Today (Friday 9th January 2026) comes the sad announcement that UK-based marine reptile worker Richard Forrest is no longer with us, this information having been passed to me from Sally Hollingworth, Mammoth Project Leader for the Cerney Wick excavations, and Neil Gostling of the University of Southampton. This ultimately comes from Sue Forrest, Richard’s wife.
Caption: there are, unsurprisingly, a great many photos online showing Richard with plesiosaur fossils. In this one he’s examining bones of the Scunthorpe pliosaur at North Lincolnshire Museum. Image: (c) North Lincolnshire Museum.
This is a huge shock and a major loss. Richard is a notable person in the British Mesozoic research community, known in particular for his work on plesiosaurs (and other marine reptiles) (e.g., Benson et al. 2013, Forrest 1998, 2000, 2003a, b, c, 2005, Forrest & Oliver 2003) and his significant role in running, organising and archiving conferences and meetings, in particular SVPCA (the Symposium on Vertebrate Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy). Richard hosted the website for that meeting and was responsible for archiving images and recollections from years past. A brief celebration of Richard’s interests and work formed the focus of a Guardian article published in 2024.
Caption: some reasonably bad photos featuring Richard, and taken at various of the SVPCA meetings. At left, an especially bad one from 2001, taken at the Square Tower in Portsmouth (Darren Naish at left, Richard Forrest at right). At right, Richard with noted palaeoartist Bob Nicholls at SVPCA Oxford, September 2012.
I've known Richard since the late 1990s and he was a mentor, advisor and friend to many of us. At this point in his life and career, he was – whether he liked it or not – regarded as a pillar of the British Mesozoic marine scene and a wise old Gandalfian holder of skill and knowledge. Trained as an architect and an expert at compiling databases, Richard did a massive amount to build collaborations, helped with excavations across the UK, and was also great at passing on his advice and enthusiasm for the subject. He was warm and welcoming and promoted inclusion, collaboration and the role of amateurs in science. In short, he was exactly the sort of person you want in a field like palaeontology: passionate and interested, careful and always aiming to improve his skill and knowledge, respectful of data and detail but always prepared to consider outside and left-field ideas, keen to work with professionals and institutions as well as amateurs and people wholly new to the field, and appropriately supportive of everyone he was connected to. He was an expert preparator as well as a publishing researcher.
Caption: Richard (in the middle, with blue t-shirt) was one of many people who worked hard at Jeff Liston’s 2002 Star Pit excavation of Ariston the Leedsichthys specimen. None of my photos are good but it should be obvious from this one that torrential rain put an end to the day’s work on this occasion. Image: Darren Naish.
We were actively working together on a very exciting project and he also attended TetZooCon on several occasions; he gave a talk at the 2023 event (which included a Mesozoic marine reptiles selection of talks).
Caption: Richard Forrest (RIP Jan 2026) at right, with Darren (left) and Neil Gostling (centre) during July 2025. Photo taken near Neil’s office at the University of Southampton.
Richard leaves behind a substantial family; condolences to everyone there. I only know his wife Sue but am aware that he had many children and grandchildren. My photos are a random mix from the 2000s and 2010s (the oldest is from 2001) plus others that are more recent. I'm sure that longer and more adept obits will appear in time... farewell old friend, you will be much missed.
Please add thoughts and recollections below, and thank you for doing so.
Refs - -
Forrest, R. 1998. A possible early elasmosaurian plesiosaur from the Triassic/Jurassic boundary of Nottinghamshire. Mercian Geologist 14, 135-143.
Forrest, R. 2000. A large rhomaleosaurid pliosaur from the Upper Lias of Rutland. Mercian Geologist 15, 37-40.
Forrest, R. 2003a. Evidence for scavenging by the marine crocodile Metriorhynchus on the carcass of a plesiosaur. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association 114, 363-366.
Forrest, R. 2003b. Notes on a specimen of the plesiosaur Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus (Reptilia; Plesiosauria) from the Lower Lias of Charmouth. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 125, 101-104.
Forrest, R. 2003c. Taphonomic distortion of cervical vertebrae of a specimen of Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus (Reptilia; Plesiosauria) from the Lower Lias of Charmouth. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 125, 105-108.
Forrest, R. 2005. The application of multivariate analysis in the reconstruction of the skeleton of a specimen of Muraenosaurus cf. leedsi. The Quarterly Journal of the Dinosaur Society 4 (3), 22-29.
Forrest, R. & Oliver, N. 2003. Ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs from the Lower Spilsby Sandstone Member (Upper Jurassic), north Lincolnshire. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society 54, 269-275.
