[4] The observatory, which was located at 51° 34' 34" N latitude and 0h 0.87m W longitude (equivalent to just under 0.22°), was equipped with a 7+1⁄4-inch (184mm) aperture equatorial telescope made by Thomas Cooke & Sons of York in 1854.
The acquisition of the second, larger, telescope persuaded Barclay that it would be necessary to have a professional astronomer to work the observatory for him, and the services of Hermann Romberg (1835–1898) were obtained.
In 1864, after only two years work, Romberg moved to the Berlin Observatory and was replaced by Charles George Talmage (1840–1886).
Talmage suffered from poor health and his death in his mid-forties in 1886 brought an end to regular observational work at Leyton.
When the Radcliffe left the UK for the better skies of Southern Africa in the nineteen-thirties the Cooke telescope stayed in behind and was installed at Marlborough College Observatory.