The lady of Kent’s Cavern
Drawing of Kent’s Cavern by John Marten in 1825, with two figures likely to be local female guides, possibly alongside Mrs Cazalet, who was known to have joined John MacEnery in his excavations (© Geological Society of London, LDGSL/400/22).
Dear Editors,
I read with interest the article Obscurity and notability by Caroline Lam (Geoscientist 36 (2), 10-12), and especially the reference to Mrs Cazalet. I wondered if I could identify her and came across Marianne Cazalet, which led me to question whether she could be the lady of Kent’s Cavern, Torquay?
Nineteenth-century women collectors of natural history are often absent from the scientific record, or, if included, are generally mentioned only by surname and marital status. Mrs Cazalet, who assisted John MacEnery (1797–1841) at Kent’s Cavern during the 1820s, is no exception. A clue to her identity may perhaps be gleaned from the writings of the geologist William Pengelly (1812–1894) FRS, FGS, who from the mid-1830s was a resident of Torquay. In the Transactions of the Devonshire Association (Vol III, July 1869, p. 493), in a paper entitled On the alleged occurrence of Hippopotamus Major and Machairodus Latidens in Kent’s Cavern, Torquay, Pengelly writes that MacEnery was “on the most friendly terms with Mrs Cazelet, who was his co-religionist”; and, as she had “a collection of the cavern fossils”, it could safely be inferred that he knew all the specimens in it.
The key word here is “co-religionist”. Father John MacEnery was Roman Catholic and in service at Tor Abbey as private chaplain to the Cary family. A possible candidate for his “co-religionist” is Marianne Cazalet (1787–1859), wife of the Church of England clergyman James Cazalet. Though not of the same denomination, both belonged to the broad centre of Christian belief and so shared common ground.
The lady referred to as Mrs Cazalet is also thought to have helped MacEnery’s excavations financially. To be his patron, she must have been of reasonable wealth, a member of the higher echelons of society.
It is possible that Marianne Cazalet was the lady of Kent’s Cavern, the patron of John MacEnery’s excavation
Marianne was born Marianne Arnold and was baptised at Halstead, Kent, on 15 December 1787. She was the daughter of George Arnold Arnold, formerly George Arnold Sargent, and Mary Ann Arnold. On 13 December 1810, at St George, Bloomsbury, she married her cousin James Cazalet, son of Peter Cazalet, merchant and then banker, and Sarah Langston. Her family background places her among the financially secure and socially well-connected.
MacEnery began his excavation of Kent’s Cavern in late 1825. On 17 February 1826, the Geological Society’s Museum received from Mrs Cazalet several bones from Kent’s Hole, or Kent’s Cavern; on 6 April 1827, it received a collection of recent and fossil corals collected at Torquay (Transactions of the Geological Society 2, 1829). At that time the museum was in Bedford Street, a little over half a mile from Bedford Square, where the Cazalet family had lived and had connections. Marianne is therefore likely to have known of its existence, especially as Mrs Cazalet senior, Sarah, was interested in Natural Philosophy and a subscriber to the Royal Institution lectures (she is listed as such in the Charter and Bylaws of the Royal Institution published in 1806).
Marianne’s movements during the 1820s are difficult to determine, and I do not know of any document confirming that she was the lady at Torquay. Yet the known facts do not preclude it. Her children’s baptisms and later records show a geographically mobile family, and Mr Cazalet, and presumably Mrs Cazalet, had left Torquay before 19 June 1826, reportedly in a direction beyond Newton Abbot. This would accord with the period in which Mrs Cazalet’s cavern bones reached the Geological Society.
Nor did Torquay vanish from the Cazalets’ story. Marianne’s extended family had later associations with the town, and when she died on 1 November 1859 at Porteus House, Paddington, London, probate records noted her as late of Watcombe, Torquay.
Marianne Cazalet feasibly qualifies as the Mrs Cazalet who assisted John MacEnery. Marianne’s marriage and beliefs make her a plausible “co-religionist”; she had the means to assist MacEnery’s excavation; she lived within reach of the Geological Society’s Museum; and her known movements do not rule out a visit to Torquay in late 1825 and early 1826. It is therefore possible that she was the lady of Kent’s Cavern, the patron of John MacEnery’s excavation, and the collector of all those bones and fossils two hundred years ago.
David C Rayment FRSA FLS
Local history author with training in natural and contemporary sciences, and mathematics and computing, UK
