Photos belonging to Richard Thomas Cullen (1886-1972), Assistant Astronomer, mainly relating to the Old Royal Observatory and its move to Herstmonceux.

Administrative / biographical background
The observatory was commissioned in 1675 by King Charles II, the site was chosen by Christopher Wren and the foundation stone being laid on 10 August 1675 and completed in the summer of 1676. After the Second World War a decision was made to move the Observatory to the clearer skies of Herstmonceux in Sussex where its name was changed from the Royal Observatory, Greenwich to the Royal Greenwich Observatory, Herstmonceux. Although the Astronomer Royal at the time of the move, Harold Spencer Jones, moved to the castle in 1948, the rest of the scientific staff did not move until the observatory buildings were completed, in 1957. It was downsized and moved to Cambridge in 1990, and then shut down completely in 1998. Richard Thomas Cullen was born 1886. By the age of 14 he was already employed as an Astronomical Computer. Born to Richard Thomas Cullen (a Police Officer) and Elizabeth Jane Finch. One of four children Richard was the only one to survive to adulthood. Richard became a Junior Assistant in 1912 and married Ethel Margaret Poulter in 1914. He is promoted to Junior Assistant (Higher Grade) in 1925 and appointed to Assistant in 1941.