Page 29 - Spring 2015
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Gay Great – Anne Lister
This year’s LGBT History month focuses in on
four famous faces that represent the breadth,
talent and importance of the gay community
in history. One of the faces is Anne Lister,
a diarist whose work documents the early
beginnings of lesbian identity.
Anne Lister was born on 3rd April in 1791,
the second child of Jeremy Lister and his
wife Rebecca. Over the early years of her
life, Anne was joined by five other siblings.
But sadly, only her and her sister Marion
survived into adulthood. As the elder of the
two sisters, Anne was set to inherit the family
seat, Shibden Hall, a 15th century manor
house in West Yorkshire. As the heir and the
eldest child, her parents also provided her
with a good education and she was sent to a
prestigious school in York. It was there that
Anne met Eliza Raine, her first love and best
friend. Her friendship with Eliza drew Anne
to an early conclusion that she was attracted to
women rather than men.
In 1826 at the age of 35 she inherited Shibden
Hall. The estate drew a good income from
various tenants and her new portfolio also
included several mining industries and houses
in town and city centres. This left her well off
and able to set about renovating the family
home. She commissioned a local landscape
gardener to re-design the gardens. She also had
a Gothic tower designed in which to house a
library. Anne also had a tunnel dug under the
house so that staff would not disturb her while
she was reading in her new library.
Anne was a keen diarist and she documented
her life in great detail, often in a code she had
developed, which was a mixture of Greek and
Algebra. Her diaries covered 1806-1840 and
totalled an estimated four million words. In the
pages, she talks about various lesbian lovers,
the first significant being Marianna Lawton.
The relationship lasted for some time, but sadly
Anne’s heart was broken when Marianna was
married. Although her new husband tolerated
the relationship for a while, Anne and
Marianna eventually parted.
Her next lover was wealthy heiress Ann
Walker. She was much more independent
than Marianna and the two lived together as
a couple as openly as they could. Anne and
her partner strived to live a lifestyle that was
not yet invented. Years before the concept of a
‘lesbian’ had come to the public consciousness,
Anne decided that she would follow her desires
for women. The couple even carried out a
marriage ceremony and for the rest of their
lives, referred to the other as their ‘wife’.
Anne also loved to travel and she in fact made
quite a name for herself in France as a climber.
In 1830 she was the first female to climb Mont
Perdu on the French/Spanish boarder. Eight
years later she was also the first female to scale
Vignemale, the highest French peek in the
Pyrenees.
Anne’s life was tragically cut short when
she fell ill on a trip to Russia and died of a
fever. Her body was brought back to the UK
by Ann and buried in St Anne’s Church in
Southowram, West Yorkshire. Remarkably for
the day, Shibden Hall was inherited by Ann
who looked after it until her death 14 years
later.
Anne’s life was remarkable because she boldly
refused to follow the rules of society that didn’t
suit her. She was one of the first business
women in the UK, took part in one of the
first same-sex weddings and lived an openly
gay life, which was unheard of at the time. He
writings have been described as ‘the Dead Sea
scrolls of lesbian history’ and are considered
so important, they are now protected by the
UNESCO Memory of the World Programme.
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