Edward Charlesworth (5 September 1813 – 28 July 1893) was an English geologist and

palaeontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

. Edward Charlesworth was the eldest son of the Rev John Charlesworth. He studied medicine but abandoned a career in this discipline in 1836 to work in the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

. He was interested in the Crag fossils of

East Anglia East Anglia is an area of the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with parts of Essex sometimes also included. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, ...

and in the period 1835–1838 debated with

Charles Lyell Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, (14 November 1797 – 22 February 1875) was a Scottish geologist who demonstrated the power of known natural causes in explaining the earth's history. He is best known today for his association with Charles ...

on the age and nature of the Crag formations. At this time he took over the ''

Magazine of Natural History The ''Journal of Natural History'' is a scientific journal published by Taylor & Francis focusing on entomology and zoology. The journal was established in 1841 under the name ''Annals and Magazine of Natural History'' (''Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.'') an ...

'' associated with

William Bean William Bean (December 9, 1721-May 1782) was an American pioneer, longhunter, and Commissioner of the Watauga Association. He is accepted by historians as the first permanent European American settler of Tennessee. Biography William Bean wa ...

. The ''

'' is, in contemporary scientific literature, often referred to as ''Charlesworth's Magazine''. Charlesworth was the second keeper of the

Yorkshire Museum The Yorkshire Museum is a museum in York, England. It was opened in 1830, and has five permanent collections, covering biology, geology, archaeology, numismatics and astronomy. History The museum was founded by the Yorkshire Philosophical Soci ...

, from 1844–1858, following on from John Phillips and preceding Charles Wakefield (only in post for 6 months) and

William Dallas William Sweetland Dallas (1824–1890) was a British zoologist and curator. He curated collections at the British Museum and the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, and was editor of the '' Popular Science Review''. Biography He was appoi ...

. Pyrah, Barbara, 1988. The history of the Yorkshire Museum and its geological collections,

References

Cited sources Bibliography *Markham, R.A.D. 1976. 'Notes on Edward Charlesworth, 1813–1893', ''Ipswich Geology Group Bulletin'' 18, pp. 14–16. {{DEFAULTSORT:Charlesworth, Edward 1813 births 1893 deaths English palaeontologists People from Clapham Yorkshire Museum people Members of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society