Ann Walker
Born(1803-05-20)20 May 1803
Lightcliffe, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Died25 February 1854(1854-02-25) (aged 50)
Lightcliffe, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Resting placeOld St Matthew's Churchyard, Lightcliffe, West Yorkshire, England
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Landowner, philanthropist
Partner(s)Anne Lister
(1834–1840; Lister's death)

Ann Walker (20 May 1803 – 25 February 1854) was an Englishwoman, married in Britain's first known lesbian wedding, to diarist and fellow Yorkshire landowner Anne Lister. Their union was solemnised by taking the sacrament together on Easter Sunday in 1834 at Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate, York, which bears a commemorative plaque acknowledging the event. Walker inherited half of her family's estate, Crow Nest, located in Lightcliffe, West Yorkshire, near Shibden Hall, Lister's family estate, in Calderdale. Both women inherited their respective estates during the early 19th century, when primogeniture, the custom of granting lands and property to the oldest surviving son, dominated European law and society. They were travelling abroad together when Lister fell ill and died. Research into their diaries and letters suggest Walker may have experienced bouts of anxiety and depression throughout portions of her life.

Early life

Ann Walker was born on 20 May 1803 in Lightcliffe, West Riding of Yorkshire to John and Mary Walker (née Edwards).[1] She was baptised on 1 July 1803 at Old St Matthew's Church, Lightcliffe and lived her early years at Cliffe Hill with her parents, older sisters Mary and Elizabeth, and younger brother John, until her family moved to Crow Nest when she was six years old.[1] Ann's sister Mary died 1 February 1815. Ann was 19 when her father died on 22 April 1823, and her mother died later that same year on 3 November 1823, when Ann was 20. Ann's brother John inherited Crow Nest, the family's estate. In early November 1828, Ann's sister Elizabeth married Captain George Mackay Sutherland and moved to Ayrshire.[1] Subsequently, after the death of their younger brother John while on his honeymoon in Naples, Italy in 1830, Ann and her sister Elizabeth became sole inheritors of the Crow Nest Estate, offering significant wealth.[1] Ann continued to live at Crow Nest through her 20s, until 1831, when she moved into Lidgate, a smaller home on the estate. It was at Lidgate that Anne Lister began to court Ann after a re-acquaintance on 6 July 1832.[2]

Marriage

Walker and Lister became neighbours when Lister moved to Shibden Hall in 1815, but met only occasionally.[3] It wasn't until 1832 that the pair became involved in a romantic and sexual relationship.[2] Their relationship intensified over the next few months. Walker and Lister exchanged vows on 10 February 1834,[1] the date they considered their union official, and exchanged rings on 27 February 1834[4] as a symbol of their commitment to one another. They took communion together in Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate, York on Easter Sunday (30 March) in 1834 to seal their union, considering themselves married.[4] The building now displays a commemorative rainbow plaque.[5] Walker gave up her family home to be with Lister and moved to Shibden Hall, Lister's ancestral home, about September 1834. The couple travelled widely together until Lister's death, age 49, in Georgia in 1840.[1] Walker had Lister's body shipped, six months[4] by land and sea, back to England so that Lister could be interred in the same church as her beloved aunt and uncle in Halifax. Lister's will gave Walker a life interest in Shibden Hall and its estate.[6]

Faith and philanthropy

Walker's Anglican faith was important to her, as were her philanthropic endeavours. She worshipped regularly at St Matthew's Church in Lightcliffe throughout her life, and read prayers and scripture to her family and servants on Sundays.[7] Walker was fond of children and created her own Sunday school.[1] She took great care of her servants and tenants, as is evidenced by letters written back home while she was travelling abroad in 1839–1840, where she lists out the gifts that each of them should be given for Christmas in her absence.[7][8]

Mental health

Walker struggled with mental health issues throughout her life. She was prone to bouts of anxiety and depression, which appeared in part to be linked to her religious faith.[4] Walker struggled to accept her own sexuality, which put additional strain on her mental health as well as her relationship with Lister. On 1 November 1832, Walker faced a difficult decision to choose to be with Lister or accept a traditional marriage with a man:[4]

Sat by her on the sofa, both of us perpetually with silent tears trickling down our cheeks. She quite undecided, fearing she should not be so happy with him as she might have been. Never knew till now how much she was attached to me ... Torturing herself with all the miseries of not knowing what to do, she said how beautifully I behaved ... She said there was as something in me she liked better than in him. Felt repugnance to forming any connection with the other sex.[9]

In 1843, three years after the death of Lister, with deteriorating mental health and a series of legal troubles, Walker left Shibden Hall and briefly stayed at Terrace House, a private House in Osbaldwick, near York. She was declared to be of 'unsound mind' shortly afterwards. She returned to Shibden Hall in 1845, after living in the London area with her sister and brother-in-law for a while. In 1848, Walker moved back to her family's estate in Lightcliffe after her aunt's death, living at Cliffe Hill until her own death in 1854.[10]

Death

refer to caption
The remaining tower from Old St Matthew's Church, Lightcliffe (the rest has been demolished), where Ann Walker's brass memorial plaque now hangs

Walker died on 25 February 1854, aged 50. Her death certificate states her cause of death as 'congestion of the brain, effusion'. She was buried on 3 March 1854 under the reading pulpit of the Old St Matthew's Church, Lightcliffe.[11] Ann's parents John (d. 22 April 1823) and Mary (d. 3 November 1823), siblings William (d. 26 April 1798) and Mary (d. 1 February 1815), niece Mary Sutherland (d. 16 June 1845), as well as her aunt Ann Walker (d. 29 October 1847), are buried in the Old St Matthew's Churchyard.[12][11] The Old St Matthew's Church was demolished by the church authorities in 1974, although the tower still remains, and Ann's original brass memorial plaque now hangs in the tower of the Old St Matthew's Church. A special viewing of the brass memorial plaque took place on Saturday, 14 September 2019 when the tower was opened to the public for the first time since its closure in the 1970s.[13] Ann's brother John (d. 19 January 1830) died in Naples on his honeymoon, nephews John Walker Sutherland (d. 1836) and George Sackville Sutherland (d. 1843) died in Scotland, and sister Elizabeth (d. 1844) died in London.[12][11]

Legacy

No known portraits of Walker exist, but a few of her letters are held in the West Yorkshire Archives. Walker kept a journal of which one volume was discovered on 20 October 2020 among the Rawson Family Collection (WYC:1525/7/1/5/1)[14] by research group In Search of Ann Walker. It was verified on 23 October 2020 by the West Yorkshire Archive Service,[15][16] which holds the collection as well as Anne Lister's diaries. Much of what is known about Walker comes from the journals of Lister, who kept detailed diaries throughout her adult life.[17]

Popular culture

Gentleman Jack is a historical drama television series created by Sally Wainwright, co-produced by HBO and Lookout Point (for the BBC),[18] and starring Suranne Jones as landowner and industrialist Anne Lister and Sophie Rundle[19] as wealthy neighbouring heiress Ann Walker. The series begins in 1832 in Halifax, West Yorkshire and is based on the collected diaries of Lister, which contain over five million words,[20] one-sixth of which are written in code.[21] Series 1 premiered on 22 April 2019 in the United States, and on 19 May 2019 in the United Kingdom. It was renewed for a second series by BBC One on 23 May 2019.[22] Penguin Books published a companion volume to the series Gentleman Jack: The Real Anne Lister by the series' senior consultant, Anne Choma, which includes newly transcribed and decoded entries from Lister's diaries.[4] The drama's end credits acknowledge that it was "inspired by the books Female Fortune and Nature's Domain" by Jill Liddington, who acted as consultant and whose own website summarises Lister's extraordinary life as "dazzling worldly achievements plus unbuttoned lesbian affairs."[23] O'Hooley & Tidow's song "Gentleman Jack" serves as the series' primary theme music.

Walker is portrayed by Christine Bottomley in the 2010 BBC Two biographical drama The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Liddington, Jill (1998). Female Fortune: Land, Gender and Authority: The Anne Lister Diaries and Other Writings, 1833–36. Rivers Oram Press. pp. 30, 31, 35–36, 92–93, 197, 273. ISBN 9781854890894. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
  2. ^ a b Liddington, Jill (2003). Nature's Domain: Anne Lister and the Landscape of Desire. Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire: Pennine Pens. ISBN 1873378483. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
  3. ^ Whitbread, Helena (2012). The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister. Virago Press. pp. 24, 115, 117, 138, 169, 170, 206, 355. ISBN 978-1844087198. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Choma, Anne (2019). Gentleman Jack: The Real Anne Lister. PenguinRandomhouse. pp. 62, 182–183, 305–306, 311, 313. ISBN 9780143134565. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
  5. ^ "Anne Lister: Reworded York plaque for 'first lesbian'". BBC News. 28 February 2019. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  6. ^ Sherwood, Harriet (28 July 2018). "Recognition at last for Gentleman Jack, Britain's 'first modern lesbian'". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
  7. ^ a b Euler, Catherine (1995). Moving Between Worlds: Gender, Class, Politics, Sexuality and Women's Networks in the Diaries of Anne Lister of Shibden Hall, Halifax, Yorkshire, 1830–1840 (PhD). University of York. pp. 209, 311–312.
  8. ^ Letter from Ann Walker to Booth, 17 December 1840. Stored at West Yorkshire Archives, ref: SH:7/LL/406. Transcribed by Anne Choma July 2019.
  9. ^ Page from the diary of Anne Lister, 1 Jan 1832 – 12 Jan 1833, 1 November 1832. Stored at West Yorkshire Archives, ref: SH:7/ML/E/15/0137. Decoded and transcribed by Anne Choma 2019.
  10. ^ Halford, Diane (6 June 2021). "Where was Ann Walker after Anne Lister's death?". In Search of Ann Walker. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  11. ^ a b c Barker, D.M. (2018). "Ann Walker, Anne Lister and St Matthew's Church, Lightcliffe" (PDF). www.lightcliffechurchyard.org.uk. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  12. ^ a b Barker, D.M. (2018). "The Walkers of Crow Nest" (PDF). www.lightcliffechurchyard.org.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2019. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
  13. ^ "A rare opportunity". Friends of Friendless Churches. Archived from the original on 11 November 2019. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
  14. ^ Journal of Ann Walker, Including Journals in France and Switzerland with Anne Lister [Previously attributed to Anne Lister], June 1834–February 1835. Stored at West Yorkshire Archives, ref: WYC:1525/7/1/5/1.
  15. ^ Newton, Grace (26 October 2020). "Amateur historian sensationally discovers 'Gentleman Jack' Anne Lister's wife Ann Walker's secret diaries hidden in plain sight". Yorkshire Post. ISSN 0963-1496. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  16. ^ Halford, Diane (23 October 2020). "WE FOUND IT!!!". In Search of Ann Walker. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  17. ^ Tansley, Alexa (2019). "About The Ann Walker Memorial Foundation". www.annwalkermemorialfoundation.org. Ann Walker Memorial Foundation. Archived from the original on 6 November 2019. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  18. ^ Deehan, Tom (30 April 2018). "BBC/HBO series, Gentleman Jack, to film in the UK and Denmark". The Location Guide. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  19. ^ Petski, Denise (26 April 2018). "'Gentleman Jack': Sophie Rundle, Gemma Whelan, Timothy West & Gemma Jones To Co-Star in BBC-HBO Series; Full Cast Set". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  20. ^ "Anne Lister – An Introduction – Catablogue". 18 September 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  21. ^ "The life and loves of Shibden Hall's Anne Lister". BBC News. BBC. 25 May 2010. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  22. ^ Media Centre (23 May 2019). "Gentleman Jack to return for a second series, following its hugely successful debut on BBC One" (Press release). BBC. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  23. ^ Liddington, Jill. "Who was Anne Lister?". Retrieved 5 December 2019.

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