The uneasy correspondence between T. H. Huxley and E. P. Wright on fossil vertebrates found in Jarrow, Co. Kilkenny (1865–67)

Abstract

The collection of Carboniferous fish and amphibian fossils found in Jarrow in 1864 has been the object of several studies, and has resided successively in at least three Irish museums. This paper draws from the Huxley archives in Imperial College London and from other archives to trace the history of its finding and earliest description. The story was marked by naivety, ambition, abuse, deception and delays, but eventually some of the fossils were salvaged by the expertise and determined action of Thomas Henry Huxley, not usually known for his patience, who stepped into a minefield of conflicting interests but managed to publish and illustrate seven new genera and species from among the specimens. In so doing he trampled, perhaps by relying too much on Wright's assurances, on the sensitivities and possible claims to priority of other local experts.

A morphological revision of Keraterpeton, the earliest horned nectridean from the Pennsylvanian of England and Ireland

“…Brownrigg was sufficiently disaffected and aggrieved by the whole affair that he abandoned geology (DeArce et al . 2011). He sold his personal collection to the British Museum (Natural History) in January 1870.…”

“…Wright's behaviour caused resentment, conflict of interests, and overrode potential priority claims of local geologists (Wyse Jackson et al 2011). Brownrigg was sufficiently disaffected and aggrieved by the whole affair that he abandoned geology (DeArce et al 2011). He sold his personal collection to the British Museum (Natural History) in January 1870.…”