Elizabeth Coxen
Elizabeth Frances Coxen (née Isaac 1825–1906) was an English-born Australian naturalist and meteorologist. She made many contributions to the Queensland Museum and served as its curator. She was the first woman elected a member of the Royal Society of Queensland.[1]
Biography
[edit]She was born Elizabeth Frances Isaac in Marshfield, Gloucestershire, England, in 1825, the eldest daughter of George Frederick Isaac, solicitor, and his wife Elizabeth, née Fromow. When she was 13, Coxen emigrated with her family to Sydney, Colony of New South Wales, Australia.[1][2][3]
By 1847, Elizabeth had met her future husband Charles Coxen as he had come to town with cattle during one of the floods. On 27 December 1851, Elizabeth, aged 26, married Charles at St Ann’s Church of England, Ryde, Sydney and the couple settled in Bimbian. In 1860, he became a politician and was elected as member for the Northern Downs in Queensland’s first parliament and he held the seat until 1867.[1]
She and her husband collected numerous shells, insects and birds, and they donated many specimens to the Queensland Museum where Elizabeth worked as curator and was the first person to be paid to oversee any part of the museum’s invertebrate collections.[1][4] After her husband's death, she became the first female elected a member of the Royal Society of Queensland.[1][5] By the 1890s, she was one of several women members of the Royal Society; the majority were teachers and included Eliza Fewing.[1]
Elizabeth Coxen died in Brisbane on 11 August 1906[6][7] and was buried with her husband in the cemetery of Christ Church in Tingalpa. Her friends commissioned a plaque commemorating her at St John the Baptist Anglican Church at Bulimba.[8] She is commemorated in the name of the land snail Spurlingia coxenae (now known as Spurlingia dunkiensis).[1]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 McKay, Judith; Healy, John M. (2017). "Elizabeth Coxen: pioneer naturalist and the Queensland Museum's first woman curator" (PDF). Memoirs of the Queensland Museum – Nature. 60: 139–160. doi:10.17082/j.2204-1478.60.2017.2017-05.
- ↑ McKay, Judith, 1949-; Queensland Museum (1997), Brilliant careers : women collectors and illustrators in Queensland, Queensland Museum, pp. 8, 9, 10, ISBN 978-0-7242-7693-6
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ↑ "Coxen, Elizabeth Frances (1825 - 1906)". Encyclopedia of Australian Science. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
- ↑ Mather, Patricia (1986). A Time for a Museum: The History of the Queensland Museum 1862-1986. South Brisbane, Australia: Queensland Museum. p. 186. ISBN 0724216456. OCLC 15667855.
- ↑ Chisholm, A. H. "Coxen, Charles (1809–1876)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
- ↑ "Family Notices". The Brisbane Courier. Vol. LXIII, no. 15, 161. Queensland, Australia. 15 August 1906. p. 4. Retrieved 3 November 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
- ↑ Queensland death index
- ↑ "Elizabeth Coxen". Monument Australia. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
External links
[edit]
Media related to Elizabeth Coxen at Wikimedia Commons
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