Mary Anning campaigner plans book of notable Dorset women

Hundreds of people turned out to see the unveiling of the Mary Anning statue in 2022

Campaigners who successfully fundraised for a statue of palaeontologist Mary Anning are planning a book to celebrate more notable women from Dorset.

Anya Pearson co-ordinated the project which led to Anning's statue being unveiled in Lyme Regis in 2022.

She wants more women to be represented in public art and her latest campaign for a statue in Dorchester received 48 suggestions of potential subjects.

Ms Pearson said all those nominated would be the subject of a book.

The Dorchester "Sheroes" campaign issued a revised shortlist of six candidates, including 20th-century novelist and LGBTQ+ pioneer Sylvia Townsend Warner and 19th-century nurse Ann Keates, who was praised for her compassion and bravery during the Battle of Waterloo.

Mary Anning's statue was unveiled in her home town of Lyme Regis

Ms Pearson, who lives in Dorchester, will be inviting residents vote for which woman, or women, they want immortalised in bronze.

She said: "Because of the amazing women who were nominated, we intend to publish a book celebrating them all."

Ms Pearson previously said the statues in Dorchester represented "six men, one dog, a queen and a horse" and there were no "non-royal depictions of any remarkable Dorset women".

The project is being supported by Mark Chutter, chairman and academic director of The Thomas Hardy Society.

The Sheroes shortlist:

• The Dorset Button Makers - From 1622 to 1850 the button industry influenced the lives of hundreds of women in Dorset.

• Aileen Chevalier Preston - The first woman to acquire a Royal Automobile Certificate and was Emmeline Pankhurst's chauffeur. She lived in Lower Bockhampton.

• Sylvia Townsend Warner - Novelist, poet, and LGBTQ+ pioneer who lived with her partner Valentine Ackland in Frome Vauchurch and Chaldon Herring.

• Ann Keates/Winzer - A nurse from Fordington who tended to the injured on the battlefield during the Battle of Waterloo.

• Mary Mullet Moule - In the 1800s, with her husband the Rev Henry Moule, she worked with the poor during the cholera epidemic in Fordington to provide better sanitation.

• Sarah Eldridge - In 1837, she created and ran a brewery in Dorchester with her husband, Charles, and continued to run the business independently after his death in 1846.

Source: Dorchester Sheroes