On this week’s DIVA Dating Digest, we take a look at the first modern lesbian’s love life which inspired the hit show Gentleman Jack
BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGE BY THE BBC
Happy LGBT+ History Month! On this week’s DIVA Dating Digest, we’re taking you back to the 1800s to look at the love life of one of our favourite lesbians in herstory: Anne Lister. For those of you who haven’t binge-watched BBC’s Gentleman Jack a hundred times, Anne Lister was the unapologetically audacious landowner of 19th-century England who not only managed her vast estates but also navigated the complex landscape of love.
Often referred to as the “first modern lesbian”, Anne wasn’t one to conform to the societal norms of her time. With a keen intellect, a passion for mountaineering, and a penchant for coded diaries, Anne Lister left an indelible mark on history, not just for her savvy management of Yorkshire’s Shibden Hall but also for the daring romance that unfolded within its historic walls.
Strap in for a rollercoaster ride through the love life of a woman who wasn’t afraid to break the mould, leaving a legacy that still captivates and intrigues.
Eliza Raine
Anne found her first love at boarding school at the age of 15. Eliza Raine was the daughter of William Raine, a surgeon with the East India Company. She was banished to England from India at the age of six to be “Englished”.
The pair shared a room at Manor School and quickly formed an intense connection. Their love story was so powerful that it inspired the author Emma Donoghue to write a novel about them entitled Learned By Heart.
Eliza and Anne continued to correspond after school. Like most first loves, this story has a rather tragic end. When Eliza discovered that Anne was seeing another woman, she suffered from intense mental decline and checked herself into a private asylum. She was written off as incurably mad and stayed in the institution until her death.
Isabella ‘Tib’ Norcliffe
Around 1810, Anne met Isabella Norcliffe and the pair quickly became friends. Known as Tib, she was the daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Norcliffe Dalton. While we don’t know too much about the nature of their relationship, we do know that they continued to be occasional lovers throughout their lives. Some believe that Anne rejected Isabella as a life partner, which was such a devastating blow to Tib that she never married.
In a journal entry written in 1818, Anne wrote about a letter she had sent to Isabella: “My letter of today is certainly more affectionate than any I have written her of long…I have always loved her in spite of all and now that circumstances have so far alienated me from M- [Mariana], Isabella’s fondness, fortune and connections, if her temper be grown rather more tractable, will make me happy. I almost begin to feel that we shall get together at last.”
Mariana Belcombe
Speaking of Mariana…. Anne’s next relationship was possibly her most passionate. In 1812, at a party at Langton Hall, Mariana was introduced to Anne. It was love at first sight. The women even vowed to spend their whole lives together. However, in March 1816 Mariana married Charles Lawton. The pair continued their love affair despite this.
In a journal entry from 1826, Anne wrote: “To the world she appears exemplary. Alas the world knows not our connection and how we have always cheated Charles. Our intercourse is what? Adultery. And when she leaves him, it is to come to me. I am attached to her. She has my heart and faith.”
Ann Walker
Possibly Anne’s most famous relationship and the one which inspired the hit show Gentleman Jack, Anne began courting Ann in 1832. The pair lived together in Shibden Hall, and soon had exchanged rings and gotten “married”. In her journal, Anne wrote: “I shall be thankful to heaven for the mercy of bringing me home, having first saved me from Vere, rid me of M- [Mariana], and set me at liberty. We shall have money enough.”
“She will look up to me and soon feel attached and I, after all my turmoils, shall be steady and, if God so wills it, happy….I can gently mould Miss W- to my wishes – and may we not be happy? How strange the fate of things! If after all, my companion for life should be Miss Walker – she was nine and twenty a little while ago! How little my aunt or anyone suspects what I am about!”
Anne died of fever in Russia not long after in 1840, leaving Ann to inherit her estate.
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