However, Clarence learned his classification skills in a different arena: botany. Bicknell, the thirteenth child of a wealthy whale-oil magnate from London, came to the Riviera in 1878 to take up the post of chaplain to the expatriates at Bordighera, 50 kilometres from Nice. The sleepy Italian village was a popular colony for rich sufferers of ‘consumption’ and in the winter season had a population that was about 50 per cent British. Less than a year later he suffered a crisis of faith and never wore a dog collar again, but Bordighera suited Bicknell, and he stayed. He was becoming a reputed botanist and botanic artist, and was ranging ever higher into the verdant mountains behind the coast discovering rare and unknown plants.