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Charlotte Murchison (née Hugonin; 18 April 1788 – 9 February 1869) was a Scottish amateur geologist. Married to the nineteenth century geologist Roderick Impey Murchison, she had a strong influence in the career of her husband.
In 1815, Charlotte Hugonin met Roderick Murchison and married him on 15 August of the same year. She was the daughter of General Francis Hugonin (d. 1836). She remembered her father as someone who was very intelligent and she remembered her mother as a skillful florist and botanist[1] Her husband followed some rather expensive pursuits and in an attempt to occupy him in more intellectual pursuits, Charlotte traveled throughout France, the Alps, and Italy with him in 1816–1818.[2] On the trip, Charlotte would look at wild-flowers that were abnormal to certain altitudes, mountains, and rocks.[1]
They met Mary Somerville (1780–1872), who was a scientific writer and became a lifelong friend of the couple.[1] Mary Somerville wrote about Charlotte Murchison and said that she was the reason why her husband developed increasing interest towards geology.[3]
Unfortunately, during her travels to Rome in 1817. Charlotte contracted malaria while her traveling companions became ill from exhaustion. Despite her disease, she was able to nurse Roderick Murchison and Charles Lyell back to health.[4]
The lecture theatres of Kings College London were accessible to female geology students, due to Charlotte, even though she was suffering from her disease.[3]
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Personal Life
Charlotte Murchison (née Hugonin; 18 April 1788 – 9 February 1869) was a British Geologist born in Hampshire, United Kingdom to parents General Francis Hugonin and Charlotte Hugonin.[citation] At age 27, she met a soldier by the name of Roderick Impey Murchison to which she married later that same year [1815]. [citation] In 1816, the young couple went on a tour of France, the Alps, and Italy where Charlotte took care observing the various plant life distinct to rock formations in the areas. [citation]
Later they traveled to Rome and stayed into the summer, where Charlotte caught ill and nearly died of a malarian fever.[citation] Though she recovered, the effects of the illness persisted throughout her life.[citation] While in Rome the Murchison's became lifelong friends with Mary Somerville (1780-1872), who would later write of them in her autobiography, stating specifically that Charlotte was "an amiable accomplished woman, drew prettily & what was rare at the time she had studied science, especially geology and it was chiefly owing to her example that her husband turned his mind to those pursuits in which he afterwards obtained such distinction." [citation] Charlotte was a consistent companion to her husband's travels, studies, and fieldwork, participating in the work alongside him.
On one such trip, specifically their voyage to the southern coast of England, Charlotte went fossil hunting with Mary Anning (1799-1847) and the two became close friends from then on. [citation] Throughout travels with her husband, Charlotte would purchase or hunt for fossils to add to her personal collection, oftentimes studying them independently as well. [citation] Charlotte's collection was so well kept and educational that specimens of her collection were studied and published into the works of James de Carle Sowerby (1788-1871) and, later, William Buckland (1784-1856). [citation]
Despite all her self-study and time working in the field alongside her husband, Charlotte desired higher education. Come 1831, Charles Lyell (1797-1875), a friend of her and her husband's whom they had worked and traveled with, was giving geological lectures at King's College. [citation] Despite his refusal to admit women to his lectures, Charlotte persisted in her attendance, leading to Lyell's opening of his lectures to both men and women. [citation] Charlotte would also attend the meetings of the British Association for the Advancement of Science when able, despite her continued health issues. [citation] Eventually she became too ill to travel with her husband and later died of her continued health issues. [citation]
Amanda Skeeters (talk) 23:07, 14 March 2019 (UTC)
Amanda Skeeters (talk) 21:05, 17 March 2019 (UTC)