The greatest fossil hunter ever known was an impoverished working class woman from the Dorset coastal town of Lyme Regis. Mary Anning did more than anyone else to establish geology and palaeontology as scientific disciplines, despite having little education and the worst possible start in life.
Born in 1799 to carpenter Richard Anning and his wife Mary, she and her brother Joseph were the only survivors of 10 children. She was lucky to make it out of infancy, surviving a lightning strike that killed three people when she was only one year old. It was claimed later by proud neighbours and friends that it was the lightning bolt which gave her her intelligence and quick wit!
Mary was introduced to fossils by her father, who taught her how to clean and polish them. They were then sold as curiosities to well-heeled visitors to Lyme Regis The local cliffs are so rich in fossils dating back 200 million years that an entire 90-mile length of coastline is now known as the Jurassic Coast.
But poverty was never very far away and the family became almost destitute when Richard died after contracting TB and then taking a serious fall.
Though only 11, Mary continued fossil hunting to help feed the family. This was fraught with danger as the cliffs are unstable, with regular rock falls and landslides. However, this meant that fossils were constantly being exposed.
Mary Anning Hits the Jackpot
When she was 12, Mary hit the jackpot. Her brother found a skull protruding from a cliff face and Mary chipped away tirelessly for months until she had the skeleton of what looked like a crocodile. She sold this to the local lord of the manor, Henry Hoste Henley, who sold it on to the Museum of Natural Curiosities in London.
From then on, Mary began to move in exalted circles. Henry de la Beche and William Conybeare were just two of the scientists who made their names on the back of Mary’s discoveries. They named Mary’s discovery Ichthyosaurus, the “fish lizard”.
The family was still struggling financially, despite Mary’s growing fame in scientific circles. Her next big break came in 1820 . Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas James Birch auctioned off some of the specimens he had bought from Mary and Joseph. Scientists from all over Britain and Europe vied for the items and paid a total of £400, a huge sum at the time, which the generous Birch handed over to Mary.
Major Discoveries
This relieved the family’s plight and Mary went on to make more major discoveries, including the first pterodactyl in 1828. She spent most days risking her life by scrambling around the cliffs and beaches armed with a hammer and accompanied by her dog Tray.
Meanwhile, she studied voraciously, teaching herself geology and anatomy. She and her brother played host to some of the most eminent scientists of the day as well as fashionable socialites who were fascinated by this down-to-earth but highly intelligent and witty woman.
But in all her life, Mary left Lyme Regis only once, for a short visit to London. When she died from breast cancer in 1847, the Geological Society produced an obituary. Mary would have appreciated the irony of this as the society did not admit women as members. They were barred until 1904. Her life is celebrated in a stained glass window at a Lyme Regis church.
We now know a great deal about the Age of Dinosaurs and exciting new discoveries are being made every year. But how far would we have got without the amazingly tenacious and gifted Mary Anning?
Sources:
Brian Baker - My name is Brian Baker and I live in Manchester, England though I was born almost 70 years ago in Liverpool, 30-odd miles down the ...
