Born: 3 April 1791, United Kingdom
Died: 22 September 1840
Country most active: United Kingdom
Also known as: NA
The following bio was written by Emma Rosen, author of On This Day She Made History: 366 Days With Women Who Shaped the World and This Day In Human Ingenuity & Discovery: 366 Days of Scientific Milestones with Women in the Spotlight, and has been republished with permission.
Anne Lister was an English diarist known for being recognized as “the first modern lesbian.”
Born into a minor landowning family in Shibden, Calderdale, West Riding of Yorkshire, Lister had multiple lesbian relationships starting from her school days, often during extended trips abroad. She had a muscular and androgynous appearance, dressed exclusively in black, and was highly educated. She earned the nickname “Gentleman Jack,” though it was not always kindly intended. Her most significant relationship was with Ann Walker, with whom she had an informal union on Easter Sunday (30 March) 1834 at Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate, York, an event now celebrated as the beginning of lesbian marriage in Britain.
Lister’s diaries provide valuable insights into the daily life of West Yorkshire, chronicling her efforts in renovating Shibden Hall and her diverse interests, including medicine, mathematics, landscaping, mining, railways, and canals. Many of her entries were written in a code that remained undeciphered until long after her death. These candid accounts of lesbian relationships were initially met with skepticism and thought to be a hoax until their authenticity was confirmed.
In 2011, Lister’s diaries were included in the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme register. Their significance lies in their dual role as a valuable historical record and an exceptionally candid portrayal of lesbian life and self-reflection. These diaries have played a pivotal role in shaping the field of UK Gender Studies and Women’s History, both in the past and ongoing.
The following is excerpted from Infinite Women creator Allison Tyra’s book Uncredited: Women’s Overlooked, Misattributed, and Stolen Work.
A family member’s approval or disapproval can hold great power, as seen in the case of lesbian Anne Lister and her coded diaries. More than 50 years after her 1840 death, her family home was occupied by a distant relative, John Lister, who deciphered the diaries with the help of an antiquarian, Arthur Burrell. Burrell later recounted that “The part written in cipher – turned out after examination to be entirely unpublishable. Mr Lister was distressed but he refused to take my advice, which was that he should burn all 26 volumes. He was as you know an antiquarian and my suggestion seemed sacrilege, which perhaps it was.” Instead, he placed the diaries back behind the wall panel where Anne herself had hidden them decades earlier. This one seemingly small act preserved for future generations one of the most complete known accounts of a historical queer person’s life.
IW note: Because Lister’s gender identity is debated in modern times, we have chosen to tag her as potentially non-binary and/or transgender. This is not meant to indicate we believe that she definitively was, but an acknowledgement that she may have been.