Reverend Robert Ashington Bullen FLS, FGS, FZS,

FRAS FRAS may refer to: * Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, post-nominal letters * Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland Fellows of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland are individuals who have bee ...

(11 June 1850 – 14 August 1912) was an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

priest, a geologist and an authority on

mollusca Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

Early years

R. A. Bullen was born in St. George's in

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = " Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , e ...

, the son of Robert Gaze Bullen, a convict keeper in the Bahamas from 1848 to 1859, and his wife Elizabeth Anne. His siblings Mary Elizabeth Bullen (born 1848) and Arthur Brackenbury Bullen (born 1852) were also born in the Bahamas. The family returned to England when Bullen was aged 6 years. However, Bermuda held a special place in his affections and he returned there later in life and published an account of its geology. Bullen settled with his parents on the

south coast South Coast is a name often given to coastal areas to the south of a geographical region or major metropolitan area. Geographical Australia *South Coast (New South Wales), the coast of New South Wales, Australia, south of Sydney * South Coast (Q ...

and attended a private school in

Gosport Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan borough on the south coast of Hampshire, South East England. At the 2011 Census, its population was 82,662. Gosport is situated on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, opposite t ...

where his interest in Natural History began. On leaving school it was planned that he should join the

Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

but a change in his circumstances led him becoming a schoolmaster while at the same time attending the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

where he took his BA in 1873. Bullen was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

in 1875 and continued to teach until he became a

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

in 1883. He married Anna Maria Lloyd (1853-1918) on 19 December 1885 and they had one son and two daughters.Biography of R. A. Bullen - Shellers from the Past and Present - Conchology, Inc. website
/ref> As a curate Bullen served at St. Peter's church in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

(1875-9) and at Farleigh in Surrey (1879–80) before being appointed curate to

Archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that o ...

Frederic Farrar Frederic William Farrar (Bombay, 7 August 1831 – Canterbury, 22 March 1903) was a cleric of the Church of England (Anglican), schoolteacher and author. He was a pallbearer at the funeral of Charles Darwin in 1882. He was a member of the Cambr ...

at St. Margaret's church in

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

until 1888, when he became Vicar of Shoreham in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, remaining there until 1896.Obituary for the Rev. Robert Ashington Bullen - ''Geological Magazine'' October 1912 pgs 525-527
/ref>

Career and interests

It was at Shoreham that he befriended Sir

Joseph Prestwich Sir Joseph Prestwich, FRS (12 March 1812 – 23 June 1896) was a British geologist and businessman, known as an expert on the Tertiary Period and for having confirmed the findings of Boucher de Perthes of ancient flint tools in the Somme vall ...

, who persuaded Bullen to carry out a series of researches in locations where fossil land and freshwater

could be found, and in particular those connected with the remains of early Man. These researches he continued until 1911. In 1896 Bullen became Rector of

Little Stukeley Little Stukeley is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of The Stukeleys, in Cambridgeshire, England. Little Stukeley lies approximately north-west of Huntingdon. Little Stukeley is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a non ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

(1898-9)Robert Ashington Bullen B.A., Rector of Little Stukeley: patron, Alwyn Bishop of Ely
-

The National Archives National archives are central archives maintained by countries. This article contains a list of national archives. Among its more important tasks are to ensure the accessibility and preservation of the information produced by governments, both ...

and subsequently Rector and Vicar of

Wisley __NOTOC__ Wisley is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England between Cobham and Woking, in the Borough of Guildford. It is the home of the Royal Horticultural Society's Wisley Garden. The River Wey runs through the village and Ockham and ...

and

Pyrford Pyrford is a village in the borough of Woking in Surrey, England. It is on the left bank of the River Wey, around east of the town of Woking and just south of West Byfleet; the M25 motorway is northeast of the edge of the former parish. The ...

in Surrey (1901-5). After resigning the living at Pyrford he made his home first at

Hurstpierpoint Hurstpierpoint is a village in West Sussex, England, southwest of Burgess Hill, and west of Hassocks railway station. It sits in the civil parish of Hurstpierpoint and Sayers Common which has an area of 2029.88 ha and a population ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

and later at Heathside near

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

. He devoted much time to the work of the various scientific societies to which he had become attached, and in travelling in France, Italy, Spain, and elsewhere leading to his papers on the fossil mollusca of

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

and

, which were of particular interest. The death of his second daughter Evelyn Margaret Bullen in February 1910 affected him deeply and as a result he moved to Hilden Manor, Tonbridge. In 1912 he and his wife made a voyage to

Gran Canaria Gran Canaria (, ; ), also Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands, an archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Northwest Africa which is part of Spain. the island had a population of that co ...

and he was considering a second voyage preparatory to publishing an account of the geology and fossil shells of those islands at the time of his death.

Academic societies

Bullen joined the

Geological Society The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...

in 1891, the

Geologists' Association The Geologists' Association, founded in 1858, is a British organisation with charitable status for those concerned with the study of geology. It publishes the ''Proceedings of the Geologists' Association'' and jointly with the Geological Society ...

in 1893, the

Malacological Society of London The Malacological Society of London is a British learned society and charitable organisation concerned with malacology, the study of molluscs, a large phylum of invertebrate animals divided into nine or ten taxonomic classes, of which two ar ...

in 1897, the

Linnean Society of London The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...

in 1899, and the

Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained the London Zoo, and since 1931 Whipsnade Park. History On 29 ...

in 1911. He was a Fellow of the

Royal Astronomical Society (Whatever shines should be observed) , predecessor = , successor = , formation = , founder = , extinction = , merger = , merged = , type = NGO ...

and a member of the

Selborne Society The Selborne Society or Selborne League is Britain's oldest national conservation organization. It was formed in November 1885 to "perpetuate the name and interests of Gilbert White, the Naturalist of Selborne", and followed the philosophy of obse ...

and the South-Eastern Union of Scientific Societies. He is buried in

Brookwood Cemetery Brookwood Cemetery, also known as the London Necropolis, is a burial ground in Brookwood, Surrey, England. It is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe. The cemetery is listed a Grade I site in the Regist ...

near

with his wife Anna Maria (died 1918) and his daughter Evelyn Margaret Bullen (1888-1910). A memorial plaque dedicated to him is in the church of St Peter and St Paul in Shoreham where he was the priest from 1888 to 1896.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bullen, Robert Ashington 1850 births 1912 deaths Alumni of the University of London Conchologists Fellows of the Linnean Society of London Fellows of the Geological Society of London Fellows of the Zoological Society of London Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society Burials at Brookwood Cemetery