Ticking for Britain – the forgotten history of George W Rickett
For our March lecture, with a change of title to the published programme, we are very pleased to welcome Graham Dolan to present a talk on the work of George W Rickett.
George Rickett worked at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, for nearly 50 years, from 1918 until his retirement towards the end of the 1960s.
Initially assigned to the Time Department which was responsible for both time signals and the testing and rating of the Admiralty’s chronometers, Rickett took charge of the chronometer work following the department’s split at the start of World War 2. At the war’s outbreak, he was evacuated with the chronometers first to Bristol and then to Bradford on Avon. There, with just a small team, he worked tirelessly to keep the armed forces supplied with the properly tested and rated chronometers and watches that they needed, issuing some 21,023 instruments in the last year of the war alone.
In 1948 the Chronometer Department was the first to be moved to the Observatory’s new home at Herstmonceux. Rickett remained its head until the beginning of 1964 when a reorganisation took place resulting in his transfer to the Solar Department.
Graham has written several books and created the website www.royalobservatorygreenwich.org and this evening is an opportunity to meet and discuss the The Royal Observatory with the authoritative voice on its history.
Monthly branch meetings are normally held at the The White Hart Barn in Godstone
THE WHITE HART BARN
(Godstone Village Hall)
GODSTONE
SURREY RH9 8DU
7.30 pm for 8.00 pm Start