Gentleman Jack creator Sally Wainwright's call for Anne Lister's burial spot to be found

Yorkshire landowner Anne Lister has posthumously shot to fame as the central character of Sally Wainwright’s Gentleman Jack. But two centuries on, it is not known exactly where she is buried.

Now, the writer who has made Lister a global phenomenon is urging the vicar of Halifax to help find the heroine’s final resting place.

Speaking as flowers were laid at The Piece Hall on Sunday to mark Anne Lister’s 231st birthday, Wainwright called for the pioneering former owner of Shibden Hall’s remains to be found and her grave restored.

Lister’s grave was desecrated in the 1870s, only 30 years after she died.

Gilbert Scott was employed to refurbish the church and a number of gravestones were pulled up and destroyed or broken for that refurbishment. Lister’s was one of them.

The broken gravestone has since been found but not put back where it was originally because it has not been established where she lies.

Wainwright said: “This is a very public appeal by me to the vicar of Halifax, to really engage with and get behind the passion there is to locate the exact spot of Anne Lister’s final resting place, and for the church to correct the past and restore her grave – as much as that is possible – to its original state before it was smashed up and removed.

"I’d love to establish a ceremony, a ritual, a tradition, whereby we – Lister Sisters (and Misters), Anne Lister scholars, Anne Lister and Ann Walker acolytes and fans, Gentleman Jack fans, people passionate about local history, and anyone who cares about the truth – bring flowers to lay here, around her statue.

“In the hope that one day (as our tradition continues) we will be able to lay them on her grave, in the Minster, knowing that we are laying them as close to her mortal remains as we possibly can.”

The vicar of Halifax, The Reverend Canon Hilary Barber, said: “The Minster has been delighted to support the Anne Lister Birthday Week Festival and to host guided tours and a number of specific events as part of the festival.

“Anne Lister is alongside many other notable people who are buried in the Minster, whose lives we celebrate and whose place of burial remains sacred. Sally Wainwright is most welcome to visit the Minster at any time to discuss Anne’s resting place in this great memory palace we call Halifax Minster.”

Meanwhile, Wainwright thanked Gentleman Jack fans for their messages about the show.

“I haven’t quite got the language to express what a wonderful, overwhelming experience it’s been to have felt this tsunami of love and appreciation that’s come from so many people from all over the world in response to the show,” she said.

“And I want you to know how much we all – all of us who work on Gentleman Jack – truly appreciate the letters and messages and the stories, so many brilliant, uplifting, moving stories, that you’ve shared with us.”

Hundreds of Anne Lister and Gentleman Jack fans joined Wainwright, Piece Hall Trust Chief Executive Nicky Chance-Thompson and the High Sheriff of West Yorkshire, Clive Lloyd, at The Piece Hall for the ceremony at the statue of Anne Lister, which was unveiled last year.

Local folk musicians O’Hooley and Tidow – the talent behind the Gentleman Jack theme song – were also there, as well as actress Grace Peacock, who plays Jane Washington in Gentleman Jack.

The TV show’s stars, Suranne Jones and Sophie Rundle, sent bouquets and messages and hundreds of people flocked to Calderdale last week for events marking the heroine’s birthday.

Series two of Gentleman Jack starts this Sunday (April 10) on BBC One.