Walker was 12 years younger than Lister and, by all accounts, a whole lot shyer. The women had been acquaintances for several years. On Easter Sunday, 1834, Lister married Ann Walker in what is often cited as the first lesbian wedding in recorded British history. Portrait by Joshua Horner - GLBTQ Encyclopedia, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons She and Ann Walker married in 1834 in what is often cited as the first lesbian wedding in recorded British history. (Its peak is 11,007 feet above sea level.) Eight years later, she became the first amateur climber to ever scale the Vignemale, an almost equally tall summit in the same range. In 1830, Lister earned the distinction of becoming the first woman to ascend Mount Perdu, the third highest mountain in the Pyrenees Range. She preserved the bits in rectified spirits and kept them in a cabinet she obtained especially, which also contained a skeleton and several skulls." 5. “Anne, who had kissed so many women, took on the dissection of the face. According to Angela Steidele’s 2018 book, The Gentleman Jack: A Biography of Anne Lister, Regency Landowner, Seducer and Secret Diarist, the eager pupil cut open a deceased rabbit, a severed human hand, a disembodied ear, and “a woman’s head.” “It is not known where the head came from,” Steidele wrote. On one of her extended trips to Paris, Lister was often seen attending scientific lectures, where she deepened her knowledge of everything from zoology to mineralogy. As an anatomy student, Lister once dissected a human head. She handled its finances, oversaw its coal deposits and quarries, profited off of the onsite canals and timber, and collected rent from its tenants right up until her death in 1840. When her uncle James passed away in 1826, the job of managing Shibden Hall (and its surrounding 400 acres) fell to Lister. Lister moved into the estate in 1815, after the untimely deaths of all four of her brothers. Growing up, Lister would frequently visit Shibden Hall, the brick-and-timber mansion that was the home of her aunt and uncle, who had no children of his own. Tim Green from Bradford - Shibden Hall, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons She ran her family's estate for more than a decade. She felt that the dark garments complimented her wiry physique, and in 1817, Lister-then 26 years old-declared, “I have entered upon my plan of always wearing black.” 3. Even though it was seen as a masculine color at the time, Lister filled her wardrobe with black bodices and long coats. She further defied convention by sporting lots and lots of black. Because she moved at a brisk pace and enjoyed long walks through the countryside (she reportedly walked 25 miles in a single outing on at least one occasion), she tended to wear thick, leather boots, which were generally deemed unladylike. Lister's era was one full of whalebone corsets and restrictive petticoats, yet her personal style emphasized function over form. ![]() Traditionally “feminine” clothing just wasn’t Lister’s style. By watching the listener’s reaction, Lister could often predict if her advances would be successful. ![]() While flirting, she used to gauge the other party’s interest by mentioning books or plays that dealt with LGBTQ issues-like the writings of Juvenal, a Roman poet who had some pretty strong opinions about homosexuality. Courting them wasn’t always easy, but Lister had her methods. Before she eventually settled down with heiress Ann Walker, Lister won the hearts of numerous other women. “I love and only love the fairer sex, and thus beloved by them in turn, my heart revolts from any love but theirs,” Lister wrote in her diary in 1820. Anne Lister used her love of books as a compatibility test. Here are 10 things you should know about Anne Lister. Due in part to her rather masculine fashion sense, Lister was nicknamed “Gentleman Jack.” Which also happens to be the title of a new HBO series based on her life, starring the brilliant Suranne Jones ( Doctor Foster, Coronation Street). Often described as the “first modern lesbian,” Lister had a number of same-sex relationships, as chronicled in her gripping, 26-volume diary. ![]() But it’s her love life that she’s mainly remembered for today. Anne Lister was one of the 19th century's most intriguing characters: she was a businesswoman, a mountaineer, a world traveler, and a science enthusiast.
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