Mary Anning stone girl bone girl By Josie

Mary Anning (‘stone girl bone girl’ ) By Josie Elliott

Mary Anning, who was described as a dull child, was born in 1799. One day she was left with three ladies. When they went outside for some fresh air a storm came, so they hid under a tree for cover. Unfortunately, a lightning bolt hit the tree and the three ladies were killed. Her father came running and snatched her up, but Mary opened her eyes. When she saw him she was smiled! From then on she was no longer described as dull. It was a new beginning. Early life

She and her father went down to the beach every day except for Sundays, when she had to go to school and learnt to read and write. Her father taught her how to get the fossils out of the rocks. Because they were poor, they sold their fossil finds for one penny each to tourists. Childhood

One day a woman called Elizabeth Philpot came to see their fossils and she was very interested. She asked Mary to come and see her own fossils. Elizabeth had a very big cabinet full of fossils. She gave Mary some books about fossils to borrow who ran back home, full of excitement, to tell her father.

But then something tragic happened. Her father fell off a cliff and fell ill. He did not get better. He died when Mary was only 12 in 1810. Her father

Mary grew up in poverty, but as a young woman she looked at the cliffs and saw something amazing. It looked like a crocodile but she couldn’t get it by herself. She got some quarry men from the beach to help her get the rock out of the cliff and carry it back to her house. She was excited but had to chip it out one tiny chip at a time in her workshop. It was an ichthyosaur. A man of science gave her £ 25 for it. A fortune! Young woman

Over the years Mary became an expert fossil hunter. It was said she could just look at a fossil a instantly know what it was.

Her discoveries included: • • • Ichthyosaurs Ammonites Belemnites Plesiosaur Pterosaur

Mary sadly died of breast cancer in 1847.

THE END I hope you enjoyed the story of Mary Anning