The Greatest Fossilist in the World

Mary anning was born in 1799. She grew up while Britain was at war with France. She and her brother Joseph were the only survivors among the ten children born to Richard Anning and Mary Moore. Anning's father Richard was a carpenter and cabinet-maker who taught Mary on how to look for and to clean fossils. They, then, sold the ‘curiosities’ they collected.

In 1811, Anning’s brother Joseph found a skull protruding from a cliff. Over a period of months Mary painstakingly uncovered an almost complete skeleton of a ‘crocodile’. The specimen was later bought by the local lord of the manor Henry Hoste Henley, who sold it to William Bullock for his Museum of Natural Curiosities in London. This brought Mary Anning’s reputation to the attention of scientific circles. The specimen was later named Ichthyosaurus, the ‘fish-lizard’. By now, The Anning family had now established themselves as fossil hunters. However, they remained poor, almost destitute.

In 1820 one of their patrons, Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas James Birch, organised an auction of specimens he had purchased from them. The sale attracted interest from Britain and all over Europe and raised £400 which he generously donated to them. The publicity consolidated Mary Anning’s fame.

In 1810-1811 Mary and her brother found the first complete Ichthyosaur and over the years further sensational finds were made. New, more complete skeletons of ichthyosaurs were discovered, followed by a complete skeleton of the long-necked Plesiosaurus, the ‘sea-dragon’ in 1823. This was followed by the ‘flying-dragon’ Pterodactylus in 1828, and Squaloraja, a fossil fish intermediary between a shark and a ray, in 1829. In the winter of 1830, Anning found a new, large-headed Plesiosaurus. Mary Anning also found hundreds, possibly thousands, of other fossils that helped scientists to draw a picture of the marine world 200 million to 140 million years ago during the Jurassic.

Her discoveries were also featured in the lithograph Duria Antiquior, 1830 for her financial benefits. It is said that scientists of the time travelled from as far away as New York City to Lyme Regis to consult and hunt for fossils with Anning. Anning was literate, despite having only a little education, that did not stop her also from teaching herself geology, paleontology, anatomy and scientific illustration. Anning's life revolved around Lyme Regis.

Anning died from breast cancer, aged 47. Nine years before her death she was given an annuity, raised by members of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and the Geological Society of London. She was the first honorary member of the new Dorset County Museum. Anning's death in 1847 was recorded by the Geological Society (which did not admit women until 1904). By the time of her death, geology was firmly established as its own scientific discipline.

The spectacular marine reptiles that Anning unearthed shook the scientific community into looking at different explanations for changes in the natural world. William Buckland, Henry de la Beche and William Conybeare were some of the many scientists who owe their achievements to her. By the time of her death, geology was firmly established as its own scientific discipline.

Adapted from National Center for Science Education