An early, deluxe model of Overbeck’s Rejuvenator (sold from Chantry House, Grimsby) c1928.
See also the 1930s model of Overbeck’s Rejuvenator on this website. This is the deluxe version of the standard 1920s model. The case is covered in black Rexine and is lined with crimson silk plush. This superior model cost £8 8s rather than £6 6s for the standard model. (£8 8s would have been equivalent to over £350 in today’s money.) The wires plugged into a separate battery pack. Replacement batteries cost 30 shillings (£1.5). Higher power batteries were also available at 45 shillings per set (£2.25).
This early model was made by ‘Ediswan’. This was the Edison and Swan Electric Light Company Limited. They manufactured the Rejuvenator on a large scale. Head Office, remained at ‘Chantry House’, Deansgate, Grimsby. Overbeck’s high pressure marketing techniques led to the Rejuvenator selling like hot cakes. This early model was patented in the UK in 1925. Later, the Rejuvenator was patented in at least 11 countries.
Otto Overbeck had branches in: 1) France 2) Belgium 3) Poland, Lithuania, Estonia 4) Holland 5) Turkey 6) Iceland 7) Norway 8) Yugoslavia 9) Spain 10) Palestine, Transjordania, Persia 11) Cyprus 12) Baluchistan, India, Burma, Iraq 13) China 14) Dutch Indies 15) Union of South Africa, Rhodesia 16) Nigeria 17) Gold Coast 18) Gibraltar 19) Australia (Sydney, Melbourne & Brisbane) 20) New Zealand 21) Canada 22) British Honduras 23) British Guiana 24) Bermuda 25) Jamaica 26) St. Kitts 27) Antigua 28) Dominica 29) St. Lucia 30) St. Vincent 31) Grenada 32) Colombia 33) Ecuador 34) Venezuela, F. E. 35) Peru 36) Chile (Norte) 37) Chile (Central) 38) Magallanes 39) Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Rio Grande do Sol 40) Rio de Janeiro 41) Gran Canaria 42) Madagascar.
The object of the Overbeck treatment was to restore the electrical balance in the body wherever it may be failing. Overbeck’s Rejuvenator was used with remarkable success in the following cases: asthma, bladder weakness, bunions, bronchitis, chilblains, catarrh, cramp, constipation, debility, deafness, eyesight, facial nervous contractions, general weakness, gout, goitre, head noises, headache, heart affections, hair growth and recoloration, incontinence of urine, insomnia, indigestion, irregular blood pressure, lumbago, menstrual irregularities, nervous exhaustion, neuritis, neurasthenia, nightmares, obesity, paraplegia, paralysis agitans, rickets, rheumatism, rheumatoid arthritis, sexual weakness, stammering, sciatica, voice production and wrinkles. Unsolicited testimonials flooded in!
A brief history of the life of O. C. J. G. L. Overbeck (1860-1937):
Otto Overbeck was British but was descended from a distinguished Dutch family. His parents, Joseph Julian Overbeck, doctor of divinity and doctor of philosophy, and (Katharine) Josephine Fredericka Overbeck were born in Prussia and lived in London from before 1861. Otto was born in Islington or Holloway, London on 10th May 1860 (or 1861). As a young man, he studied at Bonn University in Germany. In 1891, he was lodging in Grimsby and working as an analyst.
Otto Christop Joseph Gerhardt Ludwig Overbeck is famous to some for the fact that, in 1902, he landed a carp at Croxby Pond, near Grimsby, weighing 17lb 8oz, the first British record. Otto Overbeck lived at 5 Bull Ring, Grimsby. As a highly qualified industrial chemist, he became the Scientific Director of Hewitt Brothers’ Brewery in Grimsby.
As well as working at the Grimsby brewery for 37 years, he was an inventor. From the late 1920s, Otto Overbeck marketed various models of his “Overbeck Rejuvenator”, an electrotherapy machine. Patents in many countries were taken out from about 1925. “Overbeck Rejuvenator” models were only available from Chantry House, Grimsby. The ‘Overbeck’s Rejuvenator’ company was still based at Chantry House in 1948, over ten years after the death of the inventor. The company was then run by Edwin C. Ayre. The company trademark was still the signature of Otto Overbeck.
Otto Overbeck sold his rejuvenator worldwide and made a fortune. Following his retirement in 1928, he retired to ‘Sharpitor’, Salcombe in Devon. His large, Edwardian house with superb views is now ‘Overbeck’s Museum and Garden’, a National Trust property. A brace of carp, with a painting of Croxby Pond, as a backdrop can be seen in the museum. The Croxby view was painted by Overbeck himself.
Note: Otto Overbeck was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and a member of the Geological Society of London and the Chemical Society. He was a collector of all manner of artefacts, art and tropical plants and almost made a name for himself for his other inventions.
Note: Otto Overbeck was a keen patron of boys’ clubs. In 1929, he was charged with indecent assaults against boys from the Grimsby Dolphin Swimming Club. He was acquitted on all counts following his trial in Derbyshire. The newspapers of the time reported the case widely. It appears that Otto Overbeck went on to support boys’ clubs in the years after the trial.
Note: Otto’s father, Rev. Joseph Julian Overbeck (1822-1905), born in Cleves-Rhenish, Prussia, eventually became a professor of German at the Royal Military College. He lived at 16 Girdlers Road, Hammersmith. Josephine died in 1887.
Research by Grimsby & Cleethorpes Museum.
