Columns
Women Like That
| Women Like That The Careerist |
by Francesca Susanna
Who among us lesbians has not longed for the dashing figure in tails and riding boots, the untamable gothic hero who dashes across the moor on a handsome white steed, for once, to be... a woman? Whether we dream of possessing such a lover or of being her, let’s face it, she doesn’t really show up in the romantic media the way the male heroes do. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice or a Bront‘ novel such as Jane Eyre would surely be far more enjoyable if the feisty heroine found that her mysterious lover were actually another woman.
Luckily, we have our own dashing figure from that era, and she was not the creation of a writer’s pen but was an actual contemporary of Jane Austen. She was Anne Lister of Shibden Hall in Halifax, England.
Anne was born in 1791, the second of six children. She had four brothers who would certainly have inherited the family estate of Shibden before she did, but they all died young, and Anne, the older and more intelligent of two sisters, inherited Shibden from an uncle who had himself never married.
She is an interesting study because lesbians today can recognize traces of ourselves and friends in her. She had a ‘butch’ job: she was the owner and mistress of her family’s estate. She flirted and pursued women, had long-term relationships – girlfriends – and remained in touch with them long after the affairs were over. What she really wanted and sought out was a life companion.
However, her lovers tended to marry men despite their fondness for Anne. It was almost the only way for a woman to make her living at the time.
Anne’s family and neighbors knew perfectly well what she was although there was no way to politely describe – and therefore no way to accuse someone of – lesbianism. In her journals Anne mentions having conversations about it, albeit circular and coded conversations. Her friends considered her ‘odd’ and her proclivity for women was her particular oddity. Of herself Anne wrote:
“[I] preferred ladies’ company to gentlemen’s. Did many things ladies in general could not do, but did them quietly... On my uncle’s death [I] should come in for my uncle’s estate... He had no high opinion of ladies... Were I other than I am, would not leave his to me.” For most of her adult life, Anne recorded her day-to-day life in a journal. The reading of personal journals can be dull going no matter how fascinating the person keeping it, and much of Anne’s journal concerns the weather, mending her clothes, what she read and ate, how much money she spent and so on. When Anne’s diaries aren’t dull to read, they are difficult to decipher, for much of it is written in a coded alphabet, which looks a lot like algebra, that she devised to use in letters to her married lover Marianna Lawton.
Anne met Marianna when they were in their early twenties. They had an intense affair and, although Marianna had little wealth or social standing to offer, they considered becoming life companions. Four years later, in 1816, Marianna married Charles Lawton, a wealthy associate of her father’s and much older than Marianna.
Undeterred, Anne and Marianna determined to wait it out, hoping against hope that Charles would die an early death. In the meantime, they continued writing back and forth and maintained their sexual relationship whenever they could. Their plans were discovered when Charles found a letter that discussed their hopes. He became jealous and began to intercept Marianna’s mail, prompting them to write in Anne’s algebraic code.
Anne was also involved with a previous lover, Isabella Norcliffe, whom Anne called ‘Tib.’ Tib came from a socially prominent family (definitely part of Anne’s ambitions), and Tib had wanted to become Anne’s life partner before the arrival of Marianna. Ironically, it was Tib who introduced Anne to her rival. But despite the social advantages an alliance with Tib could bring, she tended to drink more than Anne thought appropriate, and Anne was never enthusiastic about the idea.
Short of wearing male clothing, Anne took on the role of an English gentleman almost completely. In her role as mistress of Shibden she collected rents from her tenants, managed the finances and upkeep of the land and buildings, and participated in local politics although she could not vote.
She was ambitious and had her eye on a social status rather higher than her income and position really allowed her. As any gentleman in her position would, she sought out an advantageous Îmarriage’ to a woman who could bring with her, besides companionship, some wealth and access to the social circles Anne craved to join. As Helena Whitbread (decoder and editor of Anne’s diaries) puts it in No Priest but Love, “In terms of finding a life partner, Anne became what could be termed a careerist.”
Anne finally, in her forties, settled into an uneasy arrangement with a neighbor of hers, Ann Walker, who was quite wealthy in her own right. The relationship had a passionate beginning, and Ann Walker agreed to meld her life and fortune with Anne’s. This entailed both of them writing their wills in favor of the other, living together and managing their estates and business affairs together. These arrangements were very important to Anne’s ambitions, and she pushed Ann Walker to write and sign her will and see to other legalities.
But Ann Walker hemmed and hawed over the transaction. She was often ill and suffered a lot of guilt over her sexual relationship with Anne. There were further complications in the form of Walker’s brother-in-law, who had expected her fortune to go to his sons. Nonetheless, Anne and Ann managed to work out a marriage-like agreement between them and Lister took on the task of managing Walker’s wealth along with her own.
In the end it was the frail Ann Walker who out-lived her robust partner. Anne Lister died of a fever while traveling through Russia in 1840 without seeing her ambitions and machinations come to fruition.
Anne was not unusual or remarkable in the early 1800s for being a lesbian. From the time she was fourteen or fifteen, she never lacked for sweethearts, lovers, and flirtations. The main difference between herself and other women like her was that she never married. She refused to marry, and led what can only be described as a lesbian lifestyle her entire life.
For more details:
Female Fortune: Land Gender and Authority, by Jill Liddington, Rivers Oram Press, 1998.
No Priest but Love: Excerpts from the Diaries of Anne Lister, 1824-1826, ed. Helena Whitbread, New York University Press, 1992
I Know My Own Heart: the Diaries of Anne Lister 1791-1840, ed. Helena Whitbread, New York University Press, 1988
Francesca Susannah is a writer interested in lesbians through history. She lives in Burlington.