Richard Russell, an 18th-century physician, transformed the fortunes of a struggling Sussex fishing village by prescribing seawater as medicine. His work in Brighthelmstone laid the foundations for the modern seaside resort of Brighton.
Brighthelmstone Before the Cure
The settlement recorded in the Domesday Book as Brighthelmstone had endured centuries of hardship. It was sacked and burned by French raiders in the early 16th century, and later suffered the Great Storm of 1703. By 1730, the town was described as decidedly down on its luck: the fishing trade was faltering, Shoreham was drawing away maritime business, and the population had fallen to roughly 2,000. What had been Sussex's most populous town in the 1640s was now a forlorn place on a pebble shore.
Russell's Seawater Prescription
Richard Russell was born on 26 November 1687 and practised as a physician. Around 1747 he began to promote seawater as a remedy for glandular diseases and other complaints. In 1750 he published a Latin dissertation, De Tabe Glandulari, which was translated into English two years later as Glandular Diseases, or a Dissertation on the Use of Sea Water in the Affections of the Glands. This was reportedly the first book to link both drinking and bathing in seawater to measurable health benefits. The theories attracted patients from London and beyond.
A House on the Steine
By 1753, demand for his treatments had grown so great that Russell moved his practice to Brighthelmstone. He purchased a plot of land at the south of Old Steine for £40 and built a large red-brick gabled house; at the time, it was the biggest dwelling in the settlement. The rear of the property opened directly onto the beach, allowing patients easy access to the water. The house accommodated both Russell and those who came to take the cure.
From Patients to Princes
Russell died in 1759, but the reputation of the place he had chosen continued to spread. His house was later let to seasonal visitors, including the Duke of Cumberland, brother of George III, who stayed there in 1779. On 7 September 1783, the Prince of Wales, later the Prince Regent and then King George IV, came to visit his uncle. The prince's subsequent patronage of the town over the next four decades was central to its rapid expansion. Improved road links, including the turnpike to London in 1770, and the arrival of the railway in 1841, accelerated the growth that Russell had begun.
The Legacy on the Seafront
Brighton's population rose from 7,339 in 1801 to 46,661 by 1841, and surpassed 120,000 by 1901. The fishing village that Russell adopted had become one of England's largest and most fashionable coastal towns. Today, the Royal Albion Hotel stands on the site of his house at Old Steine. A plaque on the hotel wall reads, "If you seek his monument, look around." The seafront that now draws millions of visitors each year began with one doctor's conviction that the water held the cure.