Anne Lister

Anne Lister (3 April 1791 – 22 September 1840) was an English diarist and landowner, famous for revelations for which she was dubbed "the first modern lesbian". Lister was from a minor landowning family at Shibden in Calderdale, West Riding of Yorkshire. She had several lesbian love affairs from her schooldays onwards, often on long trips abroad; muscular and androgynous in appearance, always dressed in black and highly educated, she was later known—generally unkindly—as "Gentleman Jack". Her final significant relationship was with Ann Walker, to whom she was notionally married in Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate, York, which is now celebrated as the birthplace of lesbian marriage in Britain. Lister's diaries reveal much about contemporary life in the West Riding of Yorkshire, including her development of historic Shibden Hall and her interests in medicine, mathematics, landscaping, mining, railways and canals. Many entries were written in code that was not decrypted until long after her death. Containing graphic portrayals of lesbian relationships, these diaries were so frank that they were thought to be a hoax until their authenticity was confirmed.