By Mary Dodge Allen
How did a young British girl who grew up in poverty and sold fossils to help support her family, become recognized by the British Royal Society as "One of the ten most influential women in the history of science?"
Mary Anning was born on May 21, 1799 in the seaside town of Lyme Regis in Dorset, England. Out of ten children, Mary and her older brother Joseph were the only two who survived beyond childhood. Child mortality was high, due to poverty and disease.
Mary was a sickly child, until something strange happened when she was 15 months old. During a thunderstorm, a neighbor picked up Mary and sheltered her under an elm tree with two other women. Lightning struck the tree and killed the three women - but Mary was revived. The local doctor considered her survival a miracle.
After this experience, Mary's health dramatically improved. She became a lively child, filled with intelligence and intense curiosity. Education at this time was limited, especially for girls, but the family attended a Congregationalist church, which believed in education for all. Mary learned to read and write in Sunday school.
Fossil Hunting to Earn Income:
The town of Lyme Regis is located on the 'Jurassic Coast,' one of the richest fossil locations in Britain. The area's seaside cliffs are part of the Blue Lias - a geological formation of sediment layers from an ancient seabed during the Jurassic period, 210-195 million years ago.
(The scientific study of ancient fossils was in its infancy in the early 1800s. In fact, the term "Paleontology' wasn't used until 1822.)
Lyme Regis was also a seaside resort town for the English gentry. These wealthy visitors viewed fossils as curiosities - "curios" - to be collected. Town residents earned extra money by selling fossils to visitors, often hinting that these "curios" possessed mystical or medicinal properties.
The Anning family lived close to the seashore, and strong storms often flooded their house. One time, the family had to climb out an upstairs window to avoid drowning. But these storms provided opportunities for income. Crashing waves caused the unstable limestone and shale cliffs to crumble into landslides, exposing new fossils.
Mary's father, a carpenter, regularly hunted and sold fossils to supplement his meager income. At the age of five, Mary began accompanying him and her older brother Joseph. She became an avid fossil hunter.
In 1810, when Mary was eleven years old, her father died, leaving behind large debts and no savings. They received a small amount of assistance from the Overseers of the Poor, but they relied on their fossil business to survive. Mary and Joseph continued searching for fossils, and their mother sold their "curios" at a table set up near a local inn.
The First Big Fossil Find:
Note: By 1819, this original Ichthyosaur skeleton was on display at the British Museum in London, but the Annings received no credit for its discovery because they were not considered part of the scientific community.
A Shocking Find:
In 1815, Mary made a discovery that affected her deeply - the dead body of a young woman who had been shipwrecked and washed ashore. The body was taken to the local church, and Mary placed fresh flowers on the woman's body every day until relatives claimed it.
An Auction Saves the Anning Family:
By 1820, older brother Joseph had begun working as an upholstery apprentice. Mary continued fossil-hunting, but it became difficult to find enough of them to support her family. Things got so desperate, they began selling their furniture to pay the rent.
A wealthy fossil collector named Thomas Birch, who had purchased many of his finest specimens from the Annings, decided to help. In May 1820, he set up a 3-day auction in London to sell all the fossils he had purchased from them, with the intent of giving them the proceeds.
Buyers arrived from places as far as Vienna and Paris. The auction succeeded in raising £400, which put the Anning family on a firmer financial footing. The auction also raised Mary Anning's profile in the geological field.
The following year, Mary found three additional Ichthyosaur skeletons, ranging from 5 to 20 feet long. Artist and fossil collector George Cumberland wrote:
"The very finest specimen of a fossil Ichthyosaurus ever found in Europe... we owe entirely to... a female fossilist, of the name of Anning... and her dangerous employment."
The Dangers of Fossil-Hunting:
In 1823, The Bristol Mirror wrote an article about Mary Anning:
"This persevering female has for years gone daily in search of fossil remains... for many miles under the hanging cliffs at Lyme, whose fallen masses are her immediate object... [they] must be snatched at the moment of their fall, at the continual risk of being crushed by the half suspended fragments they leave behind."
One day, Mary narrowly avoided death when a landslide buried her beloved dog, Tray. Mary wrote to a friend:
"...the death of my old faithful dog has quite upset me, the cliff that fell upon him and killed him in a moment before my eyes, and close to my feet... it was but a moment between me and the same fate."
Mary, A Self-Educated Scientist:
Mary's intense curiosity about fossils and anatomy led her to read scientific papers written by naturalists. Through diligent study, she mastered scientific terms and procedures. Eventually, Mary became an expert in reconstructing skeletons and drawing detailed technical illustrations of them.
A wealthy admirer, Lady Harriet Silvester wrote about Mary after visiting her in 1824:
"... by reading and application she has arrived to that degree of knowledge as to be in the habit of writing and talking with professors... and they all acknowledge that she understands more of the science than anyone else in this kingdom."
A Discovery that Amazed Experts:
By 1823, at the age of 24, Mary made the first discovery of a complete Plesiosaur skeleton. Its skeleton was so unusual, many scientists refused to believe it had ever existed. After London's Geological Society gathered to study the find, they agreed it was genuine. Eminent French scientist Georges Cuvier stated:
"It is the most amazing creature ever discovered."
Other Notable Discoveries:
In 1828, Mary discovered ink bags of 10-armed Belemnoidea fossils. (These creatures were similar to squid and could eject ink into the water.) Amazingly, Mary found that the ink inside the fossilized bags could be extracted and used in pens to make her drawings!
Mary also discovered the first Pterosaur - flying reptile - fossil found outside of Germany. It was the first species of the Dimorphodon genus, the Dimorphodon macronyx.
In 1829, she discovered a fish fossil, Squaloraja - which appeared to be part shark, part ray.
In 1830, she discovered a complete, fossilized Plesiosaurus macrocephalus. A cast of this fossil is displayed at the Natural History Museum in Paris, France.
Later Life:
Mary Anning never married, and even though she achieved success in her scientific field, she remained poor. A friend, Anna Maria Penney wrote about Mary's generosity:
"She is very kind and good to all her own relations, and what money she gets by collecting fossils, goes to them or anyone else that wants it."
In 1838, the British Association for the Advancement of Science began paying Mary a small income from an annuity, because of the importance of the discoveries she made.
Mary Anning died of breast cancer on March 9, 1847, at the age of 47. She was buried in the churchyard of St. Michael's, the local church. Members of the Geological Society of London contributed to having a stained-glass window made for St. Michael's church, in memory of Mary Anning.
This window was dedicated to Mary Anning in 1850: "in commemoration of her usefulness in furthering the science of geology, as also of her benevolence of heart and integrity of life."
On May 21, 2022 - the 223rd anniversary of her birth - a statue of Mary Anning was unveiled in Lyme Regis, overlooking Black Ven, the area where she made many of her discoveries.
Mary Anning rose from an impoverished background to become a true trailblazer for women in the male-dominated world of science. Her amazing fossil discoveries contributed to the advancement of both geology and paleontology.
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Mary Dodge Allen is currently finishing her sequel to Hunt for a Hometown Killer. She's won a Christian Indie Award, an Angel Book Award, and two Royal Palm Literary Awards (Florida Writer's Association). She and her husband live in Central Florida. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Faith Hope and Love Christian Writers.
