Captain Richard Tappin Claridge, FSA (c. 1797/1799 – 5 August 1857), was a prominent asphalt contractor and captain in the Middlesex UK Militia, who became best known for his prominent promotion of hydropathy, now known as hydrotherapy, in the 1840s. It was also known as the Cold Water system or Cold Water cure. Claridge is widely credited with introducing the methods of Vincent Priessnitz to England, thus initiating the populist movement of the time. Indeed, much of what is popularly known about Priessnitz in the English-speaking world comes from two seminal publications. Firstly, Claridge's Hydropathy; or The Cold Water Cure, as practised by Vincent Priessnitz... (1842 & 1843). Secondly, Richard Metcalfe's Life of Vincent Priessnitz (1898), with Metcalfe himself drawing upon Claridge, although Metcalfe also later wrote a historical overview and added more about Claridge and his role in the promotion of hydropathy.
Biographical synopsis Richard Tappin Claridge was born in Farnborough, a village or parish in the county of Warwickshire, and administered by the Stratford-on-Avon District Council. Claridge, a member of the Arcadian Academy at Rome, was the elder and only surviving son of James and Hannah Claridge, and a descendant of church minister and subsequent Quaker, Richard Claridge. Rev. James Claridge was himself a curate in the Established, or Episcopal Church. The Rev. James Claridge died by accident, leaving Richard an orphan at age eight.
Claridge married twice. On 28 June 1822, at St George's, Hanover Square, he married Elizabeth Ann Aldsworth Green, who was the only child of the late William Green, of Bolton Street, Piccadilly, and of Kew, Surrey. In April 1824 they had a daughter named Emma Green, who later married Marie Etienne Charles Henri, Marquis de St. Aignan, and subsequently resided in Nice. Claridge was a man of independent means, who in 1841 attended Priessnitz's establishment at Graefenberg along with his wife and daughter. He claimed that his promotion of hydropathy was "completely philanthropic. 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. Elizabeth died on 24 August 1842. Claridge spent some time in Italy, from where around 1847 he continued promoting hydropathy by petition and a letter written at Bagni de Lucco on 12 May 1847. 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. Eliza had herself been previously married to the late George Gould Morgan, of the Tredegar peerage. Eliza Morgan Claridge died sometime before 1866.
Before his prominence as a hydropathy promoter, Claridge tried his hand in other fields: with which, indeed, some critics alluded he should have stuck. This included a partnership as a boot and shoe-maker, with the partnership dissolving on 7 February 1824. And as a wine merchant, through at least May 1824 to August 1825, and where early on, he found himself as a potential creditor of a bankrupt. At this time, Claridge resided at 37 Wigmore Street, Marylebone. Claridge himself was declared bankrupt in 1826.
However, it was another field where Claridge first became prominent, namely that of pioneering the use of asphalt paving in the United Kingdom, which he embarked on after returning from a tour of Europe in 1836. He also served with the Middlesex Militia, attaining the rank of captain, before resigning in 1854. At the end of his life, Claridge was still living in Nice and died in Castellammare di Stabia on 5 August 1857, and a copy of his will is held at The National Archives, Kew. At least one portrait of Claridge is known to have been created, by painter James John Hill. It was exhibited in 1844 at the Royal Society of British Artists, at Suffolk Street, Pall Mall, and titled Portrait of Captain Claridge, Author of Hydropathy, or the Cold-Water Cure.
Before hydropathy 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. This was a tour guide for travel down the Danube, made possible by recent socio-political developments and "the establishment of steam navigation throughout the entire length of the Danube, the Black Sea, the Bosphorous, the Arhipeligo, and the Adriatic", which "converted what was hitherto a journey of toil and danger into one of unmixed pleasure and enjoyment".
On 10 June 1837, Bent's Monthly Literary Advertiser carried a brief advertisement announcing the pending release of the book by "Richard T. Claridge, Esq.", with the announcement comprising the book's lengthy title, and noting "Observations on the recent political and social changes in Turkey and Greece." A second edition, with numerous additions, was published in 1839, which Claridge states was prompted by "very favourable reception" of the first edition. 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". The second edition incorporated a range of new material, including:
in addition to the voyage down the Danube, and the tour of Constantinople, Asia Minor, Greece, Italy, &c., the route from Paris to the Mediterranean, via Marseilles and Malta – the route from Paris to Ancona, via Geneva and Milan – the routes from Paris to Munich, via Nancy, Strasbourg, Badenbaden; and via Metz and Frankfort – the route from Munich to Venice and Trieste, via the Tyrol – the routes from London to the Rhine and the Danube – and the route from Alexandria to Cairo, &c., on the way to India.
In these publications, Claridge was not yet known as captain, a title which he only commenced using from the publication of Hydropathy in 1842 onwards. In 1839, Claridge was promoted from Gentleman to Lieutenant in the Royal Westminster Middlesex Regiment of Militia, then in 1842 he was promoted to captain, before eventually resigning on 24 June 1854. 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.
Claridge's Patent Asphalte Company
Claridge's patents The first asphalt patent in Britain was 'Cassell's patent asphalte or bitumen' in 1834, and there was an unsuccessful attempt to use mastic pavement at Vauxhall by a competitor of Claridge. But it was Claridge's efforts that were to give the industry impetus. In France, Seyssel asphalt was being successfully implemented for paving by Count de Sassenay. On 25 November 1837, Richard Tappin Claridge (then a "Salisbury Street, gentleman") patented Seyssel asphalt (patent #7849) for use in pavements in Britain, where he managed Sassenay's affairs, Claridge had seen Seyssel asphalt employed in France and Belgium when visiting with Frederick Walter Simms, who worked with him on the introduction of asphalt to Britain. In 1838, Claridge (listed as a gent of 8 Regent St., Middlesex) obtained patents in Scotland on 27 March, and Ireland on 23 April. In 1847, Claridge sold his interest in the patents to the trustees of his company, who in 1851 sought to extend the duration of all three patents, although unsuccessfully.
Apart from the asphalt patents, on 26 April 1842, a six-month patent was granted for a composition called "oropholithe" to Claridge and two others, namely Richard Hodgson, and Raoul Armand Joseph Jean Comte de la Chatre (patent #9331). This was a composition used "in preparing fabrics for covering floors, roofs, and other surfaces", which involved coating the fabric on one side for dry applications, or both sides "for roofs and other surfaces exposed to wet and damp". At time of this patent, Claridge was described as living at Weymouth Street, in the County of Middlesex.
Formation and growth of Claridge's company Claridge's Patent Asphalte Company was formed for the purpose of introducing to Britain "Asphalte in its natural state from the mine at Pyrimont Seysell in France", and "laid one of the first asphalt pavements in Whitehall". Trials were made of the pavement in 1838 on the footway in Whitehall, the stable at Knightsbridge Barracks, "and subsequently on the space at the bottom of the steps leading from Waterloo Place to St. James Park". "The formation in 1838 of Claridge's Patent Asphalte Company (with a distinguished list of aristocratic patrons, and Marc and Isambard Brunel as, respectively, a trustee and consulting engineer), gave an enormous impetus to the development of a British asphalt industry". Per response to a query on Claridge, "in 1839, the offices of the company were at Stangate, Westminster, as appears in an advertisement in the Athenaeum of 4 May 1838, p.342".
Although asphalt use took off in the 1830s, The Mechanics' Magazine noted the existence of a pamphlet from 1621, by "a certain Monsieur d'Eyrinys" stating he had discovered large quantities of asphaltum in the vicinity of Neufchâtel, and that prior to his discovery, asphaltum was only known to exist in the Dead Sea. Mechanics Magazine added "we wonder, by-the-bye, no 'Dead Sea Asphalt Company' has yet made its appearance in the market", and wondering whether the lack of such a market take-off in two centuries hinted at limitations of the product. Nevertheless, "By the end of 1838, at least two other companies, Robinson's and the Bastenne company, were in production". Indeed, in 1838, there was a flurry of entrepreneurial activity over asphalt, which had uses beyond paving. For example, asphalt could also be used for flooring, damp proofing in buildings, and for waterproofing of various types of pools and baths, with these latter themselves proliferating in the 1800s. On the London stockmarket, there were various claims as to the exclusivity of asphalt quality from France, Germany and England. And numerous patents were granted in France, with similar numbers of patent applications being denied in England due to their similarity to each other. In England, "Claridge's was the type most used in the 1840s and 50s", including in such uses as school flooring. In 1847, Claridge's company promoted itself as producing "the only impervious and permanent covering for arches and roofs, and lining of reservoirs, gutters, & c"
In the 1870s, Claridge's company took over asphalt production at Pyrimont Wharf, in Cubitt Town. "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. The material was employed predominantly for covering and protecting the foundations of buildings. It was employed, for example, at the Tobacco Stores at the Victoria Docks."
Last years of Claridge's Patent Asphalte Co.