Editing Mary Anning (section)

=== Fossils as a family business ===
{{further|Jurassic Coast|List of fossil sites}}
[[File:Blue lias cliffs at Lyme Regis.jpg|thumb|alt=Cliff wall with layers of rock next to a rocky beach|[[Blue Lias]] cliffs, Lyme Regis]]
[[File:Golden Cap from Charmouth beach.jpg|thumb|alt=Cliffs in the distance, seashore in the foreground|The Jurassic coast at [[Charmouth]], Dorset, where the Annings made some of their finds. The hill in the background is [[Golden Cap]].]]

By the late 18th century, [[Lyme Regis]] had become a popular seaside resort, especially after 1792 when the outbreak of the [[French Revolutionary Wars]] made travel to the European mainland dangerous for the English gentry, and increasing numbers of wealthy and middle-class tourists were arriving there.<ref>{{Harvnb|Cadbury|2000|p=4}}</ref> Even before Anning's time, locals supplemented their income by selling what were called "curios" to visitors. These were fossils with colourful local names such as "snake-stones" ([[Ammonoidea|ammonites]]), "devil's fingers" ([[belemnite]]s), and "verteberries" ([[vertebra]]e), to which were sometimes attributed medicinal and mystical properties.<ref>{{Harvnb|Cadbury|2000|pp=6–8}}</ref> Fossil collecting was in vogue in the late 18th and early 19th century, at first as a pastime, but gradually transforming into a science as the importance of fossils to geology and biology was understood. The source of most of these fossils were the coastal cliffs around Lyme Regis, part of a geological formation known as the [[Blue Lias]]. This consists of alternating layers of [[limestone]] and [[shale]], laid down as sediment on a shallow seabed early in the Jurassic period (about 210–195&nbsp;million years ago). It is one of the richest fossil locations in Britain.<ref>{{Harvnb|McGowan|2001|pp=11–12}}</ref> The cliffs could be dangerously unstable, however, especially in winter when rain weakened them, causing landslides. It was precisely during the winter months that collectors were drawn to the cliffs because the landslides often exposed new fossils.<ref name="McGowan14-21" />

Their father, Richard, often took Anning and her brother Joseph on fossil-hunting expeditions to supplement the family's income. They offered their discoveries for sale to tourists on a table outside their home. This was a difficult time for England's poor; the [[French Revolutionary Wars]], and the [[Napoleonic Wars]] that followed, caused food shortages. The price of wheat almost tripled between 1792 and 1812, but wages for the working class remained almost unchanged. In Dorset, the rising price of bread caused political unrest, even riots. At one point, Richard Anning was involved in organising a protest against food shortages.<ref>{{Harvnb|Cadbury|2000|pp=4–5}}</ref>

In addition, the family's status as religious dissenters—not followers of the [[Church of England]]—attracted discrimination. In the earlier nineteenth century, those who refused to subscribe to the Articles of the Church of England were still not allowed to study at [[Oxford]] or [[Cambridge]] or to take certain positions in the army, and were excluded by law from several professions.<ref name=Emling11 /> Anning's father had been suffering from [[tuberculosis]] and injuries he suffered from a fall off a cliff, contributing to his death in November 1810 (aged 44). He left the family with debts and no savings, forcing them to apply for [[poor relief]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Cadbury|2000|p=9}}</ref>

The family continued collecting and selling fossils together and set up a table of curiosities near the coach stop at a local inn. Although the stories about Anning tend to focus on her successes, Dennis Dean writes that her mother and brother were astute collectors too, and Anning's parents had sold fossils before the father's death.<ref name="Dean58">{{Harvnb|Dean|1999|pp=58ff}}</ref>
[[File:AnningIchthyosaurSkull.jpg|thumb|alt=drawing of side view of a long thin skull with needle like teeth and a large eye socket|Drawing from an 1814 paper<ref name="Home1814">{{Harvnb|Home|1814}}</ref> by [[Sir Everard Home, 1st Baronet|Everard Home]] showing the skull of ''[[Temnodontosaurus platyodon]]'' (previously ''[[Ichthyosaurus platyodon]]'') (NHMUK PV R 1158) found by Joseph Anning in 1811]]
Their first well-known find was in 1811 when Mary Anning was 12; her brother Joseph dug up a 4-foot [[ichthyosaur]] skull, and a few months later Anning herself found the rest of the skeleton. Henry Hoste Henley of [[Sandringham House]] in [[Sandringham, Norfolk]], who was lord of the manor of Colway, near Lyme Regis, paid the family about £23 for it,<ref name="Sharpe15">{{Harvnb|Sharpe|McCartney|1998|p=15}}</ref> and in turn he sold it to [[William Bullock (collector)|William Bullock]], a well-known collector, who displayed it in [[London]]. There it generated interest, as public awareness of the age of the Earth and the variety of prehistoric creatures was growing. It was later sold for £45 and five shillings at auction in May 1819 as a "Crocodile in a Fossil State" to [[Charles Konig]], of the [[British Museum]], who had already suggested the name ''Ichthyosaurus'' for it.<ref name="Howe12">{{Harvnb|Howe|Sharpe|Torrens|1981|p=12}}</ref>

Anning's mother Molly initially ran the fossil business after her husband Richard's death, but it is unclear how much actual fossil collecting Molly did herself. As late as 1821, Molly wrote to the British Museum to request payment for a specimen. Her son Joseph's time was increasingly taken up by his apprenticeship to an [[upholsterer]], but he remained active in the fossil business until at least 1825. By that time, Mary Anning had assumed the leading role in the family specimen business.<ref name="Torrens1995" />