknell illustrated his travel diaries, and, engravings of some of his artwork appear in his books.

Clarence Bicknell died at Casa Fontanalba on 17 July 1918.

Clarence Bicknell was 75 years of age and was buried at Tende.

In 2012, the Clarence Bicknell Association was founded to commemorate his life and work.