The Diaries of Anne Lister (SH:7/ML/E)
1806 - 1840
A woman with a story to tell...
Extract from 27 Jul 1818
From the age of 15, Anne began to keep a diary, and this habit grew into what could be called an obsession in adulthood. The diaries consist of 27 volumes, 6600 pages or almost 4 million words. In comparison the more famous diaries of Samuel Pepys run to just 1.25 million. About a sixth of the journals are written in an esoteric code, devised by Anne, to conceal her unorthodox sexuality and to record in detail, and with extraordinary frankness, her diverse affairs with women.
These diaries, together with over a 1,000 letters, accounts and other records, are held in the Calderdale office and together they are a wealth of information about politics, business, estate management, coal mining, religion, education, science, travel, local events, medicine, health, food and commerce.
They also include information on national events - royal events such as the "insanity" of George 111, the death of the Princess Charlotte, and the coronations of George IV and Queen Victoria; and political events such as the Peterloo Massacre in Manchester and the reform movement. Events overseas are also included such as the eye-witness account of the death, lying-in-state and funeral of Louis XV111 in Paris in 1824, and life in Tsarist Russia 1839-1840.
These diaries, together with over a 1,000 letters, accounts and other records, are held in the Calderdale office and together they are a wealth of information about politics, business, estate management, coal mining, religion, education, science, travel, local events, medicine, health, food and commerce.
They also include information on national events - royal events such as the "insanity" of George 111, the death of the Princess Charlotte, and the coronations of George IV and Queen Victoria; and political events such as the Peterloo Massacre in Manchester and the reform movement. Events overseas are also included such as the eye-witness account of the death, lying-in-state and funeral of Louis XV111 in Paris in 1824, and life in Tsarist Russia 1839-1840.
The code Anne Lister created for her diaries
Anne Lister was born on 3 April 1791 in Halifax, the daughter of Captain Jeremy Lister and Rebecca Battle. She lived at Market Weighton in the East Riding for most of her childhood, but paid frequent visits to Shibden Hall, the Lister family home just outside Halifax. She attended the Manor School in York from the age of 14 and in 1815, she went to live permanently with her uncle and aunt at Shibden Hall. From 1826 she was the co-owner, finally inheriting the Hall in 1836.
She was a great traveller, and indeed she died whilst on her most adventurous and arduous journey - a trip through Russia and over the Caucasian mountains into Persia. She was bitten by a fever-carrying tick and she died in Georgia on the 22 September 1840. Her body was brought back to Halifax by Ann Walker, the wealthy local heiress with whom she had shared her life and a household at Shibden Hall since 1832. The journey lasted some 7 months, and she was buried in Halifax Parish Church.
Digital images of the diaries can be seen on our online catalogue as part of the Lister Family of Shibden Hall catalogue with further guidance on the Reading Anne's Diaries page of our online exhibition.
She was a great traveller, and indeed she died whilst on her most adventurous and arduous journey - a trip through Russia and over the Caucasian mountains into Persia. She was bitten by a fever-carrying tick and she died in Georgia on the 22 September 1840. Her body was brought back to Halifax by Ann Walker, the wealthy local heiress with whom she had shared her life and a household at Shibden Hall since 1832. The journey lasted some 7 months, and she was buried in Halifax Parish Church.
Digital images of the diaries can be seen on our online catalogue as part of the Lister Family of Shibden Hall catalogue with further guidance on the Reading Anne's Diaries page of our online exhibition.
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