The role women have played in fieldwork has been important but largely overlooked. Perhaps the most famous of these is Mary Anning. Often they were crucial to advances in field geoscience but this has rarely been acknowledged in the published literature or by their peers. It is important to remember that they worked in a societal culture that made field travel difficult. Not only that, but they could only be part of the scientific debate if they were fortunate enough to have a brother, father or husband already involved.

Building on the findings of a conference organised by the 2 authors, two case studies focusing on the UK and Ireland will highlight the important contribution made by women in field geoscience throughout the late eighteenth century and the nineteenth century. Their roles included artistic painters, illustrators, tutors, fossil-hunters, editors, Note takers, translators, museum workers, field assistants and field leaders. Important discoveries were made by women, and significant fossil and mineral collections were constructed, but it was not until the last decade that some of this work has come to light. Archives of local and national geological societies, letters and memoirs show that the esteem that some women fieldworkers were held in is occasionally acknowledged by their peers. The paper will briefly compare the situation in the UK and Ireland at that time with developments around the world. We ask what legacy has been left and if this affects the gender distribution in field geoscience today.