For LGBT+ History Month, dig into this famous lesbian’s words
BY CAROLINA MENDONCA, IMAGE BY BBC
Before the world of niche lesbian terminology and decked out carabiners, lesbians flocked to creative ways of communicating with each other. One of the most notable figures to do so was the Yorkshire born Anne Lister, an heiress of Shibden Hall in Halifax, and the muse behind the BBC’s Gentleman Jack series.
Lister was an avid diarist, with her diaries spanning over 26 volumes and five million words. These narrate tales of her life as an independent landowner, businesswoman, traveller and lesbian of course. Lister famously wrote that “I love & only love the fairer sex & thus beloved by them in turn, my heart revolts from any other love than theirs” in January 1821. Around a sixth of her diaries are written in a secret code that Lister termed “crypt hand” which she used to express the most intimate elements of her life.
Having been originally devised by Lister in order to communicate with her first girlfriend, Eliza Raine, the code is composed of a mixture of Greek and algebraic symbols. The first notes in which their code was used capture the adolescent turbulence of a sapphic’s first love, with the pair referring to each other as husband and wife. Ah, Yorkshire’s first lesbian boyfriend. The code was then routinely used by Lister to unabashedly depict her various romantic and sexual experiences with women throughout her lifetime.
The use of “crypt hand” provided Lister with an expressive freedom that was unattainable in her contemporary society, as she would switch into the code when discussing private matters including her struggles with venereal disease and monetary concerns. Her diary was her solace, as she declared that “I owe a good deal to this journal. By unburdening my mind on paper I feel, as it were, to get rid of it; it seems made over to a friend that hears it patiently, keeps it faithfully” in June 1821.
It wasn’t until 40 years after her death that her diaries were uncovered by her descendent, John Lister, who was the first to decode her passages. In fear of spotlighting his own queerness, John Lister considered burning Anne’s diaries, but realizing their historical value hid them until their rediscovery by the Calderdale Council in 1933.
In 1988, the curious historian Helena Whitbread landed on Lister’s diaries whilst wandering through the council’s archives, and has since decoded them and been credited with their publishing. Whitbread’s efforts have brought Anne Lister into the spotlight as a historical lesbian icon, as she has dedicated her life to preserving and sharing Lister’s story. Whitbread’s devotion to the cause also won Lister a blue plaque, which can be found in York’s Holy Trinity Church. The plaque celebrates the UK’s first lesbian wedding, as Anne Lister and Ann Walker faithfully shared their vows at the site in 1834!
Ever since then, Lister has been dubbed “the first modern lesbian” for her unashamed and audacious lesbianism. It is interesting how the need for a lesbian mode of communication which Lister expressed has evolved and transcended time. The original lovers’ desire for an intimate form of communication is reflected in today’s lesbian circles with the fashion “flagging” where the use of symbols such as violets, nautical stars and double venus. These have allowed lesbians to communicate with each other through distinctive symbols which are representative of their identities.
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