Series 1: Episode Eight
The Real Diaries of Anne Lister
Gentleman Jack is based on the real diaries of Anne Lister, who sometimes wrote in code to disguise her innermost thoughts.
Here we have selected extracts from the diary and explain how they feature in the episode.
In Anne's Diary: 30th March 1834
Anne writes...
Highlighted above - Italics indicate coded entry.
Three kisses - better to her than to me. Very fine morning F49F at 8 ½ am. Breakfast at 8 ½.
At Goodramgate Church at 10.35. Miss W and I and Thomas stayed the sacrament. Almost all the congregation staid, and though the church too small to hold many, the service took 40 minutes.
The first time I ever joined Miss W in my prayers. I had prayed that our union might be happy.
Anne's 'marriage'
Blink and you miss it: nestled in the estimated five million words of Anne Lister’s diaries is this passage which she recounts her union with Ann Walker at Goodramgate Church in York.
The two women had already exchanged rings and, to Anne Lister, taking the sacrament together meant a marriage. The quietly momentous occasion – recognised as a landmark in LGBT history - is celebrated in the world’s first rainbow blue plaque outside the church. It also forms the emotional high point of Gentleman Jack.
Learn more
Anne Lister’s diaries – along with other items that belonged to her – are kept at the Calderdale Archives in Halifax.
Visit their website to find out more, and practice your mastery of Anne’s code on high-resolution digitised scans of every page.
