Mary Anning's Biography

Mary Anning was born in Lyme Regis in Dorset, England, on 21 May 1799.

Mary and her brother Joseph were the only two of 10 siblings to survive beyond childhood.

Mary's father Richard Anning and his wife Mary, also known as Molly, attended the Dissenter chapel, which placed weight on educating the poor.

Richard Anning was a carpenter and cabinet-maker, who also sold fossils.

The family were poor and Mary lived during particularly difficult times due to food shortages as a result of war.

Richard Anning died in 1810. The following year, Joseph found an animal's skull. Mary eventually uncovered an almost complete skeleton of what was later named Ichthyosaurus.

Mary Anning was to make several important fossil finds including a complete skeleton of the long-necked Plesiosaurus, and the Pterodactylus and Squaloraja.

Mary died in 1847, aged 47.

In 2020, Ammonite, a film starring Kate Winslet as Mary Anning, was made.