MARY’s shop in Lyme soon became a magnet for the most respected names in geology, from William Buckland (a pioneer of dinosaur research who gave Mary due credit for her finds) to Darwin’s tutor Adam Sedgewick. Louis Agassiz came all the way from Switzerland in 1834. Sir Henry de la Beche, first President of the Palaeontographical Society, was a frequent visitor and lifelong friend.
Nonetheless, Mary’s home economy relied on selling her seashells by the seashore,* and it was barely sufficient. In 1830, loyal customer James Birch auctioned his entire collection for Mary’s benefit. Matters worsened in 1835, and William Buckland secured her a government annuity of £25.*
Mary fell ill in 1846, and died on March 9th, 1847, aged forty-eight. Few of her better-known contemporaries could match her for knowledge of anatomy, or dexterity in excavation. ‘Her history shows’ Charles Dickens reflected ‘what humble people may do, if they have just purpose and courage enough, towards promoting the cause of science.’*
The famous tongue twister by Terry Sullivan (published 1908) is held to have been composed in honour of Mary.
She sells seashells on the seashore
The shells she sells are seashells, I'm sure
So if she sells seashells on the seashore
Then I'm sure she sells seashore shells.
‘All the Year Round’, February 11th, 1865. The magazine was edited and mostly written by Dickens, though articles carried no by-line.