ANNE LISTER: A Diarist Known as the First Modern Lesbian

“What a comfort is this journal. I tell myself to myself and throw the burden on my book and feel relieved.” 

TRQ: Anne Lister, Born April 3, 1791 – September 22 1840

A diarist known for vividly writing about her lesbian experiences, in 1834 Anne Lister became the first woman to marry another woman in England. Though she kept her lesbianism hidden while she was alive, some scholars have named her “the first modern lesbian.” Today she would be considered “butch” as she was muscular, educated, and refused to dress in the feminine clothing of her time. 

Lister was born on April 3, 1971, at New Bank, Halifax, Yorkshire to Captain Jeremy Lister and Rebecca Battle. Her parents were landowners, and she had a sister and two brothers who both later died in 1810 and 1813. 

Lister attended private schools in Ripon and York, where she began keeping coded diaries at age 15. She had her first lesbian experience with Eliza Raine, her schoolfriend at the Manor House School in York. In her writings using the same code, Raine referred to Lister as her “husband.”

Lister started a relationship with Mariana Belcombe in 1814, which continued even after Belcombe’s marriage to Charles Lawton in 1816. In 1815, Lister left her unhappy parental home to live with her aunt and uncle at Shibden Hall. She learned to run the estate, and lived an intensely independent life. Under Revered Samuel Knight, she learned Latin, Greek, algebra and geometry and committed herself to reading literature, philosophy and playing the flute. Lister was the first woman elected to the Halifax Literary and Philosophical Society.

A tory and an Anglican, Lister was embarrassed over her own lack of finances, had a negative opinion of tradesmen, and used the power she had over tenants for political purposes. She started a hotel and sold and leased land for building and business purposes. She also travelled extensively. In 1826, Lister became owner of Shibden after her uncle died. She started a relationship with Ann Walker, who moved to Shibden Hall in 1834. In 1836, Lister became financially independent after the death of her father and aunt.

Lister spent time in Europe during the 1820s-30s. She studied anatomy under Baron Georges Cuvier in Paris, made the first climb of Vignemarle in the Pyrenees, and toured factories, prisons, and orphanages. In 1839 she travelled with Walker through Europe, Russia and Persia. But when they reached the Black Sea, Lister became ill with the plague and poisoning from an insect bite. Lister died in Kutaisi, West Georgia on September 22, 1840.

Lister left Walker an interest in Shibden Hall, but she was removed for mental health reasons. After Walker died, the estate passed onto Listers’ cousins, one of whom was John Lister, national treasurer of the Independent Labour Party. John decrypted the code used by Anne in her diaries, discovering that it was a combination of algebra and the Greek alphabet, which Anne referred to as her ‘crypthand.’

After her death, Lister’s family members began to make parts of her diaries of 27 volumes and 4 million words, public. Following, in the 1980s scholars took interest in the diaries for their relevance to women’s history, lesbian studies, and local economics. Helena Whitbread decoded and transcrived the diaries over a five year period and was the first researcher to publish the coded passages of the diaries. 

In 2011, UNESCO Memory of the World Programme added Lister’s decoded diaries to their register. The diaries rank alongside those of Caroline Walker and Elizabeth Wadsworth in their important perspective on the times. In 2018, the Holy Trinity Church in York unveiled a blue plaque recognizing Lister’s marriage to Walker. In 2019, BBC-HBO presented Gentleman Jack, named after a derogatory nickname, depicting Lister’s life based on books by Jill Liddington and starring Suranne Jones. 

About the Authors

Troy Wise is currently a PhD student at UAL Central St Martins and teaches fashion and graphic design at London College of Contemporary Arts. His background is in marketing and is founder and co-editor of Image Amplified. He lives in, and is continually fascinated by, the city of London.

Rick Guzman earned his most recent MA at UAL Central St Martins in Applied Imagination in the Creative Industries. He currently holds two MA’s and an MBA in the New Media, Journalism and International Business fields. Co-editor at Image Amplified since its start, he lives in London, is fascinated by history and is motivated by continuing to learn and explore. 

Sources:

Anne Lister

ArtUK

BBC

OxfordDNB

Rictor Norton

UNESCO