Ann Walker (landowner)

Ann Walker was born on 20 May 1803 in Lightcliffe, West Riding of Yorkshire to John and Mary Walker (née Edwards). She was baptised on 1 July 1803 at Old St Matthew's Church, Lightcliffe and lived her early years at Cliffe Hill with her parents, older sisters Mary and Elizabeth, and younger brother John, until her family moved to Crow Nest when she was six years old. Ann's sister Mary died 1 February 1815. Ann was 19 when her father died on 22 April 1823, and her mother died later that same year on 3 November 1823, when Ann was 20. Ann's brother John inherited Crow Nest, the family's estate. In early November 1828, Ann's sister Elizabeth married Captain George Mackay Sutherland and moved to Ayrshire. Subsequently, after the death of their younger brother John while on his honeymoon in Naples, Italy in 1830, Ann and her sister Elizabeth became sole inheritors of the Crow Nest Estate, offering significant wealth. Ann continued to live at Crow Nest through her 20s, until 1831, when she moved into Lidgate, a smaller home on the estate. It was at Lidgate that Anne Lister began to court Ann after a re-acquaintance on 6 July 1832.{{cite book|url=http://www.penninepens.co.uk/books/natures-domain.html|title=Nature's Domain: Anne Lister and the Landscape of Desire|author-link = Jill Liddington|last=Liddington|first=Jill|date=2003|publisher=Pennine Pens|access-date=11 November 2019|isbn=1873378483|location=Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire}}

Walker and Lister became neighbours when Lister moved to Shibden Hall in 1815, but met only occasionally.{{cite book|url=https://www.virago.co.uk/titles/anne-lister/the-secret-diaries-of-miss-anne-lister-vol-1/9781844087198/|title=The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister|last=Whitbread|first=Helena|publisher=Virago Press|year=2012|access-date=11 November 2019|isbn=978-1844087198|pages=24, 115, 117, 138, 169, 170, 206, 355}} It wasn't until 1832 that the pair became involved in a romantic and sexual relationship. Their relationship intensified over the next few months. Walker and Lister exchanged vows on 10 February 1834, the date they considered their union official, and exchanged rings on 27 February 1834 as a symbol of their commitment to one another. They took communion together in Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate, York on Easter Sunday (30 March) in 1834 to seal their union, considering themselves married. The building now displays a commemorative rainbow plaque.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-47404525|title=Anne Lister: Reworded York plaque for 'first lesbian' |work=BBC News|date=28 February 2019|author=|access-date=10 November 2019}} Walker gave up her family home to be with Lister and moved to Shibden Hall, Lister's ancestral home, about September 1834. The couple travelled widely together until Lister's death, age 49, in Georgia in 1840. Walker had Lister's body shipped, six months{{cite book|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/610435/gentleman-jack-movie-tie-in-by-anne-choma-foreword-by-sally-wainwright/|title=Gentleman Jack: The Real Anne Lister|last=Choma|first=Anne|year=2019|publisher=PenguinRandomhouse|access-date=11 November 2019|isbn=9780143134565|pages=62, 182–183, 305–306, 311, 313}} by land and sea, back to England so that Lister could be interred in the same church as her beloved aunt and uncle in Halifax. Lister's will gave Walker a life interest in Shibden Hall and its estate.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jul/28/anne-lister-blue-plaque-lesbian-marriage-church|title=Recognition at last for Gentleman Jack, Britain's 'first modern lesbian'|last=Sherwood|first=Harriet|date=28 July 2018|work=The Observer|access-date=11 November 2019|language=en-GB|issn=0029-7712}}

{{Gallery

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| File:Box Pews in Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate, York, England.jpg

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| Inside Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate, York where Ann Walker and Anne Lister took communion together in 1834 to seal their union

| File:Anne Lister plaque (cropped).jpg

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| The rainbow plaque at Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate, York commemorating the union between Ann Walker and Anne Lister

| File:Altar and Reredos in Holy Trinity Church - geograph.org.uk - 1515997.jpg

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| Stained glass window in Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate, York

| File:Shibden Hall (6448838033).jpg

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| Shibden Hall where Ann Walker lived with Anne Lister during their marriage and after Lister's death

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Walker's Anglican faith was important to her, as were her philanthropic endeavours. She worshipped regularly at St Matthew's Church in Lightcliffe throughout her life, and read prayers and scripture to her family and servants on Sundays.{{cite thesis|type=PhD|last=Euler|first=Catherine|date=1995|title=Moving Between Worlds: Gender, Class, Politics, Sexuality and Women's Networks in the Diaries of Anne Lister of Shibden Hall, Halifax, Yorkshire, 1830–1840|publisher=University of York|pages=209, 311–312|url=http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/2471/}} Walker was fond of children and created her own Sunday school.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZT9XmAEACAAJ|last=Liddington|first=Jill|authorlink = Jill Liddington|title=Female Fortune: Land, Gender and Authority: The Anne Lister Diaries and Other Writings, 1833–36|year=1998|access-date=11 November 2019|publisher=Rivers Oram Press|pages=30, 31, 35–36, 92–93, 197, 273|isbn=9781854890894}} She took great care of her servants and tenants, as is evidenced by letters written back home while she was travelling abroad in 1839–1840, where she lists out the gifts that each of them should be given for Christmas in her absence.Letter from Ann Walker to Booth, 17 December 1840. Stored at West Yorkshire Archives, ref: SH:7/LL/406. Transcribed by Anne Choma July 2019.

Walker struggled with mental health issues throughout her life. She was prone to bouts of anxiety and depression, which appeared in part to be linked to her religious faith. Walker struggled to accept her own sexuality, which put additional strain on her mental health as well as her relationship with Lister. On 1 November 1832, Walker faced a difficult decision to choose to be with Lister or accept a traditional marriage with a man:

{{quote|Sat by her on the sofa, both of us perpetually with silent tears trickling down our cheeks. She quite undecided, fearing she should not be so happy with him as she might have been. Never knew till now how much she was attached to me ... Torturing herself with all the miseries of not knowing what to do, she said how beautifully I behaved ... She said there was as something in me she liked better than in him. Felt repugnance to forming any connection with the other sex.Page from the diary of Anne Lister, 1 Jan 1832 – 12 Jan 1833, 1 November 1832. Stored at West Yorkshire Archives, ref: SH:7/ML/E/15/0137. Decoded and transcribed by Anne Choma 2019.}}

In 1843, three years after the death of Lister, with deteriorating mental health and a series of legal troubles, Walker left Shibden Hall and briefly stayed at Terrace House, a private House in Osbaldwick, near York. She was declared to be of 'unsound mind' shortly afterwards. She returned to Shibden Hall in 1845, after living in the London area with her sister and brother-in-law for a while. In 1848, Walker moved back to her family's estate in Lightcliffe after her aunt's death, living at Cliffe Hill until her own death in 1854.{{Cite web |last=Halford |first=Diane |date=6 June 2021 |title=Where was Ann Walker after Anne Lister's death? |url=https://insearchofannwalker.com/where-was-ann-walker/ |access-date=25 April 2022 |website=In Search of Ann Walker |language=en-GB}}

File:Tower of Lightcliffe Old Church, Wakefield Road, Lightcliffe, Hipperholme - geograph.org.uk - 187855.jpg where Ann Walker's brass memorial plaque hangs (the rest of the church has been demolished)]]

Walker died on 25 February 1854, aged 50. Her death certificate states her cause of death as "congestion of the brain, effusion". She was buried on 3 March 1854 under the reading pulpit of the Old St Matthew's Church, Lightcliffe.{{Cite web|url=https://www.lightcliffechurchyard.org.uk/attachments/article/137/3.%20Anne%20Lister.pdf|title=Ann Walker, Anne Lister and St Matthew's Church, Lightcliffe|last=Barker|first=D. M.|date=2018|website=lightcliffechurchyard.org.uk|access-date=18 November 2019}} Ann's parents John (d. 22 April 1823) and Mary (d. 3 November 1823) are buried in the Old St Matthew's Churchyard, as well as her siblings William (d. 26 April 1798) and Mary (d. 1 February 1815), her niece Mary Sutherland (d. 16 June 1845), and her aunt Ann Walker (d. 29 October 1847).{{Cite web|url=https://www.lightcliffechurchyard.org.uk/attachments/article/137/1.%20The%20Walkers%20of%20Crow%20Nest.pdf|title=The Walkers of Crow Nest|last=Barker|first=D. M.|date=2018|website=lightcliffechurchyard.org.uk|access-date=11 November 2019|archive-date=25 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190525134845/http://www.lightcliffechurchyard.org.uk/attachments/article/137/1.%20The%20Walkers%20of%20Crow%20Nest.pdf|url-status=dead}}

The Old St Matthew's Church was demolished by the church authorities in 1974, but the tower was preserved in situ with Ann's original brass memorial plaque conserved for posterity. A special viewing of the memorial plaque took place on Saturday, 14 September 2019, when the tower was opened to the public for the first time since its closure in the 1970s.{{Cite web|url=http://friendsoffriendlesschurches.org.uk/a-rare-opportunity/|title=A rare opportunity|website=Friends of Friendless Churches|language=en-US|access-date=11 November 2019|archive-date=11 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191111000320/http://friendsoffriendlesschurches.org.uk/a-rare-opportunity/|url-status=dead}}

Ann's brother John (d. 19 January 1830) died in Naples on his honeymoon, her nephews John Walker Sutherland (d. 1836) and George Sackville Sutherland (d. 1843) died in Scotland, and her sister Elizabeth (d. 1844) died in London.

No known portraits of Walker exist, but a few of her letters are held in the West Yorkshire Archives. She kept a journal, of which one volume was discovered on 20 October 2020 among the Rawson Family Collection (WYC:1525/7/1/5/1)Journal of Ann Walker, Including Journals in France and Switzerland with Anne Lister [Previously attributed to Anne Lister], June 1834–February 1835. Stored at West Yorkshire Archives, ref: WYC:1525/7/1/5/1. by research group 'In Search of Ann Walker'. The journal was verified three days later by the West Yorkshire Archive Service,{{cite news|url=https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/heritage-and-retro/heritage/amateur-historian-sensationally-discovers-gentleman-jack-anne-listers-wife-ann-walkers-secret-diaries-hidden-plain-sight-3015227|title=Amateur historian sensationally discovers 'Gentleman Jack' Anne Lister's wife Ann Walker's secret diaries hidden in plain sight|last=Newton|first=Grace|date=26 October 2020|work=Yorkshire Post|access-date=30 October 2020|language=en-GB|issn=0963-1496}}{{cite web|url=https://insearchofannwalker.com/we-found-it|title=We Found It!!!|last=Halford|first=Diane|publisher=In Search of Ann Walker|date=23 October 2020|access-date=30 October 2020}} which holds the collection as well as Anne Lister's diaries. Much of what is known about Walker comes from the journals of Lister, who kept detailed diaries throughout her adult life.{{Cite web|url=http://www.annwalkermemorialfoundation.org/about/|title=About The Ann Walker Memorial Foundation|last=Tansley|first=Alexa|publisher=Ann Walker Memorial Foundation|website=annwalkermemorialfoundation.org|date=2019|access-date=21 January 2020|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191106202229/https://annwalkermemorialfoundation.org/about/|archive-date=6 November 2019}}

Gentleman Jack is a historical drama television series created by Sally Wainwright, co-produced by HBO and Lookout Point (for the BBC),{{cite web|last1=Deehan|first1=Tom|title=BBC/HBO series, Gentleman Jack, to film in the UK and Denmark|url=https://www.thelocationguide.com/2018/04/bbchbo-series-gentleman-jack-to-film-in-the-uk-and-denmark/#|website=The Location Guide|date=30 April 2018|access-date=5 December 2019}} and starring Suranne Jones as landowner and industrialist Anne Lister and Sophie Rundle{{cite web|last1=Petski|first1=Denise|title='Gentleman Jack': Sophie Rundle, Gemma Whelan, Timothy West & Gemma Jones To Co-Star in BBC-HBO Series; Full Cast Set|url=https://deadline.com/2018/04/gentleman-jack-sophie-rundle-gemma-whelan-timothy-west-gemma-jones-co-star-hbo-series-cast-1202377701/|website=Deadline Hollywood|date=26 April 2018|access-date=5 December 2019}} as wealthy neighbouring heiress Ann Walker. The series begins in 1832 in Halifax, West Yorkshire and is based on the collected diaries of Lister, which contain over five million words,{{cite web|url=https://wyascatablogue.wordpress.com/exhibitions/anne-lister/anne-lister-an-introduction/|title=Anne Lister – An Introduction – Catablogue|author=|date=18 September 2019|access-date=5 December 2019}} one-sixth of which are written in code.{{cite web|title=The life and loves of Shibden Hall's Anne Lister|work=BBC News|publisher=BBC|date=25 May 2010|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/bradford/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8388000/8388858.stm|access-date=5 December 2019}} Series 1 premiered on 22 April 2019 in the United States, and on 19 May 2019 in the United Kingdom. It was renewed for a second series by BBC One on 23 May 2019.{{cite press release|author=Media Centre|title=Gentleman Jack to return for a second series, following its hugely successful debut on BBC One|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2019/gentleman-jack-2|publisher=BBC|date=23 May 2019|access-date=5 December 2019}} Penguin Books published a companion volume to the series Gentleman Jack: The Real Anne Lister by the series' senior consultant, Anne Choma, which includes newly transcribed and decoded entries from Lister's diaries. The drama's end credits acknowledge that it was "inspired by the books Female Fortune and Nature's Domain" by Jill Liddington, who acted as consultant and whose own website summarises Lister's extraordinary life as "dazzling worldly achievements plus unbuttoned lesbian affairs."{{cite web | url= http://www.jliddington.org.uk/ | title= Who was Anne Lister?| first=Jill | last=Liddington | access-date=5 December 2019}} O'Hooley & Tidow's song "Gentleman Jack" serves as the series' primary theme music.

Walker is portrayed by Christine Bottomley in the 2010 BBC Two biographical drama The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister.

{{reflist|35em}}

• Choma, Anne, {{cite web|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/610435/gentleman-jack-movie-tie-in-by-anne-choma-foreword-by-sally-wainwright/|title=Gentleman Jack: The Real Anne Lister}} (PenguinRandomhouse, 2019)
• Euler, Catherine, {{cite thesis|url=http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/2471/|title=Moving Between Worlds: Gender, Class, Politics, Sexuality and Women's Networks in the Diaries of Anne Lister of Shibden Hall, Halifax, Yorkshire, 1830–1840|year=1995 |publisher=University of York |type=phd |last1=Euler |first1=Catherine A. }} (University of York, 1995)
• Liddington, Jill, {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZT9XmAEACAAJ|title=Female Fortune: Land, Gender and Authority: The Anne Lister Diaries and Other Writings, 1833–36|isbn=9781854890894|last1=Lister|first1=Anne|last2=Liddington|first2=Jill|year=1998|publisher=Rivers Oram Press }} (Rivers Oram Press, 1998)
• Liddington, Jill, {{cite web|url=http://www.penninepens.co.uk/books/natures-domain.html|title=Nature's Domain: Anne Lister and the Landscape of Desire}} (Pennine Pens Press, 2003)
• Whitbread, Helena, {{cite book|url=https://www.virago.co.uk/titles/anne-lister/the-secret-diaries-of-miss-anne-lister-vol-1/9781844087198/|title=The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister|date=5 February 2019 |isbn=9781844087198 |last1=Lister |first1=Anne |publisher=Little, Brown }} (Virago Press, 2012)

• [http://www.insearchofannwalker.com/ In Search of Ann Walker] – Archival research and articles written about Ann Walker. Credited with discovery of Walker's diary.
• [https://www.lightcliffechurchyard.org.uk/ Lightcliffe Churchyard] – Has extensive burial and biographical information on The Walker Family of Crow Nest.
• [https://www.packedwithpotential.org/ Packed with Potential] – Anne Lister diary transcripts covering her marriage to Ann Walker. Walker Lunacy Commission. Fact checker: Ann Walker's removal from Shibden Hall. Horncastle v. Walker legal case.

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Category:1803 births

Category:1854 deaths

Category:19th-century Anglicans

Category:19th-century English businesspeople

Category:19th-century English landowners

Category:19th-century English LGBTQ people

Category:British landlords

Category:English Anglicans

Category:LGBTQ Anglicans

Category:LGBTQ history in England

Category:LGBTQ people from Yorkshire

Category:Lister family

Category:English LGBTQ businesspeople

Category:English lesbians

Category:Lesbian businesswomen

Category:People from Halifax, West Yorkshire

Category:Women of the Regency era

Category:1830s in LGBTQ history

Category:19th-century British women landowners