Caroline Birley

[3] She was born at York Place, Oxford Road in the Chorlton-on-Medlock area of Manchester,[2] the fourth and last child of Thomas Hornby Birley J.P. (1815–1885) and Anne Leatham (1820–1866).

[2] In 1857, she moved with her family from York Place to Highfield in Heaton Mersey and then, in 1864, to Hart Hill Mansion, Pendleton,[2] and again to 4 Seedley Terrace in 1884.

[2] As a child, Birley developed an interest in geology and on her family holidays on the Isle of Man she would collect stones showing unusual peculiarities.

[2][3] In naming Dromiopsis birleyae, Woodward wrote: I dedicate this species to my friend Miss Caroline Birley, who has given so much time and attention to the study of geology and palaeontology both at home and abroad, and whose private collection bears testimony to her devotion to science.

[2][8] In September 1899, she discovered a new genus and species of crab in the gault clays at Folkestone, Kent; Woodward described this in The Geological Magazine and named it Mesodromilites birleyae.

[2][3][9] She also visited Ormara in Baluchistan (now Balochistan in western Pakistan); her collection of fossiliferous nodules was given to Richard Bullen Newton who described them in detail in the July 1905 edition of The Geological Magazine,[3][10] with Woodward adding a further note.

[2] Her books include:[13][14][15][16] She also contributed to two volumes of short stories: In 1896, she moved to Brunswick Gardens in Kensington, to where she also relocated her collection.