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Portrait of Mary Anning by Benjamin John Merifield Donne, 1850. Pastel. (GSL/POR/1) Provenance: Presented to the Society by William Willoughby Cole, 3rd Earl of Ennisillen, 1875. Courtesy of The Geological Society of London. |
Mary Anning was an incredible paleontologist from Lyme Regis, a town in west Dorset, on the "Jurassic Coast" of southern England. An excellent write-up about her can be found on the website of Lyme Regis Museum. This museum is located in her actual home, thus their catch-phrase, "Where Mary Anning Lived." I hope to visit someday.
https://www.lymeregismuseum.co.uk/about-us/the-mary-anning-experts/
Mary helped "discover the first specimen of
Ichthyosaurus to be known by the scientific community of London. This specimen was probably discovered sometime between 1809 and 1811, when Mary was only 10 to 12 years old. And while Mary did find the majority of the remains, her brother had discovered part of the beast [skull] twelve months earlier. In fact, the entire Anning family was involved in fossil hunting, but Mary's skill and dedication produced many remarkable finds and thus provided the fatherless family with a means of income."
https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/anning.html While Mary spent her life collecting, documenting, preparing, and selling fossils, her brother Joseph became an upholsterer.
Mary's ichthyosaur is on display at University of Oxford's Museum of Natural History. Their website notes, "This particular specimen has recently been re-identified as a juvenile of Ichthyosaurus anningae, named after Mary Anning."
https://oumnh.ox.ac.uk/learn-mary-annings-ichthyosaur
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Detail, Portrait of Mary Anning
by Donne, seen above. |
There are many resources devoted to Mary's paleontological dedication and discoveries that you can explore. She was able to support herself through fossil hunting and preparing, but was not accepted as a true scientist during her lifetime.
Looking at Mary's portrait above, you can guess why she's being featured on this blog on National Fossil Day.
What do we know about her basket?
It seems like the average workaday basket, similar to what one sees in vintage British photos, paintings, and period pieces such as Downton Abbey. These are primarily twined or of wickerwork in willow or hazel in an ancient practice that continues to be relevant today, with practitioners located throughout the United Kingdom.
In 2022, through the work of many visionaries, fundraisers, and artists, Mary Anning was honored by a bronze statue that now stands above the Jurassic Coast at Lyme Regis Museum. The statue was created by Denise Dutton, a sculptor who was commissioned for public artworks in the UK. Read more about Denise and the creation of this sculpture on the Mary Anning Rocks site:
https://www.maryanningrocks.co.uk/about-the-project and view good photos of the basket model:
https://www.maryanningrocks.co.uk/the-process
I like that this statue depicts a powerful woman, striding purposefully with a steady gaze, gripping an ammonite fossil in one hand, her rock hammer in the other, her dog Tray at her heels, and her collecting basket dangling from the crook of her arm. To climb down to the cliffs and dig out fossils day after day was not a task for a shirking English rose, and this image portrays her strength and determination.
The photo of the statue seen above, as supplied by Lyme Regis Museum, includes a bunch of fresh posies that someone deposited in her basket. The flowers are not an actual part of the statue.
The painting above, and one possible photo of her back, are all of the known images of Mary. The back photo, and an interesting article, are featured in
The Guardian. It could possibly be a view of Mary, with bonnet and cape, sans basket and dog. Dr. Suzanna Pilaar Birch, the article's author, tells of other woman geologists from that time period, and Dr. Birch doesn't reach a conclusion one way or another as to this woman's identity, as appropriate. It is noted that the photo, by William Henry Fox Talbert, was taken in Chudleigh, Devon. Today, Google shows that to be about 66 km/41 mi from Lyme Regis, which I think makes it less likely to be a far-from-home Mary in that photograph.
Please see the article and image here:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/the-h-word/2013/aug/21/photograph-mary-anning-women-history-geology
That photograph, actually a salt print made from a calotype negative, is housed at the National Media Museum, Bradford, part of the Science Museum Group. Their preferred citation is: Science Museum Group. The Geologists, Chudleigh, Devon. 1937-1614/4 Science Museum Group Collection Online. Accessed 27 September 2026. https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8183829/the-geologists-chudleigh-devon
