Mary Anning

Mary Anning — Portrait.

Born: 21 May 1799, Lyme Regis, Dorset, UK

Died: 9 March 1847, Lyme Regis, Dorset, UK

Mary Anning was born into poverty, but became the greatest fossil finder of her era, powerfully influencing the new science of paleontology. She overcame a lack of formal education to emerge as one of the foremost authorities on fossils. A specimen she discovered jointly with her brother provided the data for the first ever scientific paper about the ichthyosaur (a large extinct marine reptile). She discovered and drew the first ever complete specimen of a plesiosaur (another large extinct marine reptile); her discovery of fossilized feces allowed ancient animal diets to be deduced; and she discovered a fossil fish that bridged sharks and rays. All of this was achieved before her thirtieth birthday.

Her father was Richard Anning, a carpenter and cabinetmaker. Her mother was Mary Moore. The couple had 10 children, of whom only two survived childhood – Mary and her older brother Joseph. At only 15 months old she was almost killed by a lightning strike on a tree that she was sheltering under. Curiously, before the strike she was a sickly child, after it she enjoyed robust health.

The limestone cliffs along the seacoast of Lyme Regis were frequently eroded by the sea, crumbling to reveal the fossils that her father gathered and sold to tourists. When he died when Mary was 11, she and her brother Joseph took over the business. They continued to harvest the fossils and sell them to provide a meager income for their impoverished family. Many of these fossils became the focus of scientific papers by authors who never acknowledged the Annings.

In 1811 when she was only 12, she uncovered the 16ft fossil of a sea monster belonging to the genus now known as Ichthyosaurus. This was followed by other major finds, including plesiosaurs and pterosaurs.

These were crucial discoveries. The French naturalist Georges Cuvier had just proposed the idea of extinction – that in the past some species had simply died out. “It was controversial because it implied not all God’s creations were perfect. Some were doomed to failure,” said Barrett. Anning’s findings played a vital role in this debate.

Within a few years, her advice was being sought from all quarters – by men who published papers that relied heavily on her discoveries and interpretations, but who gave her no credit. Only recently has Anning’s full impact become apparent.

“She was poor, she was a woman and came from a nonconformist family,” explained Paul Barrett a dinosaur expert at London’s Natural History Museum . “These factors all worked against her – although, without doubt, being female was the worst impediment. Women were then not allowed to join scientific societies. So, the Geological Society discussed her findings but would not let her in those meetings because women were banned.”

Anning’s humble background was also a problem for fossil collecting, which was then the prerogative of the rich. “They were collected and studied by wealthy surgeons or clever vicars with time on their hands,” said Barrett. “For good measure, Anning’s father was a protestant nonconformist, and that only further distanced her from the establishment.”

Anning never married and had no children. Her life was a hard one. Mary Anning died, aged 47, of breast cancer in Lyme Regis on March 9, 1847. She was buried in the churchyard of Lyme Regis Parish Church. Three years later, the Geological Society paid for a large stained-glass window dedicated to her, portraying religious acts of charity, to be placed in the church.

Mary Anning’s name was never forgotten. She was seen as a trailblazer for girls and people of humble origins who wished to become scientists.