Joseph Tyrrell

Who was Joseph Tyrrell?

Joseph Burr Tyrrell was a Canadian geologist, cartographer, and mining consultant. He discovered dinosaur bones in Alberta's Badlands and coal around Drumheller in 1884. Canada's Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Alberta was named in his honour.

Tyrrell was the third child of William and Elizabeth Tyrrell. He was a student at Weston Grammar School before graduating from Upper Canada College in 1876 and receiving a law degree from the University of Toronto in 1880. However, after articling for a law firm in Toronto, his doctor advised him to work outdoors due to his health.

He joined the Geological Survey of Canada in 1881, leading or participating in numerous explorations. He led the 1893 and 1894 expeditions into the Northern Barren Lands - down the Dubawnt River - the first visit to the Kivalliq Region Barrenlands by a European since the explorations of Samuel Hearne in the 1770s. His younger brother, fr:James Williams Tyrrell accompanied Tyrrell on the expedition, which included the first European contact with the Ihalmiut, an Inuit people, now almost extinct.

Tyrrell married Mary Edith Carey in 1894 and they had three children, Mary, George, and Thomas.