[1] In 1846, she built the first stable and sustained marine aquarium and maintained corals and sponges in it for over three years.

[3] Lady John Thynne's first love was geology, but in 1846 she encountered her first Madrepore and became enraptured with something that appeared to be a rock, but was a living being.

[4] Wanting to take specimens back to London from Torquay, she fixed the Madrepores to a sponge with a needle and thread, within a stone jar.

Not having enough of a supply to continue to replace the seawater, she then switched to aerating it by transferring the water between vessels in front of an open window, a task usually undertaken by her servant.

[4] Thynne's work inspired Philip Henry Gosse, who developed the Fish House at London Zoo in 1853.