Elizabeth Philpot (1779–1857) was an early 19th-century British fossil collector, amateur

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 ...

and artist who collected fossils from the cliffs around

Lyme Regis Lyme Regis ( ) is a town in west Dorset, England, west of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester and east of Exeter. Sometimes dubbed the "Pearl of Dorset", it lies by the English Channel at the Dorset–Devon border. It has noted fossils in cliffs and ...

in Dorset on the southern coast of England. She is best known today for her collaboration and friendship with the well known fossil hunter

Mary Anning Mary Anning (21 May 1799 – 9 March 1847) was an English fossil collector, fossil trade, dealer, and palaeontologist. She became known internationally for her discoveries in Jurassic marine fossil beds in the cliffs along the English Cha ...

. She was well known in geological circles for her knowledge of

fossil fish Fish began evolving about 530 million years ago during the Cambrian explosion. It was during this time that the early chordates developed the skull and the vertebral column, leading to the first craniates and vertebrates. The first fish line ...

as well as her extensive collection of specimens and was consulted by leading geologists and palaeontologists of the time including

William Buckland William Buckland Doctor of Divinity, DD, Royal Society, FRS (12 March 1784 – 14 August 1856) was an English theologian, geologist and paleontology, palaeontologist. His work in the early 1820s proved that Kirkdale Cave in North Yorkshire h ...

, and

Louis Agassiz Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz ( ; ) FRS (For) FRSE (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history. Spending his early life in Switzerland, he recei ...

. When Mary Anning discovered that

belemnite Belemnitida (or belemnites) is an extinct order (biology), order of squid-like cephalopods that existed from the Late Triassic to Late Cretaceous (And possibly the Eocene). Unlike squid, belemnites had an internal skeleton that made up the cone ...

fossils contained ink sacs, it was Philpot who discovered that the fossilised ink could be revivified with water and used for illustrations, which became a common practice for local artists.

Life and friendship with Anning

Born on 5 July 1779 (), Elizabeth Philpot and her sisters Mary and Margaret moved to Lyme from London in 1805. They shared a house purchased for them by their brother, a London lawyer. They lived in Lyme for the rest of their lives. The Philpots became well known locally for their fossil collecting, as well as for a home made medication, a soothing salve, that they made and distributed. Elizabeth Philpot befriended

when Anning was still a child; despite the almost 20-year age difference and the fact that the working class Anning was from a much poorer background, the two became close and were frequently seen collecting fossils together. Philpot encouraged the young Anning to read about geology and understand the science behind the fossils she collected and sold.

Fossils

The Philpot sisters' extensive and meticulously labelled fossil collection was used for research by many geologists. All three sisters contributed to the collection, but it was Elizabeth Philpot who corresponded with leading geologists like

, William Conybeare, and

Henry De la Beche Sir Henry Thomas De la Beche KCB, FRS (10 February 179613 April 1855) was an English geologist and palaeontologist, the first director of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, who helped pioneer early geological survey methods. He was the ...

about the collection. The collection was well known for its fossil fish. It also contained the fossil teeth that William Buckland combined with a famous partial skeleton discovered by Mary Anning when he described the

pterosaur Pterosaurs are an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the order Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 million to 66 million years ago). Pterosaurs are the earli ...

''Pterodactylus macronyx'' (later renamed by

Richard Owen Sir Richard Owen (20 July 1804 – 18 December 1892) was an English biologist, comparative anatomy, comparative anatomist and paleontology, palaeontologist. Owen is generally considered to have been an outstanding naturalist with a remarkabl ...

to ''

Dimorphodon ''Dimorphodon'' ( ) is a genus of medium-sized pterosaur from Europe during the early Jurassic Period (about 201-191 million years ago).Müller R.T., Ezcurra M.D., Garcia M.S., Agnolín F.L., Stocker M.R., Novas F.E., Soares M.B., Kellner A.W.A. ...

macronyx''), in 1829. In his famous 1824 paper that described the almost complete

plesiosaur The Plesiosauria or plesiosaurs are an Order (biology), order or clade of extinct Mesozoic marine reptiles, belonging to the Sauropterygia. Plesiosaurs first appeared in the latest Triassic Period (geology), Period, possibly in the Rhaetian st ...

skeleton discovered by Anning in 1823 Conybeare mentioned examining a plesiosaur skull in the possession of "Miss Philpot". In 1834 Buckland arranged for the Swiss palaeontologist

to visit Lyme to work with Elizabeth Philpot and Anning to obtain and study fish fossils found in the region. They were able to show him fossils of 34 different species, and he was so impressed by the knowledge of Philpot and Anning that he wrote in his journal: "Miss Philpot and Mary Anning have been able to show me with utter certainty which are the ichthyodorulites dorsal fins of sharks that correspond to different types." He thanked both women for their help in his monumental book, ''Studies of Fossil Fish'', and he named a fossil fish species, ''Eugnathus philpotae'', after Philpot and another two species after Anning.

Fossil ink

In 1826 Mary Anning discovered what appeared to be a chamber containing dried ink inside a

fossil. She showed it to her friend Elizabeth Philpot. Philpot was able to revivify the ink by mixing it with water and used it to illustrate some of her own ichthyosaur fossils, and other local artists were soon doing the same as more such fossilised ink chambers were discovered.

Legacy

The Philpot sisters' important fossil collection ended up at the

Oxford University Museum of Natural History The Oxford University Museum of Natural History (OUMNH) is a museum displaying many of the University of Oxford's natural history specimens, located on Parks Road in Oxford, England. It also contains a lecture theatre which is used by the univers ...

. The Lyme Regis Philpot Museum was built in Lyme Regis in honour of the sisters by their nephew Thomas Philpot. In 2009 Tracy Chevalier wrote a historical novel entitled ''Remarkable Creatures'' about Elizabeth Philpot and Mary Anning, and in March 2010 an Australian production company acquired the rights to produce a feature film from the book. Elizabeth is portrayed by actress

Fiona Shaw Fiona Shaw (born Fiona Mary Wilson; 10 July 1958) is an Irish film and theatre actress. She did extensive work with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, as well as in film and television. In 2020, she was listed at No. 29 o ...

in the romantic drama film ''

Ammonite Ammonoids are extinct, (typically) coiled-shelled cephalopods comprising the subclass Ammonoidea. They are more closely related to living octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish (which comprise the clade Coleoidea) than they are to nautiluses (family N ...

'' (2020).

Notes

References