Captain Richard Tappin Claridge, FSA, 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.[b] Claridge is widely credited with introducing the methods of Vincent Priessnitz to England, thus initiating the populist movement of the time.[c] 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.... 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.

Vincenz Priessnitz, also written Prießnitz was a peasant farmer in Gräfenberg, Austrian Silesia, who is generally considered the founder of modern hydrotherapy, which is used in alternative and orthodox medicine. Priessnitz stressed remedies such as vegetarian food, air, exercise, rest, water, and traditional medicine. He is thus also credited with laying the foundations of what became known as Nature Cure, although it has been noted that his main focus was on hydrotherapeutic techniques. The use of cold water as a curative is recorded in the works of Hippocrates and Galen, and techniques such as spas, bathing, and drinking were used by various physicians in Europe and the US through to the 18th century. The practice was becoming less prevalent entering the 19th century however, until Priessnitz revived the technique after having major success applying it on patients in his spa in Gräfenberg. Priessnitz's name first became widely known in the English-speaking world through the publications and lecture tours of Captain R. T. Claridge in 1842 and 1843, after he had stayed at Grafenberg in 1841. However, Priessnitz was already a household name on the European continent, where Richard Metcalfe, in his 1898 biography, stated: "there are hundreds of establishments where the water-cure is carried out on the principles laid down by Priessnitz". Indeed, Priessnitz's fame became so widespread that his death was reported as far away as New Zealand.