Edward Charlesworth (5 September 1813 – 28 July 1893) was an English geologist and

palaeontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

. Edward Charlesworth was the eldest son of the Rev John Charlesworth. He studied medicine but abandoned a career in this discipline in 1836 to work in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. He was interested in the Crag fossils of East Anglia and in the period 1835–1838 debated with Charles Lyell on the age and nature of the Crag formations. At this time he took over the '' Magazine of Natural History'' associated with

William Bean William Bean (December 9, 1721-May 1782) was an American pioneer, longhunter, and Commissioner of the Watauga Association. He is accepted by historians as the first permanent European American settler of Tennessee. Biography William Bean was b ...

. The '' Magazine of Natural History'' is, in contemporary scientific literature, often referred to as ''Charlesworth's Magazine''. Charlesworth was the second keeper of the

Yorkshire Museum The Yorkshire Museum is a museum in York, England. It was opened in 1830, and has five permanent collections, covering biology, geology, archaeology, numismatics and astronomy. History The museum was founded by the Yorkshire Philosophical Soc ...

, from 1844–1858, following on from John Phillips and preceding Charles Wakefield (only in post for 6 months) and

William Dallas William Sweetland Dallas (1824–1890) was a British zoologist and curator. He curated collections at the British Museum and the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, and was editor of the '' Popular Science Review''. Biography He was appoin ...

. Pyrah, Barbara, 1988. The history of the Yorkshire Museum and its geological collections,

References

*Markham, R.A.D. 1976. 'Notes on Edward Charlesworth, 1813–1893', ''Ipswich Geology Group Bulletin'' 18, pp. 14–16. {{DEFAULTSORT:Charlesworth, Edward 1813 births 1893 deaths English palaeontologists People from Clapham Yorkshire Museum people Members of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society