Eliza Maria Gordon-Cumming | |
---|---|
Born | Eliza Maria Campbell 1795 |
Died | 21 April 1842 46–47) | (aged
Spouse | Sir William Gordon-Cumming, 2nd Baronet |
Children | 13 |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Paleontology, scientific illustration |
Eliza Maria, Lady Gordon-Cumming ( née Campbell; 1795 - 21 April 1842) was a Scottish aristocrat, horticulturalist, palaeontologist and scientific illustrator. Lady Cumming collected and studied Devonian fish fossils from the Old Red Sandstone of Morayshire, Scotland. She amassed a large and well-known collection which she illustrated, along with her daughter Lady Anne Seymour. [1] Lady Cumming worked with other palaeontologists and geologists of the time including Louis Agassiz, William Buckland and Roderick Murchison.
Lady Cumming was born Eliza Maria Campbell in 1795 in Inveraray to Lady Charlotte Campbell (later Lady Charlotte Bury) and Colonel John Campbell. [2] Her mother was a diarist and novelist and father a soldier and politician.
Lady Cumming was a skilled painter and keen horticulturalist who took up the study of the fossils on her Altyre estate near the Moray Firth around 1839. [1] She collected fossils and instructed workers in the quarries on the estate to bring her any they found. She collected a large number of specimens of fossil fish from the Devonian period and began a correspondence with the most famous geologists of the time; Louis Agassiz, William Buckland and Roderick Murchison all visited her collection in Scotland. [1] She sent illustrations, letters and specimens around Europe, and intended to publish her illustrations and theories on how these fish would have appeared in life. Some of these illustrations survive in the archives of the Geological Society. [1] Some of her ideas about how the fossil remains should be interpreted were later discredited as more fossil evidence came to light, but her illustrations were highly respected. [2] Her work was praised by Hugh Miller, [3] and
...collected these remains and distributed them amongst geologists with the greatest liberality. Lady Cumming had studied the remains with great care, and prepared a series of drawings of all the most perfect specimens with a precision of detail and artistic talent, which few naturalists can hope to attain" [4]
After his visit to Altyre, Agassiz named a species Cheirolepis cummingae (also sometimes spelled cummingii) in honour of Cumming. [5] This species name was later discovered to be a synonym of Cheirolepis trialli. [6] Many of the fossils in Cumming's collection were personally identified by Agassiz, and the collection is now held by the National Museum of Scotland, the Natural History Museum, London, and the University of Neuchatel. [1]
Lady Cumming married Sir William Gordon Gordon-Cumming of Altyre, 2nd Baronet in 1815. They had 13 children including
During her 13th pregnancy Cumming was impatient to get back to her studies, writing to Roderick Murchison "I am breathless to be at work again." [3] However, she died on 21 April 1842 due to complications following the birth. [2]
Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz FRS (For) FRSE was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history.
Mary Anning was an English fossil collector, dealer, and palaeontologist who became known around the world for the discoveries she made in Jurassic marine fossil beds in the cliffs along the English Channel at Lyme Regis in the county of Dorset in Southwest England. Anning's findings contributed to changes in scientific thinking about prehistoric life and the history of the Earth.
Hugh Edwin Strickland was an English geologist, ornithologist, naturalist and systematist. Through the British Association, he proposed a series of rules for the nomenclature of organisms in zoology, known as the Strickland Code, that was a precursor of later codes for nomenclature.
Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, 1st Baronet, was a Scottish geologist who served as director-general of the British Geological Survey from 1855 until his death in 1871. He is noted for investigating and describing the Silurian, Devonian and Permian systems.
William Buckland DD, FRS was an English theologian who became Dean of Westminster. He was also a geologist and palaeontologist.
William Lonsdale, English geologist and palaeontologist, won the Wollaston medal in 1846 for his research on the various kinds of fossil corals.
Lady Charlotte Susan Maria Bury was an English novelist, who is chiefly remembered in connection with a Diary illustrative of the Times of George IV (1838).
John William Salter was an English naturalist, geologist, and palaeontologist.
Constance Frederica “Eka” Gordon-Cumming was a Scottish travel writer and painter. Born in a wealthy family, she travelled around the world and painted described scenes and life as she saw them. She was a friend and influencer of the travel writers and artists Marianne North and Isabella Bird.
Robert Etheridge FRS FRSE FGS was an English geologist and palaeontologist.
Roualeyn George Gordon-Cumming was a Scottish traveller and sportsman, known as the "lion hunter". He was the second son of Sir William Gordon Gordon-Cumming, 2nd Baronet and Lady Eliza Maria Gordon-Cumming
Ramsay Heatley Traquair FRSE FRS was a Scottish naturalist and palaeontologist who became a leading expert on fossil fish.
Sir William Gordon Gordon-Cumming, 2nd Baronet of Altyre and Gordonstoun FRSE, was a Scottish Member of Parliament.
Sir Alexander Penrose Cumming-Gordon, 1st Baronet was a Scottish politician.
Elizabeth Philpot (1780–1857) was an early 19th-century British fossil collector, amateur palaeontologist and artist who collected fossils from the cliffs around Lyme Regis 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. She was well known in geological circles for her knowledge of fossil fish as well as her extensive collection of specimens and was consulted by leading geologists and palaeontologists of the time including William Buckland, and Louis Agassiz. When Mary Anning discovered that belemnite fossils contained ink sacks, 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.
Charlotte, Lady Murchison was a British geologist born in Hampshire, England. She was married to the nineteenth-century geologist Roderick Impey Murchison.
Colonel John Campbell, of Shawfield and Islay was a Scottish soldier in the British Army. After his early death, his widow Lady Charlotte Bury achieved fame as a diarist and novelist. He was also briefly a politician.
Events from the year 1792 in Scotland.
Jane Cumming m. Tulloch was a witness in a libel suit made famous in the Lillian Hellman play, The Children's Hour.
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