Richard of Wallingford (1292–1336) was an English mathematician, astronomer, horologist, and cleric who made major contributions to astronomy and horology while serving as abbot of St Albans Abbey in Hertfordshire.

The clock was completed about 20 years after Richard's death by William of Walsham, but was apparently destroyed during Henry VIII's reformation and the dissolution of St Albans Abbey in 1539.

[2][3] Based on the 14th-century literary evidence still surviving in the 20th century, scholars of horological history have tried to build recreations of Richard of Wallingford's clock.

[5] Richard suffered from what was then thought to be leprosy (though it might have been scrofula or tuberculosis) which he apparently contracted when he went to have his position, as abbot of St Albans Abbey, confirmed by the Pope at Avignon.

The Albion could be used for astronomical calculations such as lunar, solar and planetary longitudes and could predict eclipses, and was capable of doing this without relying on a set of tables that had to be copied out.