During the peak of the periods of Victorian post-Darwin enlightenment, ingenuity and discovery, Clarence Bicknell (1842-1918) started life as a curate in a London slum before moving to the Italian Riviera and the Maritime Alps where he wrote and illustrated highly-respected botanical books. Then his exploration uncovered in the high mountains some of the most important archaeological finds of the 19th century, the rock engravings of the Mont Bégo area. He captured the ideals of an early Europe – even including the development of Esperanto as a language – and he is remembered today at Bordighera’s Museo Bicknell and the Musée des Merveilles in Tende, France.

Marcus Bicknell (great-great-nephew of Clarence Bicknell, and chairman of the Clarence Bicknell Association) will introduce the documentary film ‘The Marvels of Clarence Bicknell’ of which he was the producer.

Graham Avery (St. Antony’s College, Oxford) will speak on Clarence Bicknell’s work as a botanist, his exchange of herbarium specimens (some of which are in the Oxford Herbaria), and his role in a European network of like-minded botanists.

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