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Archive 1Archive 2

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 8 September 2020 and 16 December 2020. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Ernest Flancia.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 03:31, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Unnecessary Information

Is it really worth having information about men's rights to vote in this article? "As a working-class woman, Anning was an outsider to the scientific community. At the time in Britain women were not allowed to vote (neither were men too poor to meet the property requirement), hold public office, or attend university." It doesn't really seem relevant to the subject? — Preceding unsigned comment added by RefrigeratedRaymond (talk • contribs) 12:04, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

Deleting any recognition that the evil devil sex also suffered plenty of discrimination in those days would certainly contribute to the secondary purpose of this article. — Ornithikos (talk) 23:52, 21 May 2014 (UTC)
I feel the same way as Raymond; this also jumped out to me as being unrelated and irrelevant when I was first reading the article. Ornithikos, the fact that men without property were discriminated against for not having property (not because they were men), while interesting, is irrelevant to the point that Annig was denied many rights and opportunities based on her gender and class.Blurble (talk) 14:27, 23 May 2014 (UTC)
  • Here is some perhaps necessary information[1], a paper which states "The impact of Mary Anning, Alfred Nicholson Leeds and Steve Etches has been critical for the development of Palaeontology as a science, and without whom palaeontology, with all its associated benefits to a wide scientific and non-scientific audience, would not be as rich as we currently know it", maybe something to add, Rusty Cashman, SlimVirgin? FunkMonk (talk) 20:06, 17 June 2019 (UTC)

Vandalism and Protection

This article is seeing a lot of vandalism due to traffic from the latest Google Doodle, among other things. I recommend its protection level be raised a bit to deter this. 65.130.141.181 (talk) 04:49, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

I have requested temporary semi-protection, but god only knows when an admin will show up and clear the backlog at WP:RPP so we may be waiting a while. Safiel (talk) 05:09, 21 May 2014 (UTC)
semi protected for 24 hours.©Geni (talk) 05:48, 21 May 2014 (UTC)
Thanks. Safiel (talk) 05:52, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

Thanks KALI — Preceding unsigned comment added by 180.192.142.8 (talk) 06:53, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

Another spate of vandalism. Maybe needs semi protection again? Kaybeesquared (talk) 15:23, 27 June 2021 (UTC)

Chronology error.

Hi, I' m not sure if I'm doing this right, but under the "Childhood" section it says: "The first child Mary was born in 1799. She was followed by another girl, who died almost at once; Joseph in 1796; and another son in 1798, who died in infancy. In December that year the oldest child, then four years old, died after her clothes caught fire, possibly whilst adding wood shavings to the fire."

If Mary was born first, she would be the oldest, so she couldn't have died when she was four. Also the years listed for her brothers' births come before 1799. Agnesice (talk) 07:02, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

That was vandalism, and has since been fixed. Thanks for pointing it out though. Jamesx12345 07:22, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

I don't think anyone religous or otherwise thought the earth was only several thousand years old at this time. The events recorded in the New Testament were almost of that date, and the Old Testament would have been dated even further back. I have heard of a 6,000 year old earth being taught but never several.134.216.26.233 (talk) 16:12, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 21 May 2014

The book by Tracy Chevalier, REMARKABLE CREATURES, is a good read about Mary Anning. I think it should be listed on this page for further reading.

LA Hamilton Tucson, AZ

68.63.197.179 (talk) 17:40, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. — {{U|Technical 13}} (t • e • c) 18:10, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 21 May 2014

please change the spelling of "palaeontologist" to "paleontologist." There are multiple misspellings of this word throughout the article. Thank you. 99.6.246.163 (talk) 17:57, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

Not done: please establish a consensus for this alteration before using the {{edit semi-protected}} template. I'm pretty sure this is a case of ENGVAR. — {{U|Technical 13}} (t • e • c) 18:10, 21 May 2014 (UTC)
Also, MOS:TIES applies here. Since she was a well known British subject, the MOS recommends we consistently use British English for the article unless a community consensus existed prior. Mkdwtalk 20:52, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 22 May 2014

Request the following change. Replace "Anning's gender and social class prevented her from fully participating in the scientific community..." with "Due to Anning's gender and social class, she was prevented from fully participating in the scientific community..." Edit clarifies that she was excluded by others. Original sentence may wrongly convey that being female and lower class inherently impeded her success. Tallbluegiraffe (talk) 00:34, 22 May 2014 (UTC)

Done. --Thnidu (talk) 00:49, 22 May 2014 (UTC)

Duria Antiquior introduced and illustrated twice

The article currently and curiously has two illustrations of De la Beche's famous work Duria Antiquior, firstly as a print and then of the painting. Perhaps the painting alone would suffice, given that this is about Anning rather than De la Beche? The text too has some duplication. Chiswick Chap (talk) 10:15, 16 November 2014 (UTC)

Well, it depicts animals she discovered, and I gather there is plenty of room. To me, it is fine, because the print also earned her money, and is therefore directly relevant to her. FunkMonk (talk) 15:04, 16 November 2014 (UTC)
Fair enough, and as the (serious) flight simulator people used to say as yet another plane hit the ground, "Bits are cheap". Chiswick Chap (talk) 15:30, 16 November 2014 (UTC)
If any image is redundant here, I'd vote for the double image of "Plesiocephalus" macrocephalus, not sure why we need two images of the same specimen. FunkMonk (talk) 20:17, 3 December 2014 (UTC)

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Street named after Mary Anning?

Some residents of Burton Bradstock say their street Annings Lane is named after Mary Anning, but I'm having difficulty finding documentation for this. I've established that the road now known as Annings Lane was drawn on an 1806 map in the British Library, so if it was indeed named after Anning then they must have decided to change the name later (or name a road that wasn't previously named). Archive references on the village's community website suggest Annings Lane did not become residential until after World War 2, but it was already known as Annings Lane before the houses were built. A decision to (re)name the road after Anning ought to have been reported in a local newspaper; unfortunately their 19th-century archives are not online, and if we're going to check paper archives we need a better starting point (like the approximate date of the supposed decision to name the street after Anning). Counting against the hypothesis are (1) Burton Bradstock is not Lyme Regis and (2) where did the extra S come from (there is no apostrophe on the present-day street sign: it's marked Annings Lane not Anning's Lane). On the other hand neither can I find any documentation about who else the street might be named after. Can anyone help with sources here? as it sounds like it could be a notable fact to add to the article if we can source it. 2A02:C7D:8EAB:9100:4947:8CA:FBBB:3CE1 (talk) 21:05, 20 July 2017 (UTC)

It could have been named after the Anning family, as in they may have owned the land around in the past, way before Mary’s time. Lots of lanes round where I live in south-west England are named after old local families. 31.53.58.60 (talk) 12:41, 3 September 2022 (UTC)

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Sketch by Henry de la Beche

The caption for the sketch of Mary Anning attributed to Henry de la Beche has been changed to say that it is now known to be of Adam Sedgwick. Where is this information published? - it's not implausible (the background looks more like Wales than Dorset), but all the sources that I can find state that it's Anning. Mikenorton (talk) 08:00, 18 April 2019 (UTC)

Should certainly be changed back, the source I took it from also says de la Beche. FunkMonk (talk) 13:34, 18 April 2019 (UTC)
I'm hoping that the editor that changed it will explain why. Mikenorton (talk) 15:21, 18 April 2019 (UTC)
I reverted it for now, the editor also added some other questionable lines, without sources. Oh, and I see now the editor claimed the sketch to depict Adam Sedgwick, which seems highly questionable given the garb. FunkMonk (talk) 15:23, 18 April 2019 (UTC)
This image is reported to be "a drawing of William Buckland researching the effects of glaciers in Snowdonia in North Wales in 1841, sketched by geologist and engineer Thomas Sopwith" in Sharpe, Tom (2020). The Fossil Woman A Life of Mary Anning. Stanbridge: The Dovecote Press. p. 156. ISBN 978-0-9955462-9-5. PoppMichael (talk) 22:12, 7 March 2021 (UTC)
Comparing the image in question with a caricature of Buckland, also by Thomas Sopwith, it's easy to see the similarities, particular the plaid cloak and the shape and size of the shoulder bag. Mikenorton (talk) 08:27, 8 March 2021 (UTC)
Then the source I took it from would be wrong. I wonder how the mix up happened? FunkMonk (talk) 08:50, 8 March 2021 (UTC)
It appears in many published works on Anning, so the misconception is (?was) widespread. This entertaining blog even gives a suggested location for the sketch, complete with grid reference, and the identification of the peak as Y Garn looks right to me. I think that the image should be removed from the article. Mikenorton (talk) 13:24, 8 March 2021 (UTC)
We also needs to note this on the file description in Commons, to prevent future incorrect use. FunkMonk (talk) 14:38, 8 March 2021 (UTC)
Indeed - I'll add something linking to the Tom Sharpe book. Mikenorton (talk) 14:52, 8 March 2021 (UTC)
I've done both. Mikenorton (talk) 15:05, 8 March 2021 (UTC)
Looks good! FunkMonk (talk) 17:10, 8 March 2021 (UTC)

Missing Information

A couple of months ago, I saw in an article about Mary and the film itself that her descendants were offended by the addition of a completely fictional lesbian romance to her biopic, and were going to sue the filmmakers. Why did this information disappear? Solaire the knight (talk) 16:00, 22 June 2019 (UTC)

The fictional romance is mentioned in the last paragraph in the article. There is nothing on the Ammonite (film) page about the controversy, which is where it should be added, but perhaps only after the film comes out and we see the reaction to the finished film. Mikenorton (talk) 16:28, 22 June 2019 (UTC)


I recently brought my son and a friend to see the play "Digging Up Dessa" a film dedicated to evaluating the intersection of mental health, cultural identity, race discrimination, women in science and taking credit for others' work. 

It would be great to add the play to this Wiki page about Mary Anning. I do not know how to edit, but would happily help someone add this content to this page. ://www.kranzbergartsfoundation.org/events/digging-up-dessa/  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 149.234.194.181 (talk) 17:25, 10 February 2022 (UTC)

Confusing Sentence in "Impact and Legacy"

What on earth does this mean: " In 2005 the Natural History Museum added her, alongside scientists such as Carl Linnaeus, Dorothea Bate, and William Smith, as one of the gallery characters it uses to patrol its display cases." Patrol means to walk regularly around an area to protect it, like a policeman walking around at night. Mary Anning is dead, so she can't be doing much walking. Did the writer mean that a picture of her is placed near the display cases or a mannequin dressed to be her? Maybe it's a metaphor, but it jumped out at me as weird. Perhaps an editor of this page could make the sentence clearer. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.210.115.100 (talk) 19:06, 9 January 2020 (UTC)

You're right "patrol" is really not the right word, although it does give the right sense of being on a regular "beat", just not the rest of the meaning. The NHM employs actors to take on the guise of the various characters in appropriate period costume to wander around the gallery talking to (and educating) the visitors, hence "gallery characters". I'll try to think up a way of rewriting that to make it clearer. Mikenorton (talk) 19:46, 9 January 2020 (UTC)
Had a go. Mikenorton (talk) 21:07, 9 January 2020 (UTC)

British English

In the 'Major discoveries' section, the linked article 'Timeline of paleontology' should be spelled 'palaeontology' for this article. I've managed to change the other title to British English for this article, but can't do the timeline one. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.129.159.152 (talk) 09:54, 11 January 2021 (UTC)

Image choice

I recently changed the following image, but was reverted.

  • Original image. Low resolution (624 × 445), red hue at borders, text bleedthrough.
    Original image. Low resolution (624 × 445), red hue at borders, text bleedthrough.
  • Proposed image. High resolution (3,136 × 2,228), consistent colour, no bleedthrough
    Proposed image. High resolution (3,136 × 2,228), consistent colour, no bleedthrough

Opinions on the best image for the article are welcome. (Hohum @) 13:55, 4 July 2021 (UTC)

My apologies -- now that old & new are side by side, the improvement is obvious. I'll vote for replacement. DoctorJoeE review transgressions/talk to me! 14:00, 4 July 2021 (UTC)
I think the old version could even be deleted as an inferior duplicate. FunkMonk (talk) 14:11, 4 July 2021 (UTC)

Edit re song ( under section on commemorative coins)

Made by an anon user, was deleted due to lack of citation - has a wikilink but needs a citation for this article. Not going to delete again but help welcome to cite. Kaybeesquared (talk) 10:50, 7 September 2021 (UTC)

Anon user ref 67.214.30.92 Kaybeesquared (talk) 10:51, 7 September 2021 (UTC)

Mary Anning

I wanna make a poster about Mary Anning but here's the thing I am trying to find some type of poster about Mary Anning on Google and YouTube but in YouTube their showing me information about Mary Anning and in Google its showing drawings about her so I decided to ask some questions from Google about Mary Anning and then I am writing those answers on my poster 2A02:CE0:2000:25CE:EC3B:FA3D:BCCA:CC69 (talk) 08:24, 11 March 2022 (UTC)

Recognition and legacy/In fiction

I wish to add to the Wikipedia entry for Mary Anning, under, “In fiction”: A lyrical, vivid, and profoundly moving portrait of Mary Anning is the historical novel, Curiosity: A Love Story by Joan Thomas, Toronto, Ontario, McClelland & Stewart, 2010.

Possibly add to “Sources”: Thomas, Joan (2010). Curiosity: A Love Story. McClelland & Stewart. ISBN 978-07710-8417-1 — Preceding unsigned comment added by NotonlyEinstein (talk • contribs) 19:34, 24 July 2023 (UTC)


I'm wondering whether some of the sentences in the main 'Recognition and legacy' section should be moved to the 'In fiction' subheading? Specifically the paragraphs about the Essex Serpent and Ammonite (2020). They seem to relate mostly to her portrayal in fiction rather than her wider legacy, so I think they may fit better there, but I wanted to check in before moving anything. Hope.rc (talk) 19:26, 28 August 2022 (UTC)

I had been wondering about that myself after reverting a number of additions, particularly about the film, over the last few months. It makes sense to me to make this move. Mikenorton (talk) 12:06, 29 August 2022 (UTC)
Ah great, thanks! I thought that might be the case. Will get on it now. Hope.rc (talk) 13:32, 31 August 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 21 September 2023

Please change: As of January 2021, Evie Swire's campaign had resulted in a commission to sculptor Denise Dutton. to By January 2021, Evie Swire's campaign resulted in a commission to sculptor Denise Dutton. 76.14.122.5 (talk) 22:10, 21 September 2023 (UTC)

 Done Tollens (talk) 02:41, 22 September 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 24 July 2023

To add this the Wikipedia entry for Mary Anning, under, “In fiction”: A lyrical, vivid, and profoundly moving portrait of Mary Anning is the historical novel, Curiosity: A Love Story by Joan Thomas, Toronto, Ontario, McClelland & Stewart, 2010.

Possibly add to “Sources”: Thomas, Joan (2010). Curiosity: A Love Story. McClelland & Stewart. ISBN 978-07710-8417-1 2604:3D09:A477:B000:E173:DD47:8486:DF35 (talk) 19:16, 24 July 2023 (UTC)

 Not done: "In fiction" sections (lists and prose both) are covered by WP:IPC, which states Although some references may be plainly verified by primary sources, this does not demonstrate the significance of the reference. The book existing is not evidence that it is noteworthy for inclusion here. If you'd like this reconsidered, I recommend A) providing a secondary source describing why the reference is significant enough to be included in the article about Mary Anning, and B) providing prose that is written in a neutral voice, which lyrical, vivid, and profoundly moving portrait most certainly is not. Dylnuge (Talk • Edits) 21:35, 24 July 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 25 April 2024

Edit to this article in the "Illness and Death" section: change the link on "Enalio-Saurians" from the misspelt "Eurapsyda" to the correct "Euryapsida." Although not a scientifically used term nowadays, the link to the correct article is less confusing and helps give context to Anning and her contemporaries' research. (talk) 07:01, 25 April 2024 (UTC)

Picture date?

The caption of the picture in the infobox says it is from "before 1842", but the text says her dog Tray, depicted in the picture, was killed in a landslide in October of 1833. Shouldn't the date be adjusted ("c. 1833" or "before 1834") to reflect that fact? Minturn (talk) 17:37, 21 May 2024 (UTC)

You can paint a dog that has died, you know. He doesn't look very lively, frankly. For art "before 1842" just means "at an unknown date, 1842 (or 1841 strictly) at the latest". Johnbod (talk) 17:51, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
Exactly, it's not a photo, so it's not necessarily an actual scenario. FunkMonk (talk) 17:56, 21 May 2024 (UTC)

"Enalio-Saurians" (Under "Illness and death")

This links to a non-existent page for "Eurapsyda". This is a misspelling of "Euryapsida" and should redirect to this correct page instead. LaurieTitania (talk) 18:59, 26 August 2024 (UTC)

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