Fans of the TV series ‘Gentleman Jack’ and those who have read and loved the ‘Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister’ will be pleased to hear that Anne Lister has come to Totnes!

Not by way of actress Suranne Jones, who played Anne in the TV drama, but via the life-like, patinated foundry bronze maquette created by local sculptor, Ama Menec.

Ama’s maquette of Anne – an English diarist famed for revelations for which she was dubbed ‘the first modern lesbian’ - is on display at the Bowie Gallery in the town’s high street.

Ama said: “This will be her first public showing since I finished sculpting her at home in Totnes, and her first in full technicolour, or as far as that is possible given Anne Lister habitually only ever wore black.

“The curators at the Totnes Museum of Costume were fantastic at helping me understand Regency dress, but also the language of colour of those times.

“Julia Fox pointed out that wearing black was in no way ‘masculine’ during the Regency period, when men were dandies, but rather an indication to young men that she was not ‘on the market’ when it came to marrying them.

“I’m indebted to her for her advice in such things, and for the opportunity to explore the internal workings of a splendid Regency gown in their collection.”

Ama continued: “Whilst some in Totnes may already know there is now a public statue of Anne Lister in Calderdale, mine expresses her archetypal Aries energy, has been maturing and evolving since 2018, and includes her secret code as well as her ascent of Vignemale, (she being the 1st to officially do so in 1832), which will feature in the upcoming second series of ‘Gentleman Jack’.

“My sculpture is, hopefully, destined for the University of York’s newly built Anne Lister College where her energy and drive will, I hope, encourage young students to strive to become the best of themselves they can be, as Anne Lister did, and to see learning also as a life-long activity not limited by their time at university.

“Anne Lister of course was not allowed to attend any university in her day, despite being a precocious scholar when at school, and becoming a polymath in her adult life.

“To Anne Lister, nothing was beneath being worthy of study, and the breadth of all that she learned was included in her diaries.”

Ama sculpture of Anne sees her holding one of her diaries in her right hand and wearing a ‘travelling cap’.

Ama said: “As well as a pelisse and gown, and shockingly for her times no petticoats, Anne Lister is also wearing a black casquette or ‘travelling cap’.

“This item of apparel gave me more trouble in researching than the rest of her clothing put together.

“As Anne lived to travel and felt liberated and the most herself when doing so, I decided to go with a travelling cap, which she does mention wearing when travelling, particularly when at sea.

“Around the outside edge of the base is probably the most famous quote from her diaries which begins “I love and only love the fairer sex,” the original being written in her coded ‘crypt hand’, along with a cursive translation.”

Ama added: “Despite this sculpture taking so long to make (smaller does not mean quicker I found out, it just means it’s a lot fiddlier) there were last minute dramatic changes, particularly with the coat flaps, which came to mirror the landscape she strides over, most particularly that of the face and side of Vignemale, the highest peak in the French Pyrenees.

“Anne Lister, as ever, kept me on my toes right until the finish line!”