Edward Charlesworth was born in Clapham, Surrey on 13 September 1813. He was the only son of the Reverend John Charlesworth (1782-1864), rector of St. Mildred, Bread Street, City of London from 1844-64. Edward was apprenticed to a physician before studying at Guy's Hospital, London. He was made a Fellow of the Geological Society in 1836. Edward Charlesworth was an authority on Crag and other tertiary fossils and was a keen collector and trader in fossils. He was the proprietor and editor of London's Magazine of natural history, arranged geological collections in many museums, was honorary curator of Ipswich Museum from 1840, and held the post of curator of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society's museum, York from 1844-58. Charlesworth died in Saffron Walden, Essex on 28 July 1893.
From the guide to the Collected research materials on crag vertebrates compiled by Edward Charlesworth (1813-1893), geologist, 1883, 1883, (The University of Nottingham)
