In his important history of hydropathic establishments in Scotland, Alastair Durie recounts how, in July 1843, Drs Barter and Wherland had both been impressed by a recent lecture in Cork by Captain Claridge on the work of Vincent Priessnitz. Each had dashed off to England to look at the hydros
there, and then returned to set up his own. However, as Durie relates:
In the race to set up an Irish Gräfenberg, Wherland overtook Barter, his Cork Hydropathic establishment at Warren's Place (with adjoining baths) opening on 14 August.3
Barter's establishment did not open till the following year, though it was the longest surviving hydro and, certainly in Ireland, the most famous.
