We have been learning how to write biography in year 6. We wrote biographies about Harriet Tubman and Mary Anning. Two important women in history. Check out our fabulous year 6 writers!
Biography of Mary Anning
By Tessa B
Who was Mary Anning?
Mary Anning was one of the greatest fossil hunters of early palaeontology. Her discoveries of amazing fossils helped scientists understand more about evolution. Mary was an orphan from a very poor family; she was born in Lyme Regis, Dorset. Lyme Regis is part of what is now called the Jurassic Coast. The Lyme Regis Museum was built on the site of the Anning’s house, and it houses some of her fossil discoveries.
Mary Anning’s Early Years
Mary Anning was born in 1799 in Lyme Regis in Dorset. Mary’s parents, Richard and Molly Anning, had nine or ten children, but Mary and her brother Joseph were the only ones to survive to adulthood: it was common for children to die at a young age. Her father was a carpenter and fossil hunter and brought Mary and Joseph with him on fossil collecting expeditions. When Mary was only fifteen months old, she was almost killed: there was a storm, and Mary’s nurse took her to shelter under a tree. Sadly, the nurse didn’t make it, and was struck by a bolt of lightning. As a child, Mary would go down to the beach with her father every day no matter what the weather. Her father taught her how to get the fossils out of the rock and clean them.
When Mary was only 11, her father died of tuberculosis. In order to pay for rent, she sold her fossils that she found. She did not attend school much but knew how to read and taught herself anatomy and geology. When Mary was a child, King George the third was King, and the war between Napoleon’s French army and Britain was happening.
Mary Anning’s Discoveries
Lyme Regis is rich in ammonites and belemnites. During her early years, Mary made some important fossil discoveries. In 1811, when Mary was only 12 and one year after her dad died, her brother found a 5.2 metre long Ichthyosaur skull in a rock when searching for fossils. Mary spent months getting it out of the rock. It was such an important discovery because no one had ever seen it before. Mary sold it for £23, which was a lot in those days. She was the first person to find a complete Plesiosaur fossil, in 1823, lots of people thought it was a fake because it was so strange. One day, Mary found what could have been just a jumble of bones, but she soon discovered it to be a flying reptile called a dimorphodon. As well as this, she also found coprolites (fossilised animal poo), ammonites, and the colossal Ichthyosaur fossil (it means “fish-lizard”, even though it is not a fish or a lizard). Some of her finds are at the natural history museum in London.
As it happened, Mary was selling fossils one day, when a woman called Elizabeth Philpot, a fossil expert, took Mary to her house to show her the fossils she had collected in a glass cabinet. People called fossils “curiosities”, because no one knew what were they were back then. Elizabeth gave Mary some books to read about the “curiosities”. When Mary found out they were fossilised dead organisms, she was shocked.
What the Scientific Community Thought of Mary Anning
Because Mary was a woman and she was very poor, she wasn’t really seen as an important palaeontologist until after she died. Even though Mary made some very important discoveries and sold them to scientists, they would write about the fossils she gave them, but wouldn’t give her credit just because she was a woman! Despite the fact that Mary was an amazing palaeontologist with brilliant discoveries, the Geological Society of London didn’t admit her; they didn’t admit women until 1904.
Mary Anning’s Death and Legacy
Mary was 47 when she died in Lyme Regis, in 1847. Her death was as a result of breast cancer. Lyme Regis is now a part of what is called the Jurassic coast; discoveries are still being made to this day. Her lasting legacy is that her findings have changed the way scientists think about prehistoric life, and the history of the earth. In spite of Mary’s tragic start in life, she grew up to become quite a famous palaeontologist.
Conclusion
Despite the fact that Mary had a lack of education, experienced lots of tragedy in her childhood, and she was a woman from a poor family, she was one of the best palaeontologists in the world and helped change scientific thinking and what we understand about the evolution of living organisms.
Biography of Harriet Tubman
By Holly Spooner
Harriet Tubman was an amazing woman she changed a lot of peoples life's in so many different ways. Harriet was a nurse, civil right activist and a Underground railroad conductor. She achieved so much but she started with nothing, read on to find out more about this fascinating woman believe me it is worth it.
Early life
Harriet Tubman was born on a slave plantation in 1821 on a farm in Maryland USA . Sadly for her, she had 11 siblings in a 1 room cabin. When she was only 6 , she was loaned out to another family where she helped take care of the baby. She was sometimes beaten and feed scraps . At the age of 13 a slave owner threw an iron weight and it hit Harriet and left her with dizzy spells for the rest of her life. When she was 28 years old she fled to Philadelphia USA in 1849. Sadly, she was hurt but she remained determined to seek a new life.
Leading others to freedom
In 1849, Tubman fled to freedom, she did not forget the people she had left behind . Then she realised that she was made to guide slaves because she knew how hard it could be; she also wanted to guide her own parents . She risked her life many times to guide the slaves to freedom. She was never captured or lost a single person.
The civil war
The American civil war broke out in 1861. Harriet's bravery and service did not end with the underground railroad , she also helped during the civil war: she helped to nurse injured soldiers, served as a spy for the north, and even helped on a military campaign that led to the rescue of over 750 slaves.
In conclusion
In her later life, after the civil war, she remained in New York with her family . She still helped poor and sick people. She also spoke out on equal rights movement for blacks and women.
" And I prayed to god to make me strong and able to fight, and that's what I have always prayed for ever since." Harriet Tubman
Mary Anning
by Chay
'She sells sea shells by the sea shore', have you ever heard of that tongue twister before, if you have then do you know who the saying is based on . Well it's based on a brave woman called Mary Anning . She was a palaeontologist who made history. Her family was poor so her father, brother and Mary went fossil hunting outside their house .After her father died, she made so many new discoveries. Keep on reading to find out more about this amazing woman .
Many years later , Mary found another new discovery. It was a plesiosaurus skeleton . Many of this animals bones have been found but not like Mary's: hers was the entire skeleton . A French vertebrate scientist claimed that it was a fake but afterwards scientists found that it was actually real. She made many new discoveries like the second flying dinosaur. Her dog Trevor died from a rockslide . All of the fossils that she discovered were claimed to be found by other people and that they got the credit . Mary 's luck went out as Lyme Regis went dry out of fossils . Later on , Mary developed breast cancer and was poor once more . The geological society finally gave Mary just enough money to survive . The medicine that she took made her wobbly and everyone laughed at her . She then died . Her grave is overlooked by stained glass on the church.
Early life
When Mary was young she got struck by lightning, killing her nurse that was holding her, but Mary survived . Mary had an older sister that died of a house fire. Mary now had only her brother, father and mother . The only way they could make money was by finding lots of curiosities to sell to tourists. Her father taught her and her brother how to find and excavate fossils outside their home . The place they found fossils was in Lyme Regis, a place in Dorset where there are lots of ammonites to find.
Money is lost
Mary continued finding fossils with her dad even though he suffered from a lung disease.Then one day, tragedy struck , her father went up a steep cliff then, all of a sudden, he fell from the high cliff . He barely managed to get back to their house. Mary's father died unable to recover since he already was suffering from the lung illness and so badly wounded. He was even unable to get proper help, he had no chance to have survived in those conditions .Mary still carried on hunting fossils even though it was poorly paid as Mary's father had debt to pay . One day, Mary's brother found an ichthyosaur skull . But he left Mary and her mom, for he had a real job now . Mary was determined to find the rest of the skeleton even if it meant using lots of money to hire people . One day, Mary finally found the rest of the skeleton , it looked like nothing Mary had ever seen and was quickly called Elizabeth (Elizabeth was a woman who bought fossils to put into her collection and was amazed at Mary's finds) . Elizabeth came with an important man of science to see Mary's discover . The man said that this would amaze all of science and to Mary's surprise the man gave her enough money to buy food for the entire week . For the first time in her life she didn't have to worry about money .
Biography of Harriet Tubman
by Ashton
Fascinatingly, Harriet Tubman devoted her life to campaigning. She was born as a slave in 1821 and she was also a civil rights activist. Read on to find out more about the courageous women, Harriet Tubman.
Early life
By the age of six, Harriet Tubman loaned out to her family to look after a baby. During this time, she lived in one room cabin with eleven siblings. She worked on the cotton plantation at the age of thirteen Sadly, at only the age of thirteen, she had a head injury which caused lifetime headaches and dizziness, which led her seeking a new life.
Leading others to Freedom
Harriet Tubman joined the Underground Railroad(an organization of safe houses, called stations) Bravely, she risked her life many times to guide hundreds of slaves, including her own parents. She guided them from the Southern slave states to the Northern free states- even to Canada.
The Civil War
The civil war started at 1861. The Northern states also known as The Union were fighting the Southern states of USA. Tubman served as a nurse and a spy for the Union. She wanted to abolish slavery. There was a successful military raid, guiding three-hundred troops and a rescue of eight-hundred slaves.
In conclusion, Harriet Tubman became one of the most important campaigners against injustice, leading hundreds of slaves to freedom even though she was born in poverty and slavery.