Ann Walker

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Ann Walker (born May 20, 1803 in Lightcliffe , † February 25, 1854 ) was an English landowner from the county of West Riding of Yorkshire . She and her partner Anne Lister made a covenant of life in a private ceremony in the Holy Trinity Church in York in 1834 , which they themselves referred to as "marriage", even if this was not legally or ecclesiastically recognized.

Early years of life

Ann Walker was born to John and Mary Walker (née Edwards). She was baptized at St Matthew's Church, Lightcliffe, her birthplace, and lived in Cliffe Hill with her parents, sisters Mary and Elizabeth, and brother John during her early years until her family moved to Crow Nest when she was six . Ann's sister Mary died in 1815. Ann was 19 years old when her father died on April 29, 1823. That same year, on November 20, 1823, Ann lost her mother at the age of 20. Ann's younger brother John inherited the Crow Nest family estate. In late October 1828, Ann's sister Elizabeth married Captain George Mackay Sutherland and moved with him to Ayrshire. After the death of her brother John in 1830, Ann and her sister Elizabeth became the sole heirs to Crow Nest, which brought considerable wealth with them. Ann continued to live in the Crow Nest Manor through the 1820s until she moved to Lidgate, a smaller house on the estate, in 1831-1832. There she met Anne Lister again, whom she began to woo on July 6, 1832.

Covenant of life / "marriage"

Anne Lister, portrait by Joshua Horner, around 1830

Ann Walker and Anne Lister (1791–1840) lived on neighboring properties for several years and met occasionally. It wasn't until 1832 that they began a romantic and sexual relationship. This relationship intensified over the following months until Ann Walker and Anne Lister finally exchanged rings on February 27, 1834 as a sign of their commitment to one another. They received communion together on Easter Sunday, March 30, 1834, at Holy Trinity Church , York , to seal their union, and from then on they considered each other married. A blue plaque on the building wall, which was inaugurated in 2019, commemorates this event. After they got married, they lived together at Shibden Hall, Anne Lister's family home. The couple traveled extensively together until Anne Lister died in Georgia in 1840 . To be buried in the Lister family's crypt in Halifax, Ann Walker had Anne's body embalmed for the six-month return journey. Anne Lister's will gave Ann Walker a lifelong usufruct of the Shibden Hall estate.

Faith and Philanthropy

Her Christian faith was extremely important to Ann Walker, as was her philanthropic endeavors. She prayed regularly at St Matthew's Church in Lightcliffe throughout her life, including reading prayers and Bible texts to her family and servants on Sundays. Walker was very fond of children and started their own Sunday school for them. She also took good care of her servants, as evidenced by a letter sent home during her 1840 trip abroad, listing the gifts that each of them should receive for Christmas in their absence.

Tower of Old St Matthew's Church, where the memorial plaque for Ann Walker hangs

Mental health

Ann Walker struggled with mental health problems all her life. She was prone to anxiety and depression , in part related to her religious beliefs. In 1843, three years after Anne Lister's death, she was declared " insane " and forcibly taken from Shibden Hall to an asylum in York. She later moved to her family's home in Lightcliffe and lived in Cliffe Hill until her death in 1854.

death

Ann Walker died on February 25, 1854 at the age of 50. On her death certificate, the cause of death was given as "congestion of the brain tissue". She was buried under the pulpit of the old St Matthew's Church. The church was later demolished and replaced with a new building elsewhere in Lightcliffe; however, the tower of the old church was preserved. In this tower, a brass plaque (previously installed in the church) commemorates Ann Walker's funeral. The memorial plaque could be viewed on September 14, 2019, when the tower was opened to the public as part of a memorial day.

legacy

Rainbow plaque in York, UK, dedicated to Anne Lister's marriage bond with Ann Walker (2019)

There are no known portraits of Ann Walker. Some of her letters are in the West Yorkshire Archives. Much of what we know about Ann Walker comes from the records of Anne Lister, who kept detailed diaries throughout her adult life. No diaries were found of Ann Walker; it is likely that much of her legacy was destroyed because the extended Walker family viewed their relationship with Anne Lister as shameful.

The LGBT community in particular is reminiscent of Ann Walker and Anne Lister because of their unusual ways of life at the time.

In 2019, the American television channel HBO aired the British-American drama series Gentleman Jack , which is based on the diaries of Anne Lister, who was nicknamed Gentleman Jack, but was also called Fred by her friends. The series takes place around the time Lister reunited and developed a relationship with Ann Walker.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Harriet Sherwood: Recognition at last for Gentleman Jack, Britain's 'first modern lesbian'. The Observer. In: theguardian.com , July 28, 2018, ISSN  0029-7712 .
  2. ^ Jill Liddington: Female Fortune: Land, Gender and Authority: The Anne Lister Diaries and Other Writings, 1833-36. Rivers Oram Press, 1998, p. 30.
  3. ^ Jill Liddington: Female Fortune: Land, Gender and Authority: The Anne Lister Diaries and Other Writings, 1833-36. Rivers Oram Press, 1998, p. 31.
  4. ^ Jill Liddington: Female Fortune: Land, Gender and Authority: The Anne Lister Diaries and Other Writings, 1833-36. Rivers Oram Press, 1998, p. 30.
  5. ^ Jill Liddington: Female Fortune: Land, Gender and Authority: The Anne Lister Diaries and Other Writings, 1833-36. Rivers Oram Press, 1998, p. 36.
  6. ^ Jill Liddington: Nature's domain: Anne Lister and the landscape of desire. Pennine Pens, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire 2003, ISBN 1-873378-48-3 .
  7. ↑ Helena Whitbread (ed.): The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister. Virago, London 2010, ISBN 978-1-84408-719-8 , pp. 24, 115, 117, 138, 169, 170, 206, 355.
  8. ^ Jill Liddington: Nature's domain: Anne Lister and the landscape of desire. Pennine Pens, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire 2003, ISBN 1-873378-48-3 .
  9. ^ Anne Choma: Gentleman Jack: The Real Anne Lister. Penguin, New York 2019, ISBN 978-0-14-313456-5 , p. 306.
  10. ^ Anne Choma: Gentleman Jack: The Real Anne Lister. Penguin, New York 2019, ISBN 978-0-14-313456-5 , p. 306.
  11. ↑ Anne Lister: reworded York plaque for 'first lesbian'. In: bbc.com , February 28, 2019, accessed November 10, 2019.
  12. ^ Jill Liddington: Female Fortune: Land, Gender and Authority: The Anne Lister Diaries and Other Writings, 1833-36. Rivers Oram Press, 1998, p. 273.
  13. ^ Anne Choma: Gentleman Jack: The Real Anne Lister. Penguin, New York 2019, ISBN 978-0-14-313456-5 , p. 313.
  14. ^ Catherine Euler: Moving Between Worlds: Gender, Class, Politics, Sexuality and Women's Networks in the Diaries of Anne Lister of Shibden Hall, Halifax, Yorkshire, 1830–1840. Dissertation. University of York, 1995, p. 209.
  15. ^ Jill Liddington: Female Fortune: Land, Gender and Authority: The Anne Lister Diaries and Other Writings, 1833-36. Rivers Oram Press, 1998, p. 286.
  16. ^ Letter from Ann Walker to Booth, December 17, 1840. Stored at West Yorkshire Archives, ref: SH: 7 / LL / 406. Transcribed by Anne Choma July 2019.
  17. ^ Anne Choma: Gentleman Jack: The Real Anne Lister. Penguin, New York 2019, ISBN 978-0-14-313456-5 , p. 62.
  18. ^ Anne Choma: Gentleman Jack: The Real Anne Lister. Penguin, New York 2019, ISBN 978-0-14-313456-5 , p. 313.
  19. ↑ DM Barker: The Walkers of Crow Nest. In: lightcliffehistory.org.uk , 2018, accessed on November 11, 2019 (PDF).
  20. ↑ A rare opportunity. Friends of Friendless Churches, accessed November 11, 2019.
  21. ^ Gentleman Jack: Miniseries about the landowner Anne Lister. In: Serienjunkies.de . Retrieved November 20, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Walker, Ann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British landowner
DATE OF BIRTH May 20, 1803
PLACE OF BIRTH Lightcliffe , West Riding of Yorkshire , England
DATE OF DEATH February 25, 1854