Mary Anning
fossil expert, anatomist and dealer
Mary Anning contributed greatly to geological science. Using the collections of William Buckland at Oxford University Museum of Natural History, this site takes a closer look at her work.
The Anning family lived in Lyme Regis on the south coast of England, then a small town becoming known for the intriguing fossils that often turned up on its beaches. Mary was still a child when she started helping her father to find and prepare fossils which they would sell to make ends meet.
Mary Anning, pastel drawing by B. J. M. Donne, 1850, after a portrait by William Gray, 1842, © The Geological Society, London
Her skill in discovering these so-called ‘curios’ soon attracted the attention of the many fossil collectors who visited the town. One regular visitor was William Buckland. He was a university-educated clergyman, an Oxford professor and much older than her, but it seems that their common passion for fossils overcame the usual barriers of class and education, and over time they became firm friends.
Buckland had grown up in Devon not far from Lyme Regis and had been a keen naturalist and collector since childhood. When his interest in geology became more serious, he often joined Mary in her work and bought fossils from her and other locals. He later introduced his family to her and they all used to go fossil hunting together during holidays in Lyme.
Mary was an expert in the fossils of South-West England. She and Buckland were in regular contact, and he often took news of her discoveries to the Geological Society in London.
Mary Anning, pastel drawing by B. J. M. Donne, 1850, after a portrait by William Gray, 1842, © The Geological Society, London
Mary Anning, pastel drawing by B. J. M. Donne, 1850, after a portrait by William Gray, 1842, © The Geological Society, London
William Buckland, attributed to Richard Andsell, oil on canvas, about 1843, © The Geological Society, London
William Buckland, attributed to Richard Andsell, oil on canvas, about 1843, © The Geological Society, London
Sketch of a meeting at the Geological Society, artist unknown, about 1830, © The Geological Society, London
Sketch of a meeting at the Geological Society, artist unknown, about 1830, © The Geological Society, London
Squaloraia, sketch by Mary Anning of a fossil found by her December 1829, Lyme Regis. OUMNH WB/C/D/185
Squaloraia, sketch by Mary Anning of a fossil found by her December 1829, Lyme Regis. OUMNH WB/C/D/185
Tail of a fossil Squaloraia from Elizabeth Philpot’s collection, originally collected by Mary Anning. OUMNH J.3097 Collections online | Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Tail of a fossil Squaloraia from Elizabeth Philpot’s collection, originally collected by Mary Anning. OUMNH J.3097 Collections online | Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Sketch of a young Ichthyosaurus, attributed to Mary Buckland, 1828-1835, OUMNH WB/C/D/194
Sketch of a young Ichthyosaurus, attributed to Mary Buckland, 1828-1835, OUMNH WB/C/D/194
Sectioned coprolite containing fish scales. OUMNH J.23749 Collections online | Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Sectioned coprolite containing fish scales. OUMNH J.23749 Collections online | Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Fossil ink sack, presented by Mary Anning to William Buckland, about 1830. OUMNH J.3564 Collections online | Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Fossil ink sack, presented by Mary Anning to William Buckland, about 1830. OUMNH J.3564 Collections online | Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Due to their friendship, Buckland was often the first to hear about Mary’s discoveries, and this must have enhanced his authority among the gentleman geologists of the Geological Society who pored over the significance of her finds. In a letter to Buckland in December 1830, Mary positively bubbles with excitement about her latest discovery:
'Dr Buckland, I write to inform you that in the last week I discovered a young Plesiosaurus … It is without exception the most Beautiful fossil I have ever seen … every bone is in place, in short if it had been made of wax it could not be more beautiful’.
Sketch of a meeting at the Geological Society, artist unknown, about 1830, © The Geological Society, London
Finding fossils was skilled work, and could also be physically demanding and even dangerous.
Mary often had to scramble through mud at risk from rock falls or wade through water, keeping an eye on the incoming tide and the weather. She used her skill and experience to find the best spots and select the stones most likely to contain fossils. When the specimens were large, Mary had to pay men quarrying limestone nearby to help with extracting and carrying them. After lugging her finds home, she drew on her knowledge of anatomy for the fiddly work of chipping away at the stone to reveal details.
Mary sometimes also sent sketches of her new finds to Buckland. In 1829, for example, she included a drawing of a new cartilaginous fish fossil, Squaloraia, in a letter. The body of this specimen was bought by John Naish Sanders and presented to the Bristol Institution, but was destroyed when Bristol was bombed in the Second World War. Mary’s friend and fossil-hunting companion Elizabeth Philpot acquired the tail, and this is now in the Museum.
Squaloraia, sketch by Mary Anning of a fossil found by her December 1829, Lyme Regis. OUMNH WB/C/D/185
Tail of a fossil Squaloraia from Elizabeth Philpot’s collection, originally collected by Mary Anning. OUMNH J.3097 Collections online | Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Mary’s discoveries, and also her insights, were fundamental to Buckland’s innovative theories about the lives and feeding habits of these extinct creatures.
In the late 1820s, Buckland suggested that the strange lumpy stones often found on the coast, known as bezoars, were the fossilised droppings of ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs. He discussed the subject with Mary and used her observations about finding similar objects in the abdominal cavities of fossilised marine reptiles to confirm his theory. In 1829 Buckland coined the term ‘coprolite’ for this type of fossil and, in part thanks to Mary, another advance in geological knowledge was made.
Buckland asked Mary to collect coprolites for him and a few that she gave to his Museum still survive in the collections today.
Sectioned coprolite containing fish scales. OUMNH J.23749 Collections online | Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Mary also discovered black teardrop shapes in the rocks. She and Buckland speculated that these were the fossilised ink sacks of belemnites, extinct squid-like animals. When Buckland’s friend the sculptor Francis Chantrey, a fellow member of the Geological Society, made a drawing using the fossil ink, the effect was indistinguishable from one done with modern sepia. Elizabeth Philpot also used the fossil sepia to paint an ichthyosaur skull found by Mary.
Fossil ink sack, presented by Mary Anning to William Buckland, about 1830. OUMNH J.3564 Collections online | Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Skull of an ichthyosaur, drawn in fossil sepia by Elizabeth Philpot, 1833. OUMNH WB/C/D/151
Skull of an ichthyosaur, drawn in fossil sepia by Elizabeth Philpot, 1833. OUMNH WB/C/D/151
Buckland acquired a few Anning specimens for his Oxford teaching collection, but he could not afford to buy Mary’s most spectacular finds. Instead, he often had casts or drawings made of them for use in his lectures. Other specimens were given to him by his students.
Early in his career Buckland acquired part of the flipper of a plesiosaur, an extinct marine reptile, found by Mary at Lyme Regis, and this specimen survives at the Museum today. Plesiosaurs were one of the first extinct marine reptiles to be described in the scientific literature - the name means ‘near lizard’ as it was thought to resemble a lizard rather than a crocodile.
In 1823 Mary discovered the complete specimen of a plesiosaur, Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus. It was bought, on Buckland’s advice, by one of his wealthy friends, Richard Grenville, 1st Duke of Buckingham, who allowed Buckland to borrow it to have a cast made for teaching purposes.
Flipper of a Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus, from the collections of Oxford University Museum of Natural History. OUMNH J.50146 Collections online | Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Flipper of a Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus, from the collections of Oxford University Museum of Natural History. OUMNH J.50146 Collections online | Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Cast of Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus by Francis Chantrey and Thomas Jones, plaster cast specialist employed in Chantrey’s sculpture studio in Pimlico, London, 1831. Find this specimen at the back of the Museum, to the left of the entrance to the Pitt Rivers Museum. OUMNH J.43329 Collections online | Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Cast of Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus by Francis Chantrey and Thomas Jones, plaster cast specialist employed in Chantrey’s sculpture studio in Pimlico, London, 1831. Find this specimen at the back of the Museum, to the left of the entrance to the Pitt Rivers Museum. OUMNH J.43329 Collections online | Oxford University Museum of Natural History
‘Skeleton of the Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus discovered in the Lias, at Lyme Regis, in 1823’. Lithograph by G. Scharf after T. Webster, included in the published version of a paper by W. D. Conybeare read to the Geological Society, 20 February, 1824
‘Skeleton of the Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus discovered in the Lias, at Lyme Regis, in 1823’. Lithograph by G. Scharf after T. Webster, included in the published version of a paper by W. D. Conybeare read to the Geological Society, 20 February, 1824
Dapedium, discovered by Mary Anning 1828 or 1829 at Lyme Regis. OUMNH J.23876
Dapedium, discovered by Mary Anning 1828 or 1829 at Lyme Regis. OUMNH J.23876
Buckland’s geology lectures inspired many of his students to start their own fossil collections. Some of the best specimens in his collection were presented by former students who had bought them from Mary Anning. One such, Beriah Botfield, gave Buckland this fine specimen of a fossil fish, Dapedium, in 1830.
Like so many of Mary’s fossils, her work of finding and preparing the specimen was not recorded on its label, which in this case was engraved on the frame. Only Botfield’s name appears there, and the link to Mary was only rediscovered by chance in a letter in the Museum’s archive.
Dapedium, discovered by Mary Anning 1828 or 1829 at Lyme Regis. OUMNH J.23876
In the early 1830s, another of Buckland’s students, William Willoughby Cole (later 3rd Earl Enniskillen), bought a young ichthyosaur from Mary Anning. He also presented this specimen to Buckland for his teaching collection, and Buckland’s wife, Mary, made a drawing of it soon afterwards. A print of this specimen was included in Buckland’s Geology and Mineralogy, the popular survey of new geology that he published in 1836.
Wood engraving, ‘Ichthyosaurus inclosing coprolite’, included in Buckland’s ‘Bridgewater Treatise’, 1836
Wood engraving, ‘Ichthyosaurus inclosing coprolite’, included in Buckland’s ‘Bridgewater Treatise’, 1836
Ichthyosaurus anningae, partial specimen from the Lower Jurassic of Lyme Regis found by Mary Anning in the early 1830s. Find this specimen in the Ichthyosaurs case in the Museum in the aisle opposite the shop. OUMNH.J.13587 Collections online | Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Ichthyosaurus anningae, partial specimen from the Lower Jurassic of Lyme Regis found by Mary Anning in the early 1830s. Find this specimen in the Ichthyosaurs case in the Museum in the aisle opposite the shop. OUMNH.J.13587 Collections online | Oxford University Museum of Natural History
The longstanding friendship between Buckland and Mary also benefitted her. He helped find buyers for important specimens, and worked to boost her income in other ways. He also acknowledged her work in his publications.
During a period when specimens were scarce, Buckland helped raise funds for Mary by selling copies of a print, 'Duria Antiquor'. This famous scene, populated by extinct fauna and flora, was the first attempt to reconstruct the Jurassic world. It was drawn in 1830 by another friend of Mary’s, gentleman geologist Henry De la Beche. Buckland also lobbied with others to secure a government pension for Mary in the mid 1830s.
Unfortunately, this did not amount to much, and during the 1840s Mary’s life became increasingly hard. Even important specimens no longer fetched good prices, and despite her best efforts it was difficult to make ends meet.
Duria Antiquor [A More Ancient Dorset]. Lithograph by G. Scharf after Henry De la Beche. OUMNH WB/C/D/149
Duria Antiquor [A More Ancient Dorset]. Lithograph by G. Scharf after Henry De la Beche. OUMNH WB/C/D/149
Mary Anning was one of the many so-called fossilists working along the south coast of England in the early 19th century. However, her many discoveries and her informed and perceptive interpretations of what she found mark her out as exceptional. She was highly skilled at her work, and because she learned to read and write she was also able to engage with the foremost men of science of the day. Her voice has been preserved in archival sources and is beginning to emerge clearly in the history of science.
Mary has also captured the imagination of a wider public, and thanks to the @MaryAnningRocks campaign, she now has her own statue near the Lyme Regis beach where she did her most important work.
Research and text by Susan Newell, PhD Collaborative Doctoral Partnership student at the University of Leeds and Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
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