Samuel Husbands Beckles (12 April 1814, Barbados – 4 September 1890, Hastings) was a Bajan/English 19th century lawyer, turned
dinosaur hunter, who collected remains in
Sussex and the
Isle of Wight. In 1854 he described bird-like
trackways that he thought could have been made by dinosaurs, which he later identified as probably those of
Iguanodon in 1862. In 1857, following the discovery of a mammal jaw at
Durlston Bay, he directed a major excavation that became known as 'Beckles' Pit', removing five metres of
overburden over a 600 square metre area, one of the largest ever scientific excavations. The collection of mammal fossils that resulted is now mainly held at the
Natural History Museum. He discovered the small
herbivorous dinosaur
Echinodon. The only known species
Echinodon becklesii, the mammal
Plagiaulax becklesii and the dinosaur
Becklespinax were named in his honour.