Born in 1799, Mary Anning was the most unlikely person to make an impact on the world. Poverty stricken virtually all her life, she lived at the bottom of eighteenth-century society – yet amazingly, she made discoveries that transformed world history by becoming the greatest fossil hunter the world had ever seen.
Reasons for this dichotomy are simple. Mary Anning was a woman and born into a working class family, possessing few advantages in life. As one of ten children, she had a low chance of survival to adulthood since many children died before reaching the age of 5.
Her role in life was clear from the time she was born. As soon as she was able, Mary was expected to help care for younger siblings and help around the house. If she survived to adulthood, then she would marry, care for her husband’s home and have lots of children. Her chances of a long life were remote since average adult life expectancy at this time was only around 40 years, always providing she survived the continual pregnancies.
Her parents, Richard and Mary Anning, lived in a cottage, overlooking the rocky coast of Dorset. They had 10 children. Only Mary and her brother Joseph survived to become adults. Mary’s survival was even more unusual since she actually survived a lightning strike when just fifteen months old. The babysitter and two other children with her at the time died.
As a carpenter and cabinet maker in Lyme Regis, a small coastal town, her father Richard never earned enough to support his wife and family. Their life was made even harder because they were dissenters, part of the Congregational church which opposed conventional ecclesiastical hierarchical structures. Mary and her siblings attended the church Sunday School where they learned basic reading and writing. This was all the formal education they ever received.
In order to supplement his income, Richard spent hours on the beach looking for fossils unearthed during the many winter storms that lashed the Dorset coast. There was a constant supply available especially ammonites and belemnites which were much sought after by Georgian gentry and landowners keen to create cabinets of curiosities to show their guests. Mary began to help her father with this search for fossils when she was only five years old. Accompanying her father on his trips to the beach, she learned how to search for the fossils, clean them and put them on sale in his shop.
She learned fast. It was fortunate that she did, since in 1810 her father died of tuberculosis. Debt ridden, the family struggled to survive, and eleven year old Mary’s fossil hunting skills were pushed into practice. According to Poor Relief records, the family received cash and clothes between 1811 and 1816. The risk of starvation was always present for this was also a time when the country was at war with France. Bread was expensive due to poor harvests and limited availability of food imports due to wartime conditions.
To help the family survive, Mary developed her fossil hunting skills, and she was helped occasionally by her brother Joseph. It was an unusual choice since this was regarded as being more suitable for men than women, but at this time the family did what they needed to survive. There were few alternatives open to Mary beyond trying to find employment as a servant because of her female status and limited education.
One year after her father died, Mary made what turned out to be a momentous discovery. She was just 12 years old. While fossil hunting on the beach, she uncovered a strange fossilized skull. Further searches eventually uncovered an intact seventeen feet long skeleton of an as yet unknown creature. It provided a valuable windfall for Mary’s family since it raised £23 when placed on sale.
News of the fossil attracted considerable controversy within the scientific community who were trying to identify it. In 1814, natural philosopher Everard Home published the first ever paper relating to the fossil resulting in scientists deciding it had been a migrating crocodile. In 1819, the Natural History Museum in London acquired the fossil at auction. Further research revealed it was a marine reptile that had lived between 201-194 million years ago. It was given the name of Ichthyosaurus (fish lizard).
Meanwhile down in Dorset, Mary Anning continued to search for fossils as a way of creating an income for her family. As word spread about her discovery, wealthy collectors began to search her out and buy directly from her. Encouraged by their interest, Mary developed her skills. She taught herself anatomy by dissecting fish and learned about geology so that she could understand the fossils she was discovering. Mary even taught herself French so that she could read the work of Georges Cuvier who had written about the possible way species had become extinct, decades before Charles Darwin.
Mary was a familiar sight on the beach, hunting for fossils almost every day. Dressed in a long, caped green coat and wearing a wide brimmed hat tied with a red ribbon, tendrils of brown hair can be seen around her face in the only known portrait that exists of her, which is now in the National History Museum, London. In her hands are a basket and hatchet used for digging up fossils. At her side is Tray, the little black and white dog who was her constant companion.
Fossil hunting was a dangerous occupation as she had to search among newly fallen rocks. The fragile cliffs in this area were constantly being eroded, and there were frequent rockfalls – one of which killed her dog within minutes.
By 1820, the Anning family were in dire circumstances. Their income had dropped even further, and furniture was being sold to pay the rent. Despite Mary’s skill in fossil hunting and reconstructing skeletons she had made no significant discoveries for some time. Sales were low. A local naturalist, Thomas Birch, auctioned some of his personal collection to raise funds for the Anning family. There was local gossip that he was attracted to the 21 year old Mary, but no evidence has yet been found to back this up.
Soon after the first, Mary found more ichthyosaur skeletons on Lyme Regis beach. Their condition was exceptional; this led artist and fossil collector George Cumberland to describe them in the Bristol Mirror as “the very finest specimen of fossil Ichthyosaurus ever found in Europe ….. We owe entirely to the persevering industry of a young female fossilist, of the name of Ånning …. and her dangerous employment. To her exertions we owe nearly all the fine specimens of Ichthyosauri.”
In 1823, Mary made another significant discovery – the first ever skeleton of a Plesiosaurus, which is the animal that is often linked to the Loch Ness Monster. She made a sketch of it in her book. As soon as news broke about the skeleton, scientists began to argue about it. George Cuvier said that the head was too tiny for the size of the body. Other scientists believed that the skeleton was a fake. The arguments continued for years until a meeting at the Geological society of London on 20 February 1824. The Plesiosaurus had been purchased by the Duke of Buckingham for 150 guineas, and taken to the Geological Society for the meeting. Unfortunately it was too big to get up the stairs and had to be displayed in the hallway.
During this meeting, Cuvier eventually admitted he was wrong. Interestingly, Mary was not present to weigh in on her discovery as she had not been invited; only men could be admitted to this society, and the members had little regard for her knowledge, despite her many discoveries and accomplishments
Throughout her life, Mary received little or no credit for her momentous discoveries even though people, including some who might be considered professional in the field, began to seek her out to discuss her discoveries. It was a situation that frustrated her. Anne Maria Pinney, one of her friends, noted "the world has used her ill and she does not care for it, according to her account these men of learning have sucked her brains and made a great deal by publishing works of which she furnished the contents, while she derived none of the advantages."
In 1824, Lady Harriet Silvester, a wealthy female visitor to Lyme Regis wrote an account of her meeting with Mary:
“She has made herself so thoroughly acquainted with the science that the moment she finds any bones she knows to what tribe they belong. She fixes the bones on a frame with cement and then makes drawings and has them engraved …. by reading and application she has arrived at that degree of knowledge as to be in the habit of writing and talking with professors and other clever men on the subject, and they all acknowledge that she understands more of the science than anyone else in this kingdom.”
Despite the private admission by many men in the field, it seems that few were willing to give her public credit for her contributions.
Other discoveries followed the Plesiosaur. Exploring the beach in 1828, Mary found another complete skeleton complete with wings and a long tail. News of the find spread rapidly around the scientific community who described it as an “unknown species of that most rare and curious of all reptiles.” It was eventually named as a Dimorphordon, a pterosaur thought to be the largest flying animal.
Later that year, Mary found an “ink bag” of Belemnoidea fossils, an extinct marine cephalopod that is related to modern squid. The ink was amazingly still a liquid, having escaped fossilization. Using the ink, several local artists made drawings of fossils and sold the unique pictures to collectors.
Discovering some fossils within the stomachs of Ichthyosaurs, Mary broke them open to find the first coprolites (fossilized feces). Within a few months she found another plesiosaur and then a Plesiosaurus Macrocephalus.
Despite these discoveries, and the greater awareness of her work, Mary and her family remained poverty stricken. In 1830, Henry De La Beche (a family friend) tried to provide some financial help by creating a totally unique painting.
The title was “Duria Antiquior – A More Ancient Dorset.” The painting contained images of all Mary’s dinosaur discoveries in the air, on the ground and in the sea. This was the first ever pictorial image of what life had been like in prehistoric times based on fossil evidence. A series of prints were made and sold to provide Mary Anning with funds for her living expenses.
Only in 1838 – nearly thirty years after Mary’s first momentous discovery – did she begin to receive some official recognition. The British Association for the Advancement of Science and the Geological Society of London granted her a small annual payment as a way of recognizing her work.
It was a payment she received for only a few years. Her health began to decline and she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1845. The Geological Society created a special fund to pay for her treatment.
Two years later, on March 9, 1847, Mary Anning died. She was buried in the churchyard beside the church in Lyme Regis. The Geological Society noted her passing in its reports, despite the fact that she had never been allowed to officially become a member of the Society.
Nearly two hundred years later, Mary Ånning remains relatively unknown outside the paleontology world. Although researchers avidly seek out her unique finds on view in the National History Museum London, most people have never heard of her.
A few reminders can be found. There are fossil species named after her such as the Ichthyosaurus anningae and Acrodus anningiae. In Lyme Regis, a museum now exists on the site of her former home. Visitors to the museum can see a brass token bearing her name that may have been made to celebrate her eleventh birthday, as well as her Commonplace book containing thoughts written by her friends. Many visitors head over to the parish church to see the stained glass window donated by the Geological Society in 1850, before searching out her grave in the churchyard.
Despite this lack of awareness, there can be little doubt as to the sheer impact of Mary Anning’s work. During her fossil hunting on Lyme Regis beach, Mary discovered rare and new species vastly extending human knowledge of the existence of dinosaurs and prehistoric life forms. She was, quite simply, the world’s foremost practitioner and researcher in developing the science of paleontology as well as developing the concept of practical geology.
Angela Youngman is a long established professional freelance journalist and author, writing for the national and international media. Among the many books she's written include "The Dark Side of Alice in Wonderland," "The Dark Side of Jane Austen," "Art in Amsterdam," "The Weird and Wonderful world of Gin," & "The Royal Lover's Guide to London." History, heritage, culture and art are subjects that have always fascinated her ever since her university days, and have always formed a key part of her journalistic and writing work. Find more of her works through Pen and Sword Books.
Further Reading
Shelley Emling, The Fossil Hunter, St. Martin’s Griffin, 2009.
Tom Sharpe, The Fossil Woman: A life of Mary Anning, The Dovecoat Press, 2021.
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