John Clavell Mansel-Pleydell

John Clavell Mansel-Pleydell (1817–1902), originally John Clavell Mansel, was an English antiquary, known for contributions to geology, botany, and ornithology.

Life Born in Bramshaw, Dorset, on 4 December 1817, he was eldest son of twin boys (brother George was the younger twin) of Colonel John Mansel (1776–1863) of Smedmore, Dorset by his wife Louisa, fourth daughter of Edmund Morton Pleydell of Whatcombe, Dorset. Educated privately, with Henry Walter as a tutor, he entered St. John's College, Cambridge in 1836, and graduated B.A. in 1839.

Mansell was admitted a student of Lincoln's Inn on 2 May 1840, but was not called to the bar. For thirty years he was an officer in the Queen's Own Dorset Yeomanry. He was promoted from lieutenant to captain on 26 July 1856. He was one of the promoters of the Somerset and Dorset Railway, and suffered financial losses. and the tusks and molars of a Mammuthus meridionalis. Originally, a small cash prize and a silver medal were provided for the winners of two competitions: one focussing on natural history and archaeology, and one on chemistry. Over the years the two fields were combined, and the medals were replaced by larger cash prizes. Income of the Trust is now also used for activities of the Dorset Museum.

The first awards in 1906 were for W. Parkinson Curtis, who published about the ringed plover, and for Ernest W. Short, who published on "electricity as applied to household purposes." Since then more than 200 prizes were awarded.

Family Mansel-Pleydell married twice:

on 6 June 1844, Emily (died 4 Nov. 1845), daughter of Captain A. Bingham; and on 21 June 1849, Isabel, the daughter of F. C. Acton Colville, Captain in the Scots Guards.

He celebrated his golden wedding on 21 June 1899. Of three sons, two survived him.