Clarence Bicknell

Clarence Bicknell was a natural scientist as well as a man of the Church. He arrived in Bordighera in 1878 and immediately devoted himself to studying the flora not only of the town, but also of the nearby Maritime Alps.

Having chosen Bordighera as his permanent home, from 1880 onwards he was able to dedicate himself fully to his favourite research. He was the first to carry out a systematic and comprehensive study of the rock engravings of Monte Bego, collecting drawings, notes, casts and photographs published in the volumes of the Società Ligustica and in specialised French journals.

He passionately studied botany, especially local flora, and the result of this work was an important book, never translated into Italian, entitled “Flowering Plants and Ferns of the Western Riviera”, magnificently illustrated with 86 colour plates drawn by Bicknell himself.

He donated his valuable collection of casts to the Prehistoric Museum of Genoa, while the herbarium collected in the Maritime Alps was entrusted to the Botanical Institute of the same city.

The archaeological finds alone formed the foundation of the Bicknell Museum, where precious scientific works can still be consulted today alongside a remarkable herbarium dedicated to the flora of Bordighera and Sanremo.

He also established a nationally renowned centre for the study of Esperanto.

Bicknell was a generous philanthropist and was responsible for important humanitarian institutions, including a retirement home for the elderly and an orphanage.

He eventually left ecclesiastical life and died in Casterino in July 1918.

He is buried in the cemetery of Tende.

From “Illustrious Guests in Bordighera” by Camilla Moreno.